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Digital Nomads and the New Fountain of Youth

nr-article-SievertBlog-02-19-21 | sección de noticias de T-Mobile

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Read This T-Mobile SVP's Advice for Women in STEM

How T-Mobile's Edwige Robinson is Reshaping the Tech World

Harnessing the power of mobile technology, workers of all ages are redefining the idea of location independence, and with it redefining their very lives.

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The term "digital nomad" may initially conjure up an image of twentysomethings traversing the world and posting Instagrammable meals in FOMO-inducing locales. But in truth, today's digital nomads span all age groups - and a fast-growing sector is the 50-plus demographic.

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A result of remote work abundance and delayed retirements, both accelerated by the pandemic, people are choosing to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/20/van-life-tech-workers-worked-from-road-during-covid-may-not-return.html">live and work remotely full-time</a>, exchanging a hefty mortgage or rent for a more economical RV or flexible Airbnb arrangement that allows them to travel the country, and the world, while still holding down a day (or overnight) job. Indeed, a seismic shift has occurred in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/business/remote-work-taxes.html?mc_cid=f7f94bced7&mc_eid=83c3366f7e">how and where work gets done.</a>

T-Mobile and intergenerational workforce mentorship platform <a href="https://cirkel.co/">CIRKEL</a> recently co-hosted a virtual event called <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/tAJJgMdpzMVn5zpOgCSgwE-CsHLvFMIeOvDL3xiWruRXZ6-tB1YeUjjnjqOR91-LJS7xSJtmOcHYfc9S.YkiPDLVoNCZm0YMt?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=JMOIqKEiRfG5Yc0G4SA3BA.1625082916834.0d26e8de79427a4d74720a6df4dd1604&_x_zm_rhtaid=786">Un-Careers: The Wild West of Remote Work</a> with a panel of professional wanderers who shared their experiences, offering attendees tips and tricks for making a permanent life on the open road, well, work.

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T-Mobile employee <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rooftopadam/">Adam Maddock</a> transformed his Jeep into a tiny-house-on-wheels during a six-month stint as a digital nomad. The youngest member of the panel at 35, he drove almost 14,000 miles to locations like Padre Island and Moab during the pandemic, learning how to do the travel off-hours and making sure he had the ability to be connected to co-workers when it was time to clock in.

Eight years in the Marines prepared Maddock to handle just about anything on the road, provided he had that reliable connectivity.

"I live in downtown Seattle, and when the pandemic hit it was not a great time to be in any downtown and I figured since I'm working from home it shouldn't matter if I'm here or at the Grand Canyon," said Maddock. "If I have a connection, I should be able to work from anywhere."

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Though he tested the nomadic waters for a finite period, the two other panelists, <a href="https://www.theradiovagabond.com/about-palle-bo/">Palle Bo</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pi4u/">Siobhan Farr</a>, have made living on the road a permanent gig.

Bo found himself selling the bulk of his possessions a la Frances McDormand in the 2020 breakout film <a href="https://www.searchlightpictures.com/nomadland/">Nomadland</a>, and trading them in for experiences: “I sold everything before becoming a digital nomad, and when emptying my loft I realized I had collected so much stuff that I never used.”

An award-winning radio producer and digital nomad since 2016, Bo documents his journey in his podcast <a href="https://www.theradiovagabond.com/">The Radio Vagabond</a>; he now collects new memories instead of things, and says the pandemic has fueled his nomadic life at the age of 56.

"Before the pandemic, if I said to my clients, who are primarily Danish companies, 'Can we go on Zoom or Skype?' they would say 'I don't know what that is,' he explained. "So actually during the pandemic, it's become easier for me because it's more natural and clients don't see it as a problem that you're not next door. Coming out of this I think we are going to see more nomads, because it's the new normal that you can do meetings on a computer screen and you don't have to be in the same room."

While Maddock and Bo set out purposefully to take on the persona of digital nomad, <a href="https://about.me/siobhanfarr">Siobhan Farr</a> is an example of how life and recent events can decide your fate and push you into unknown territory. Farr was traveling for six months when COVID-19 hit and got “locked into Ecuador.” There she was isolated from the world she knew back in Dallas with only her stuffed animal Kicksie to keep her company. A castaway with her own Wilson, so to speak. She realized in her sixties that her life had changed forever, including how and where she would continue her career as a health insurance agent specializing in Medicare.

