Yuliana Flores-Montes: Supporting the community through healthcare

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 1, 2026

This is one of 12 finalists for The Herald Business Journal’s annual Emerging Leaders awards for 2026. The winner will be named at an event on April 7.

Yuliana Flores-Montes, 40

Business Office Manager for patient accounts and customer service, Optum

For individuals and families facing hard times, Yuliana Flores-Montes is there to provide options.

For 20 years, she has worked at Optum, helping patients with financial assistance and providing payment options.

“People play around and say, ‘You’re the charging lady, right? You’re the lady that bills us,’” she said. “But really, I’m the person that helps families, patients and spouses and just anybody that is sick, and I help them pay the bill in different ways.”

At 16 years old, Flores-Montes graduated from Lynnwood High School and went on to graduate from college at 19. She was humbled to receive a lot of scholarships she applied for, Flores-Montes said.

In 2008, she went on to create her own $1,500 scholarship with Lynnwood High School open to all English-as-a-second-language, learning-support and special-needs students. The scholarship was available for five years.

In her day-to-day work, Flores-Montes manages three teams and oversees billing for 29 clinics in Washington. In her role, she provides patients with options, helps them pay off their balance and understand the charges they’re paying for.

“I have enjoyed my professional journey in health care,” she said. “I love it. I still love it. It’s still my heart.”

In 2013, Flores-Montes became a notary for Optum, which allows her to help ill patients write their Letters of Last Wishes.

“I feel that I’m giving patients and people that are very, very sick a last voice,” she said.

In 2020, she began helping patients and employees with adoption paperwork, a cause that is especially meaningful to her as someone who was adopted herself.

“It is just something dear in my heart that someone is gonna get a baby,” she said. “Someone’s going to create a family.”

When a patient asked for help filling out asylum paperwork, Flores-Montes went to Optum. The company sponsored her certification in immigration paperwork. Now, she helps members of the Hispanic community with their immigration paperwork, letters of guardianship and Visa applications.

“I do just any free work that I can, because I know the community is in a lot of need right now,” she said.

While she has grown as a notary, she is also helping people in ways she never thought she could, Flores-Montes said.

“She truly is a great leader and helps her community and anyone she can,” a nominator wrote. “Yuliana inspires me and tells me I can do more.”

Outside of work, you can find Flores-Montes spending time with her family and watching her daughter’s dance performances.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com. X: @JennaMillikan