It’s a Chimed Life: Meet Anne Broshar, Content Strategist

If you ask Anne Broshar what her favorite member story is, she won’t cite the inspiration of someone buying their first car or raising their credit score.

“I was most inspired by a member who, while facing an issue accessing their Chime account, voiced to us both their frustration and their gratitude,” she recalls. “He mentioned that Chime had been there with him through his many good times — bachelor parties, vacations, and dancing all night — and thanked us for our role in making those times possible, despite the issue he wrote in about. The personal generosity of that member to feel frustrated and still say thank you blew me away.”

Anne’s experience and role in responding to members when Chime was unavailable — not the best of times, by any measure — only reinforced her commitment to Chime’s members. “They are beautiful people, and we have to remember them every day; after all, they’re the reason we do this work,” she says. “Everything we do has to connect to them and make their lives materially better.”

Here’s a look at Anne’s career, her path to Chime, and her daily work to support our members.

Staying the course: Anne’s career in content

Raised by two teachers, Anne always thought she would be one herself. She studied English and became a teacher, but when she fell ill in her first teaching job and didn’t have insurance, she decided to find more lucrative work. “Writing for corporations was a good way to use my education and make enough money to insure myself,” she says. “While I remember times when my parents struggled financially, living that way in San Francisco just wasn’t an option.”

But she soon discovered that her writing gigs weren’t always a solid bet. “The first people companies would lay off were writers and trainers,” she explains. And after working through the dot-com bust and the great recession, she experienced a lot of ups and downs.

Turbulent times haven’t turned her away from her work, though. For Anne, being a writer means she’s always problem-solving. “Describing something essential to people who need to understand it is an intricate challenge,” she says. “I believe that the more technologically complex the world becomes, the more content we will need to navigate it.” So in some ways, the work she does has grown in importance — and in today’s work environment, writers are a necessity for organizations to communicate with their customers.

“For every problem, there’s someone who has to articulate it — and that’s where I come in,” she says.

Joining a company that cares

It was when Chime had a need — which took the shape of a content writer — that Anne was brought on as a contractor. “I had just finished five back-to-back contracts with a big bank, and I honestly didn’t know what Chime was,” she says. “On my first day, I knew I had landed somewhere special — this wasn’t a bank at all. People were happy, intellectually generous, and everyone took the time to explain what they were working on, whether it was money laundering prevention or software they were using to scan checks.”

In her initial role, Anne wrote articles for agents to help them support Chime members in using specific features, like mobile check deposit. Then she started writing training materials for dispute agents — guides on better understanding members and responding to them. She created content to teach agents how to use their support desk product, making the content fun and engaging. “Everything I wrote, I did in Chime’s style — lighthearted, never taking things too seriously, and helping people relate to the content so they’d get the most out of it,” she says.

From the beginning, Anne knew she wanted to join Chime full-time. When the team faced a large member-facing issue, she supported member communications. “We were a small team responding directly to members,” she explains. “It was such an illuminating and beautiful experience despite the circumstances. I had never seen a company come together and measure a problem by the humans experiencing it. That’s the moment I realized that Chime is where I wanted to be — a company caring about human beings at that scale.”

Anne landed on the Content Operations team as a Content Strategist. Whenever Chime needs to articulate a process to members or agents, in words or in video, the Content Ops team manages that articulation. This can involve updating an article, introducing a new product, or helping agents use the tools at their disposal.

Contributing to Chime’s mission by connecting with members

“My connection to members happens through the agents we create content for, who encounter and interact with our members every day,” Anne explains. To create the most helpful content, she listens to agent-member interactions regularly.

“Members never contact us because they’re having a good day and want to chat,” she says. “Most agents must support our members when they are in some kind of distress. Shadowing our agents is the most insightful experience because it helps me understand what our members need when they contact us, and how our agents respond to those needs. A great example of this relationship was when I saw an agent tell a member, ‘I believe you can do great things with us. You are such an asset.’ Chime agents really are the best of us. I couldn’t have said it better.”

In 2022, members of Anne’s team met Chime agents in person, and they’ll return again this year to better understand the agent experience. “I bring a unique perspective because I started as a contractor, and many of Chime’s agents are contractors,” she explains. “Regardless of who is conveying the message, we always want to highlight Chime’s personality. Chime has a distinct warmth; we want that to come through. We want members and agents to know that we care about and support them.”

Becoming a better problem solver with members in mind

Since joining Chime, Anne has learned to be inquisitive about the problems she faces. “I came from a world where I was assigned things — given a problem and told to come back with part of a solution,” she says. “Working at Chime, I’ve learned how to ask questions about the problem — which area it impacts, who’s involved, and additional context that’s relevant. Doing so has made me a better problem solver. The more questions you ask, the more of an understanding you have of the problem.”

The problems Anne is proudest of solving are Fast Tracks. These projects typically involve unexpected situations and tight timelines: tornadoes affecting members in several states in 2021, or the closure of a regional bank in 2023. Fast Tracks involve teamwork, discovery, and collaboration across Chime, with the needs of members at the center of every issue. “No matter how clear and reassuring our content is, what makes it all work is that members can trust us to do what we say we will,” Anne says. “Chime’s products are reliably awesome, so coming together for members in moments of crisis feels like part of our brand.” She loves this all-hands-on-deck approach to problem-solving and adds that it’s not limited to Fast Tracks. “Every time there’s a problem that needs an urgent or creative solution, that’s what we do.”

In the year ahead, Anne and the Content team plan to bring deep improvements to how agents and members engage with Chime. Anne is working on the first-ever Fraud Operations voice servicing initiative, and she’s joining her team members in improving social care and content accessibility, among many other initiatives. She’s excited. “I won’t change the world, but I know our members will,” she says. “I want to make sure Chime is there with them when they do.”