"All of the carriers that I represented were already moving to allow us to take electronic applications and then the pandemic sped things up considerably, because even though the clients are older, they were getting adjusted to having meetings on Zoom," she said. "A lot of those digital skills pick up as you move along by necessity."

Farr said it is "by divine and not design" that she became a digital nomad for life. Call it an epiphany, kismet or a happy accident - it was meant to be.

When trying to find community in the digital nomad space by querying an existing Facebook group, however, she realized she was blazing new digital trails. Upon selecting the 45-and-older age group, she received a pop-up message indicating the group did not support her demographic. Temporarily bloodied but hardly unbowed, Siobhan tapped into the universe — and with necessity being the mother of invention that it is — created <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DigitalNomadsBeyond50/">Digital Nomads Beyond 50</a>.

It’s clear from the panelists’ experiences of maintaining busy careers on the road that digital nomads rely on technology more than their live-at-home counterparts.

"The technology is truly enabling people not to be tethered to a cord to the wall and I think over time we will see more people being able to do this just by using their cell phones," said Maddock. "I had a phone, a hotspot and an iPad. Those three data sources powered me for six months."

Farr has traveled to over 35 countries, and relies on her Android Smartphone and Google Fi network as her lifeline to the outside world. She loves landing in a new country, turning on that smartphone, and getting that immediate connection.

All reiterated that having the right device, such as a 5G smartphone like T-Mobile’s new <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/cell-phone/oneplus-nord-n200-5g">OnePlus Nord N200</a> or <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/devices/revvl-v-americas-most-affordable-5g-smartphone">REVVL V+ 5G</a>, is essential to this lifestyle. It’s no surprise that affordably priced technology like these are popular with the more senior digital nomad crowd, especially when paired with <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/dt-mo/3xEPS4c" data-type="URL" data-id="https://t-mo.co/3xEPS4c">T-Mobile’s 55+ discounted rate plans</a>, which are available nationwide and include 5G.

Get the OnePlus Nord N200 at a great price here

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<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-magenta-background-color has-text-color has-background no-border-radius" href="https://es.t-mobile.com/dt-mo/3jS8IRA">Get the OnePlus Nord N200 at a great price here</a></div>

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Speaking of 5G: Maddock lauded the <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/hotspot-iot-connected-devices/inseego-5g-mifi-m2000">Inseego 5G Hotspot, available at T-Mobile,</a> as an essential connection to the outside world, as there is not always a Wi-Fi network in range. A senior manager on T-Mobile’s digital strategy and planning team, Maddock said because <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/network/ready-for-a-road-trip">T-Mobile’s 5G network</a> covers 92 percent of Interstate Highway miles across America, he was able to travel farther than he thought during his six-month sojourn without ever worrying about staying connected to his colleagues for work.

"I was incredibly lucky to work for T-Mobile during this time as the leader in 5G," explained Maddock. "5G is essentially the best of short-range in-city signal that you get and the best of the long-range distance over the country packaged into one. It holds a ton of data and has very low latency or delay. So, you're talking about a technology that will allow people to communicate further, communicate faster and stay in contact and work from more remote places."

Digital nomadism has been so transformative many have incorporated the term into their personal brand as a descriptor and bona fide skill like a storyteller or change agent. And for some in their supposed career twilight, it's also redefined how they see retirement - by eradicating it.

“I didn’t necessarily have plans to retire because I love my work, but now being able to incorporate it with my travel and being able to do it from anywhere has brought even more joy to this possibility of a working retirement,” said Farr.

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And more people are joining her online community of older digital nomads, as some — financially decimated by the pandemic — are searching for ways to keep working longer, without living less.

“There are those who might think they’ll be working for the rest of their lives, and if they can’t wait until that retirement to travel,” she said, “this presents a possibility to find something they can do while traveling.”

Interested in the REVVL V+ 5G? Click here

<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-magenta-background-color has-text-color has-background no-border-radius" href="https://es.t-mobile.com/dt-mo/3yx5E16">Interested in the REVVL V+ 5G? Click here</a></div>

T-Mobile aprovecha el poder de la tecnología móvil e investiga cómo trabajadores de todas las edades están redefiniendo la idea de la independencia geográfica.

