‘I Love My Job’: My Exciting Career Journey From Happy Customer to Director at Capital One

Welcome to I Love My Job, the series where we hear from women who really love their jobs. In this edition, we sat down with Theresa Lugo, Director and East Region Café Market Executive at Capital One. 

Lugo’s experience at Capital One started when she was a customer. “Before joining the company, I opened up a savings account at Capital One with my mom because they had great rates,” Lugo recalls. “Every interaction with a Capital One associate was positive and helpful. And, I thought to myself, ‘I want to work for a company where employees are genuinely happy […] A company that has a great brand, a strong mission, and is really helping and looking out for customers.’”

This wish became a reality when Lugo entered Capital One as an associate through the acquisition of ING Direct in 2011. And, in the 11 years since, she’s gotten to experience the exact culture she once dreamed about. “We have a collaborative environment where everyone is willing to help, which makes a really huge difference in someone's growth,” she says.

In the video below, Lugo shares more about why she loves working at Capital One. We also provide lightly edited highlights from the video discussion in the following article.

In case you have trouble watching this video, please click here to watch it on YouTube.

Can you tell us about your career journey at Capital One?

I started my journey in our contact center, helping customers through the phone. After being in the contact center for a couple of years [...], I got the opportunity to move to Boston and support our Cafés in a new region where we were starting fresh. Then, after being there for a few years, I got to try different roles, like our Café ambassador role and coach role, which is like a manager for our Cafés.

After being there for three years, I had the opportunity to start fresh again and move to South Florida to support and help launch our Cafés across the South Florida region. I got to achieve that with my peers and hire new associates, really ingraining ourselves in the community.

Five years after being in the South Florida market, I got promoted into this role as a Café market executive, where I now lead our Cafés in Boston, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C, and Richmond, Virginia. 

What do you find most exciting about your work?

Besides the amazing people that I get to work with, what I find most exciting about my work is the adaptive nature of my role.

Being in the Café world means that there is no day like the other. I get to make an impact with customers, our frontline teams, people's growth, and their development. I work really hard to ensure that our associates' voices are heard when we're creating new processes, when we're working on our priorities, and when we're thinking about our future strategy.

I get to do a little bit of everything, and that's what makes my job the most exciting.

How do Capital One’s benefits support you in managing work-life balance?

Capital One provides a wealth of resources and benefits. For instance, I took advantage of the tuition reimbursement program, which I was able to use towards tuition, books, and eligible fees. For me, that was a huge win, especially when I first started with the organization. 

We also have employee assistance programs, which offer opportunities to chat with therapists, in-person or virtually, whenever you need it. And, sometimes, that's exactly what I needed. There are career development coaches, flexible spending accounts, and even an associate stock purchase plan. So, making money with your own money through Capital One has been a great benefit, especially when we talk about financial well-being as an organization and with our customers…

In terms of work-life balance, I prioritize taking time off. I definitely use my paid time off, and I trust my amazing peers and teams to run the business and allow me to feel good about taking days off.

And how does Capital One support you in advancing your career?

Capital One has supported advancing my career in many ways. I've been incredibly fortunate to have mentors, leaders, supporters, and many friends throughout my career journey at Capital One. They've helped me identify my strengths, my areas of improvement, and have guided me along the way when I needed it most.

We have Business Resource Groups within the company, which have also been instrumental in my growth over the last couple of years. My previous and current managers have invested in my development by supporting me when I enrolled in the Hispanic Leadership Coaching Program, which is hosted by Hola, our Hispanic Business Resource Group. That program really helped me understand a lot about myself, being a Hispanic in the work group, and creating a better network at Capital One.

And, recently, I participated in an internal development program focused on enhancing my storytelling, problem solving, and stakeholder management skills. This has really helped me understand how I can be a better leader and also helped me provide tools to my associates. 

Capital One truly supports and encourages career advancement. We have so many resources that you get to choose from, and you get to choose when you use those resources depending on your career and where you are at that moment. I've been very fortunate to use a lot of these resources.

What advice would you give candidates looking to work at Capital one?

My advice to candidates who are looking to work at Capital One is, first, be yourself. Embrace your true self, who you are, and the characteristics that make you great. And, don't be afraid to share that in the interview process and even on your resume.

Be ready to collaborate. We're an organization that values collaboration, teamwork, and becoming better and stronger together. 

And, lastly, don't hesitate to reach out to individuals who are already in the similar job field that you're interested in.

Fairygodboss is proud to work with Capital One. Find a job there today!

Check out other posts in the ‘I Love My Job’ series:

• 'I Love My Job': Capital One Supports Everything From Work-Life Balance to Meaningful Career Growth

• 'I Love My Job’: A Talent Expert on Why This Leading Finance Company Should Be on Your Radar

• ‘I Love My Job’: ‘The Art of Push and Pull’ — A Culture Anchored Around Teamwork and Collaboration

• ‘I Love My Job’: I’m Helping to Make the World a Better Home as a Sustainability Manager

• ‘I Love My Job’: How One Manager Remembered to ‘Keep Pushing Toward Your Dreams