When Mission Becomes Culture
A personal story about joining PayZen, navigating motherhood, and experiencing a mission-driven company from the inside.
What first drew me to PayZen was, in fact, our mission and it remains the reason so many people choose to join us today. Bringing financial health to healthcare is inherently audacious, and easy to appreciate. Then I met with Itzik, our Co-founder and CEO, and he reflected back many of my beliefs about building a high performing culture through trust, empathy and creative solutions rooted in practicality. It quickly became clear that the chemistry was there for a strong CEO/Head of People partnership.
When I joined PayZen, I was stepping into the role as the company’s first Head of People, a milestone in my career that I was genuinely excited about. At the same time, I was also newly pregnant. It was a position I never expected to find myself in, and one many women fear: navigating a major career transition alongside a significant personal change.
As onboarding progressed, my excitement was increasingly accompanied by stress. I knew one of the early impressions I would make on my new team would involve asking for a leave of absence. While nothing in my interactions with PayZen suggested this would be an issue, years of witnessing subtle and not-so-subtle bias against women, and especially working mothers, made it impossible not to feel anxious.
A couple of months into my new role, it was time to share my news. I was completely nervous, and then, in a single moment, I could not have been more grateful for choosing PayZen.
I was met with genuine support and encouragement, not just in words, but in the way my team showed up for me day after day.
Throughout my pregnancy, parental leave, and return to work, my contributions were recognized, my career goals were reaffirmed, and I was treated with trust and respect by everyone I worked with. This may sound like table stakes to some, but it’s certainly not always the reality.
My experience wasn’t accidental, and it wasn’t an isolated one. I attribute it to being part of this mission-driven company – because at PayZen, our mission is our culture.
You can’t authentically take on healthcare’s most stressful financial challenges without empathy and support inside your own walls. Our mission carries an underlying belief that how we treat one another, especially during moments of transition and challenge, directly shapes the strength and resilience of our company.
I see that belief show up every day in the people we hire, the benefits we prioritize, and the way we approach hard problems together. I hope that anyone looking for a company where the mission isn’t a polished marketing message but a lived experience, one grounded in trust, care, and accountability, considers PayZen – we’d love to meet you.