Digital Nomads and the New Fountain of Youth | T-Mobile Newsroom

Nómadas digitales y la nueva fuente de juventud

Shawna Ryan

Nómadas digitales y la nueva fuente de juventud | sección de noticias de T-Mobile

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The award-winning actress, producer and equal rights advocate joined T-Mobile’s latest Talking with Trailblazers event in celebration of Pride month to discuss the realities of the current transgender experience.

"One of my favorite Brené Brown quotes is, 'When we deny our stories, those stories define us. But when we can own our stories, we can write a brave new ending.'"

Laverne Cox can find an eloquent quote from a number of people who have inspired her with astounding dexterity. During an hour-long conversation about her experience as one of the first prominently visible trans women in Hollywood during T-Mobile’s latest Talking With Trailblazers event, she offered up insightful quotes from professor and author <a href="https://brenebrown.com/about/">Brené Brown</a>, non-binary poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alok_Vaid-Menon">Alok Menon</a>, legendary television host <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey">Oprah Winfrey</a> and Feminist activist <a href="http://www.gloriasteinem.com/">Gloria Steinem</a>, just to name a few.

But Cox, an award-winning actress, producer and equal rights advocate, has a voice of her own that speaks volumes. Overflowing with the experiences that have shaped her and now guide her to break barriers for the transgender community, her words stick with you long after. "As things have gotten better, and it's important to acknowledge that things have gotten better, there are people who are still afraid to be themselves," said Cox. "And they have reason to be. It's not delusional to think that it is not safe for you as a trans person. That's not delusional. And that is something that we have to work really hard to reduce."

Cox has become an indelible figure of transgender representation in mainstream media after her groundbreaking role as Sophia Burset in the critically acclaimed Netflix original series <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/70242311">Orange is The New Black</a>. The role led to Cox becoming the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a Primetime acting Emmy and appear on the covers of Time Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Essence. She was named one of Glamour magazine’s 2014 Women of the Year and holds two SAG Awards. Even when discussing her glamorous Hollywood lifestyle, her insistence that being comfortable with the skin you’re in is always her message.

"Sometimes when I'm on a red carpet and I look fabulous because I have a great team, and the lighting is hit just right, I don't always feel good, because the shoes might hurt, or I might be trying to hold my stomach in for dear life," she joked. "So I don't always feel beautiful when I might look at my most beautiful. I love just being chill and being seen and loved by a person who loves me. That makes me feel my most beautiful."

Some 2,500 employees logged in to hear Cox speak during the virtual event in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month, hosted by T-Mobile for Business EVP Mike Katz. T-Mobile has been <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/brand/celebrating-diversity/lgbtq-plus-pride">heavily involved</a> in activities meant to celebrate LGBTQ+ community members and allies this June, including sponsoring Pride parades across the country, <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/community/pride2021">supporting LGBTQ+ youth</a> by teaming up with and donating to GLSEN and The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and supporting LGBTQ+  excellence in tech by sponsoring <a href="https://lesbianswhotech.org/pridesummit2021/?cmpid=MGPO_PW_U_PRIDEEVG_5ASUQSCZYBHVTOS5265358%20">Pride Summit 2021 with LesbiansWhoTech.</a>

For Cox, the topics of this <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/community/daniel-dae-kim-discusses-aapi-hate-crime-with-t-mobile" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/daniel-dae-kim-discusses-aapi-hate-crime-with-t-mobile">Talking with Trailblazers</a>, a series that invites diverse leaders to talk about issues that matter right now, ranged from being authentic to yourself, raising LGBTQ+ voices, how we can all be even better allies to the LGBTQ+ community, and the current challenges of violence against the transgender community and new legislation threatening rights to things such as gender affirming health care.

"As trans people are more visible, and we're more visible than we've ever been before, this is the backlash to that visibility," explained Cox. "Often when marginalized groups come forward and assert ourselves, there's backlash. There is the backlash in spades right now."

Here are some further takeaways from this fearless trailblazer.

"I think that a lot of folks are terrified to say the wrong things. So, they don't say anything at all. And that is certainly not being a good ally. And I've been leaning into the word 'accomplice' rather than 'ally.' For me, accomplice suggests not only what you're doing when trans folks or Black folks or LGBTQI+ folks are in the room, but what are you doing when we're not in the room? If someone is being mis-gendered behind their backs, are you intervening? And I don't like to say calling people out, but sort of inviting them in and asking questions if they mis-gender someone. Talking about the humanity of trans people when we're not there as well as when we are there. I think that is a beautiful way to think about how we create safe space and give people an opportunity to speak their truth. "And, I think for me, story is such a powerful tool. I'm sure there are employees in the company who have transitioned. If they're comfortable sharing their stories, doing a video where they've shared their stories, hopefully of being treated well when they came out or disclosed to their coworkers. To let everyone else know that it's okay, if that's what they need to do. I think just letting folks know that the environment will be welcoming and supportive when they do disclose or come out. I think that is crucially important."

