Figures graduated from Williamson High School in Mobile and earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Science from the University of New Haven in Connecticut from 1976 to 1980. She put herself through college by working at Yale University and in a family-owned grocery store. She was attending the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law in Montgomery, Alabama, when her husband's death forced her to discontinue her legal education.

Her political career began in 1984 when she ran as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, a capacity in which she served six consecutive times through 2004. In 1993, she was elected to the Mobile City Council, where she served until 1997 and was known as a staunch community advocate. During her council tenure, she led opposition to a proposed facility for burning petroleum-contaminated oil near downtown Mobile and was the initial proponent of naming Mobile's new minor league baseball park for home run legend Hank Aaron.

Following her husband's death in 1996, Figures ran for his Senate seat in a special election, earning 47 percent of the vote in the first round of the Democratic primary before defeating James Buskey in the runoff and Republican Gregory Ramos in the general election with 87 percent of the vote. She has been re-elected without opposition in 1998 and 2002, and won subsequent elections in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022.

In 2008, Figures became the first African American woman in Alabama to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, garnering 37 percent of the vote while President Barack Obama received 39 percent. She made history again in 2013 when she was elected by her Democratic Senate colleagues to serve as Minority Leader, making her the first woman elected to leadership in either the Senate or the House in Alabama.

Figures serves as President and CEO of the Figures Legacy Education Foundation and has held various business roles, including managing The New Times newspaper and operating PerfectPrint, Inc. She was appointed to the Board of Trustees at Jacksonville State University in 2012 and was recently appointed to the newly created in-state at-large seat, where she continues serving as Vice Chair.

Figures is a widow with three sons (Jelani, Shomari, and Akil) and one stepson (Derrick). She has five grandchildren- A'Kayle, Micah, Jai, Iniko, and Novah. In 2023, after being widowed for 26 years, she married Troy Gandy on Valentine's Day. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., initiated into the Delta Theta Omega chapter in 2002.

Throughout her legislative career, Figures has authored significant legislation including the Child Protection Act for background checks in schools and daycare centers, Vanessa's Law allowing Medicaid coverage for mastectomy reconstructive surgery, and the Clean Indoor Air Act banning smoking in public buildings. She was awarded the National Tobacco Award from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Outstanding Advocate Award from the American Heart Association for her work on the Clean Indoor Air Act.