"This legislative session there have been over a hundred pieces of legislation targeting transgender children, either transgender children playing sports, or having access to gender affirming health care. About eight states now have sports bans against trans girls, specifically playing sports on the teams with which they identify in terms of their gender. And that that's abhorrent. But I think even more disturbing for me are bills that criminalize transgender children receiving gender-affirming care. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, every reputable healthcare organization says that gender affirming care for trans people is life-saving. It reduces suicidality by 40 percent when they have this access. That's major.

"I think so much of it is not just the legislation, it's the narrative around the legislation that is dehumanizing to trans people and these conversations that continue to stigmatize trans folks. And we know that it emboldens folks to be more violent against trans folks. That dehumanizing language leads to dehumanizing behavior and violence. 2020 was the deadliest year for trans people. Over 44 trans people were murdered. That's only in the United States. 27 trans people were murdered so far in 2021."

The importance of knowing our collective and individual histories, in order to move forward.

"I think it's important for us to understand our histories, so that we don't repeat the things that are problematic. And when we can understand the story, own the story, then we can begin to write a different ending. And we can write that brave new ending for trans folks in the media. And so I do believe that things have gotten better for trans representation on television and I think we have a better understanding of what is more dehumanizing in terms of representation of trans folks. We understand what is stigmatizing and objectifying when we have conversations with and about trans people and what is more humanizing.

"There's just so much stigma and misinformation that needs to be debunked. And we need to write new narratives and tell different stories. And most of that, again, is about humanizing trans people. There are many trans stories. We can hear trans people that we can get in front of people to tell their stories on their own terms and humanizing ways. And we can change the tide of all this discrimination and violence. But in the face of the challenges, trans people have been ourselves for centuries. Many of us have found the courage to be ourselves. And so we have to listen to trans people and we have to believe trans people, and give us space."

The award-winning actress, producer and equal rights advocate joined T-Mobile’s latest Talking with Trailblazers event in celebration of Pride month.

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending” | T-Mobile Newsroom

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending”

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending” | sección de noticias de T-Mobile

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In honor of Pride Month, we highlight Customer Resolution Expert Joe Richards and his community photo project "Proud to Be," which T-Mobile has adopted companywide this year. Joe curates experiences as an art form. His masterpiece? Inclusion.

Joe Richards is many things — but first, he was a kindergartener.

“I think most people know the kind of field trip — all the little kindergartners take their lunches and coats and pile into a bus together and head to a museum,” he remembers.

"At the end of ours, they asked all the kids to present what they wanted to be when they grew up. I knew I wanted to be an artist, but my strongest memory from that moment is listening to everyone else's answers and wanting to understand the 'why' behind them."

Today, Joe works as a Customer Resolution Expert in T-Mobile’s Charleston Customer Experience Center, and serves as the lead for T-Mobile's Pride Employee Resource Group in the local Diversity, Equity & Inclusion chapter.

He’s also now the artist he knew he wanted to become all those years ago.

"I like to create things," he starts, launching into an overview of artistic range that spans event and celebration planning, concept and costume design, prop fabrication and a turn as a female illusionist. As Joe describes sewing thousands of sequins onto a gown as a favor for a friend, a 'blacklight poster costume' installation he's working to create with a team for a photo spread ("It's kind of hard to explain," he says with a laugh), and parties he's themed down to the tiniest degree, two things stand out: his dedication to detailed craft and his generosity.

“I love watching people’s reactions,” Joe explains. “So no matter what I’m working on, the big question is always: What impact do you want? An experience — whether it happens through an event or set design or a photo someone’s taking in — is like climbing a mountain, and in terms of reaching the pinnacle, the details set things apart.”

“DE&I is about a seat at the table, but it’s also about the change that happens with our voices, and around ten thousand voices can be pretty powerful,” Joe says, referencing <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/brand/celebrating-diversity/lgbtq-plus-pride">T-Mobile's Pride ERG</a> membership (over a third of the company’s employees, nearly 30,000, belong to one or more Employee Resource Group). “And that’s not to say we’re all using our voices by yelling. It’s just making connections.”

"As Pride lead, I answer a lot of questions for others. Sometimes the advice I give people is as simple as: If you make a mistake, just apologize. We all want to be seen, but we also just want connect with one another and there's so much fear about getting it wrong."

Pride season offers members of the LGBTQ+ community a moment to advocate and celebrate their identities together, but "Be You" has long been a year-round motto at T-Mobile. That motto, Joe explains, inspired him to look for a way to open up Pride - and the experience of being "seen" - to everyone.

"Validation is an important step in connecting with someone. Our vulnerability opens floodgates, and gives us the chance to see each other, maybe beyond corporate and work environments. I wouldn't be where I am right now if it weren't for that kind of validation."

It’s his drive to make an impact combined with his singular artistic sensibility that has helped grow a participatory photo project he launched four years ago at the Charleston CEC called “Proud to Be.”

With the simple directive to employees to write down what they're proud to be on a chalk board, Joe captured dozens of inspiring photographs of smiling sign bearers and built an art installation to display them in the call center. The project grew from 44 participants to 198 from 2018 to 2019.

This year, it expanded into a companywide T-Mobile initiative in celebration of Pride month.

It's not always easy to know exactly what to celebrate, which can be part of what makes the experience special. Over time, he's built up a playlist of helpful questions for these moments.

"I ask: If someone was meeting you for the first time today, and you could only tell them one thing about yourself, what would you say? Or I'll ask people to share the thing they're most proud of, and then dig into it - so if the answer is, 'being a mom,' maybe I'll ask, 'Whose mom?' and what makes the person so proud to parent them."

"More often than not, people really have to think about it. And some people write paragraphs."

Over the years, members of the team have shared their pride in being a gay farmer, being Black and beautiful, being leaders and allies. They've showcased their families, their careers, their skills, and their attitudes. Joe laughs remembering a sign that read, "Proud to be oh so saucy!"

That variety, Joe says, "is what makes us great as human beings. That's really the point - people love to use labels - but gay is what I am, not who I am. I'm a creator, I'm a storyteller. I want us all to break away from labels and see one another for who we are."

And what happens in the process — the experience — is a work of art, too.

"'Proud to Be' is about giving that gift of self-discovery," Joe says. "When it comes to creating that moment, it's like that kindergarten field trip. You never know what someone is going to remember 30 or 40 years from now."

A Customer Resolution Expert at T-Mobile launched a companywide art project for Pride month.

Employee Spotlight: Why This Customer Care All-Star and Artist Is “Proud to Be” | T-Mobile Newsroom

Employee Spotlight: Why This Customer Care All-Star and Artist Is “Proud to Be”

JasonAdams

Employee Spotlight: Why This Customer Care All-Star and Artist Is “Proud to Be” | sección de noticias de T-Mobile

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Just over a year ago, the newly-merged T-Mobile set in motion our strategy to become a bigger - and better - company. As we drive the Un-carrier spirit forward, putting people first remains at our core. More than ever, customers, employees, and shareholders engage with and invest in brands that genuinely and authentically live their values - those that reflect and invest in their communities.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) isn't a new concept for the Un-carrier, and following our merger with Sprint, we recognized an opportunity to evolve and expand our commitment to these values that have always been at our core. Further catalyzed by the societal unrest and injustice we witnessed last year, this was a turning point for T-Mobile to leverage its new resources to better serve all of our employees, customers and communities where we operate. We seized the moment and created a way forward that we call Equity In Action.

Equity In Action (EIA) is more than how we talk about our DE&I efforts – it is a practical plan. EIA offers a roadmap that inspires us to lead by example, put people first and ensure DE&I remains at the center of everything we do.

And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING: the values we live by, the investments we make in our employees, the products and services we offer, the suppliers we do business with and the communities we advocate for.

We knew that we had a lot of work ahead of us, and we wanted to make sure our plan incorporated direct, honest feedback from our employees. We hired an external diversity and inclusion consultant to conduct 13 focus groups with employees from different races, cultural backgrounds, skillsets and levels of work experience. This process took time, but we knew that no one understands our business, pain points and strengths better than our own employees. Their feedback offered a wealth of insight to help us map out a plan that addressed specifically where we need to evolve, shift and align our actions with our culture and values.

Our five-year EIA plan includes multi-faceted DE&I efforts across three focus areas:

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Championing DE&I is not only a social challenge, but also a systems challenge.

The first step of our EIA plan is to assess and update our systems so that we're laying the foundation for deep cultural transformation. Systems are current processes we have in place, including our Employee Resource Groups, our talent pipeline, and our customer-based product research and development. In some cases, we are creating new systems that will improve the employee and customer experience. Through hiring, training and developing each member of the T-Mobile team to their fullest potential, our systems will be optimized for equity.

Our work will take time, but we've already begun identifying the right priorities and goals, developing behaviors that drive those priorities, and fortifying the systems that reward and support those practices. This effort builds upon the public DE&I promises we have already made, with the support of our External Diversity & Inclusion Council.

We will work to fulfill these promises over the next five years, but their impact will be felt sooner –and it will extend beyond our initial plan as we continue growing and evolving as a company.

In addition to the EIA promises we’ve already completed and tracked, we’ve established new programs for our employees, customers and communities. For example, our <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://nexttechdiversity.com/" target="_blank">NextTech Diversity Program</a> provides career training and placement for thousands of underrepresented candidates to take on roles as 5G network technicians, and our Lead Magenta Next development program creates more opportunities for previously untapped talent and strengthens our recruiting pipeline. We also recently launched an enterprise-wide training called One Team, Together Learning Journey, which will take all employees through an expansive multi-year experience to help them form more inclusive habits in the workplace.

Right now, we're focused on empowering our employees. We've given everyone on Team Magenta the shared responsibility and accountability to be a part of Equity In Action and help us move this work forward. By starting with our team, we're doing DE&I our way, with integrity and authenticity.

But the work won’t end there. We are planning years into the future, and we’ll work in tandem with the extraordinary members of our <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/community/meet-the-civil-rights-leaders-joining-t-mobiles-external-diversity-and-inclusion-council" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">External Diversity and Inclusion Council </a>— some of the best advocates and thinkers in the DE&I space — to hold us accountable to the promises we’ve made. These are major steps, but they’re just the first on a lifelong journey of learning and growing. We take them together, collectively, as a company that supports and cares for all of the individuals who comprise it.

Equity In Action is more than how we talk about our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts – it is a practical plan to lead by example, put people first and ensure DE&I remains at the center of everything we do.

Equity In Action: The Un-carrier Approach to DE&amp;I | T-Mobile Newsroom

Equity In Action: The Un-carrier Approach to DE&I

Jess Dillon

Equity In Action: The Un-carrier Approach to DE&I | sección de noticias de T-Mobile

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https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/equity-in-action

In recognition of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI), we ask Communications & Community Engagement senior specialist Melissa Jividan to tell us why her personal experience of being an Asian American at T-Mobile is one of the many reasons she loves promoting the brand on the company’s Careers social channels.

Fate, as they say, works in mysterious ways. “I got recruited off of LinkedIn after I had graduated college in Hawaii,” says senior specialist Melissa Jividan. Six years later, Jividan now runs the Careers social channel, which — as fate would have it — includes the company’s brand <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/t-mobile/mycompany/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.linkedin.com/company/t-mobile/mycompany/">LinkedIn page</a>. “It's one of those full circle things,” she notes with a laugh.

A Seattle-area native who returned to the region when the wireless provider came calling, Jividan was first brought aboard at T-Mobile as a social media specialist in customer care, and has since moved onto executive social on the Communications & Community Engagement team in addition to her responsibilities of sharing important employee stories. She has become a unique lens through which others can see what those in leadership and in positions of all levels across the company are saying about working for the Un-carrier. Which makes us wonder, what's her story?

 Jividan was brought up multi-ethnic to a White father and a mother who had emigrated from Thailand.

"With me being multiple ethnicities, I don't come across as obviously Asian," she says, which offers her a unique view into ugly conversations others would not be privy to. "I get to see what people are seeing and saying. They get very surprised when I say, 'Hey, I'm Asian too. And what you said is not appropriate, and here's why.'"

She then adds: “I’m my own ally, in a sense.”

In recognition of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI), we talk with Jividan about her personal experience with Asian hate (and love), the importance of the Asia Pacific & Allies Network Employee Resource Group she’s part of at T-Mobile and about the career path that has led her to running the company’s Careers social channel — and where destiny may take her next.

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Overseeing the Careers social channel — LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. — can you walk us through what a typical day is like?

Generally speaking, I am planning out what content looks like for the Careers channel - everything from creating my own content, like memes or short videos, to working with others such as a Tik Tok creator that we're currently partnering with. If I'm not creating and planning the content, I'm shaping what the view of the channel looks like. And then I focus on how we can tell the stories of our employees that would make people who don't work at T-Mobile want to work here. And luckily, it's pretty easy, because many of the employees here have such incredible stories. Being able to share their stories and have them explain why they love T-Mobile, I think that's the most surefire way to get someone to want to work here.

How important is showcasing inclusivity on the social handles you currently oversee?

I think it's extremely important. You see more and more in media that representation matters. Just seeing someone that looks like you doing something that you previously thought you couldn't do has had a huge impact on me and on people I know. And I think that's important to showcase at the workplace as well. If you were to describe a position, you might immediately think of a certain kind of person. So knowing that you can be any gender or race in those roles, just knowing that it's possible is really helpful. Because it drops that barrier of thinking, "Oh, I can't do it because of this." Well, this person did it, so of course you can do it. I think it's cool, that just by sharing someone's story, you're able to see what your own potential is.

May is, of course, Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Can you tell us what it means to you, and how your own heritage is reflected in honoring the AAPI community?

I'm multi-ethnic, and my mom is from Thailand. So I'm half Thai and half mixed White - French and Scottish. So half-mixed Caucasian. My mom came to America from Thailand when she was 19 or 20. Growing up, I watched her struggle to work twice as hard to prove she was just good as anybody else. She's been in America for 50 years, and I still watch her have some struggles with people who, if they don't understand her accent very well, they visibly treat her different. So witnessing that had an effect on me. It taught me that being different doesn't mean you're any less of a person. It just means that you come from somewhere else. And even if you didn't have an accent, those things shouldn't matter. Your character is what matters.

You'd mentioned that sometimes you very literally have to be your own ally. How important - and this comes up a lot at T-Mobile and the programs that we attend - is allyship from others?

I think it's super important. Truthfully, when the whole aspect of allyship first came up, I wasn't sure about it. Not that I'm not supportive of allies, clearly, but it sounded like a corporate thing. But since then I've managed executive socials for company events like a popular guest-speaker series called Talking with Trailblazers, where they're always talking about allyship. I'm learning that it is important because no one group can do it all themselves and you really need that cross-promotional, for lack of a better term, allyship in order to make changes and get your messages across. Unfortunately, some people are never going to listen to you because of your gender or your skin color. So having that spokesperson or ally that perhaps looks more like them to advocate for us has a much bigger impact than if I were to just say it myself.

You mentioned Talking with Trailblazers, and there just happened to be the one with actor Daniel Dae Kim and T-Mobile’s EVP of Advanced & Emerging Technologies, John Saw. What did you take from that?

I loved that one. It was probably one of my more favorite <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/community/daniel-dae-kim-discusses-aapi-hate-crime-with-t-mobile">Talking with Trailblazers</a> that we’ve had. I think Daniel and John Saw really hit it on the head with this myth of the model minority. They explained where it comes from , how stereotypes hurt multiple ethnicities and how understanding all this can combat prejudice in the future. I really loved that. If someone were to do a Talking with Trailblazers with me, these are the things that I would want to address.

The recent and historic violence and abuse aimed at the AAPI community has generated a deep desire in allies to better support AAPI co-workers. Can you share an instance where someone's support was impactful to you? 

Actually, yeah, this is a perfect example. The day of the Atlanta attacks, where six of eight of those killed were Asian women, I had a coworker and a friend reach out to me through text message. She didn't even say, "Hey, I saw it was on the news." She just said, "Hey, I hope you're okay today. Let me know if you need anything, I'm here to support you." And I thought that was really cool. Again, I don't come across as visibly Asian, and so most people don't think about it, which is fine. I never expect anyone to know my ethnicity. But for her to see that and think, "Oh, I have people I care about, people that I want to support out in the world that I should check on," that was really cool.

It is of course incumbent upon people to do their own homework. But I was just curious if you have any resources you'd recommend for folks aiming to support the AAPI community - this month and always?

I appreciate when people ask how to become better at allyship, but I also think it somewhat falls in line with what <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/community/trailblazer-takeaways-ibram-x-kendi-on-being-an-antiracist">Ibram X. Kendi had talked about</a> after George Floyd’s murder, where it can’t become our responsibility to teach everyone how to be an ally or to teach the history. I believe it’s important to educate yourself, but if someone seems genuine in their growth then I’m happy to share my knowledge and experiences, too. So it’s a bit of a middle ground.

That said, oddly enough, one place that's helped me branch out from my own information, is … this is going to sound ridiculous, but … Asian comedians. They're always talking about their experiences and the impacts that they've had in their life and how they are perceived in America, let alone in their ancestors' cultures. So their standard comedy specials about their experiences have really opened my eyes to not only what other Asians face, but also the shared Asian experience in America. Ali Wong is a huge one for me. She talks a lot about growing up Asian and marrying an Asian of a different ethnicity. That has been a key to me to unlock more information about our history and the things that are going on within our community.

In terms of supporting employees from a company level, and I guess employees supporting each other too, the Asia Pacific & Allies Network Employee Resource Group is a part of T-Mobile's overall Multicultural Alliance. What has your involvement been like, and what do you think these groups bring to T-Mobile?

I'm involved, and I've definitely become more involved over the past year, given everything that's happened, and I've definitely seen a bigger uptick in activity overall. And I think it's really because it's helping employees have a voice on various topics.

And that's one of the things that I've always really liked about T-Mobile. For such a big company, people really do listen to the employees and we're learning along with everybody else. To have a group saying here's what our community is thinking and feeling about topics that affect us, and to see how T-Mobile is impacting those communities, it's just nice. It's one of those things where, again, representation matters. And so here you have this group of people that represent your community, your ethnicity, and they're helping change the company for the better through their own eyes.

Since you hold the keys to T-Mobile's Careers social media accounts, where do you see your own career headed?

I am fortunate that I get to get a sneak peek into every aspect of the company, which I think a lot of people would love to have. If I want to find stuff out for marketing, I can do that. From engineering, technology, sales, all of those things, I get to have my hand in a little bit of it all so I can speak to their roles and help those employees share their stories. And I'm also a very curious person, so I've always really liked being able to know that I can gather information from anywhere.

And then in terms of my own career, I would love to keep telling stories for people. I think it's the best way to be a positive persuader of things. I don't exactly know what that looks like, as in terms of, is it a role or a specific position, but I enjoy what I do and I hope I can keep doing it on a bigger scale.

In recognition of AAPI Heritage Month, a T-Mobile employee talks about how the importance of representation in the workplace and beyond.

Employee Spotlight: “AAPI Heritage Month Is Important To Me Because I Believe Representation Matters” | T-Mobile Newsroom

Employee Spotlight: “AAPI Heritage Month Is Important To Me Because I Believe Representation Matters”

Employee Spotlight: “AAPI Heritage Month Is Important To Me Because I Believe Representation Matters” | sección de noticias de T-Mobile

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https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/employee-spotlight-aapi-heritage-month-2021

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This Mental Health Awareness Month, we continue to investigate how our relationship with our devices has changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, from setting boundaries in a mobile-first world to breaking down barriers to mental health access. Through discussions with health experts and a T-Mobile employee using the company's digital well-being benefits, we take a closer look at how the evolution of mental health tools are providing more viable options for so many people in need.

Processing the Past Year

“I know, honestly, over the past year, I’ve had a couple situations where I felt like I just wanted out.”

Jill Benner will bravely tell you that she wasn't always keen on using the ample time at home during the pandemic to brush up on her bread-baking skills or invest in a fun new hobby. The senior speech analyst with T-Mobile's Customer Care says the panic, paranoia and unprecedented isolation caused by the pandemic tested her mental health in ways she could never have anticipated.

A recent <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6932a1-H.pdf">CDC pulse survey</a> measured response changes from July 2019 to July 2020 and found:

And yet, <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/">among adults reporting</a> symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder, more than <a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/unmet-need-for-counseling-or-therapy-among-adults-reporting-symptoms-of-anxiety-and-or-depressive-disorder-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">20 percent</a> admitted needing but not receiving counseling or therapy in the past month during the pandemic. Benner says she was scared to be one of those people, until she began looking into what employee benefits were offered to her. What she found was something of a lifeline.

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, we spoke with Benner to understand how she successfully made use of a digital well-being resource offered by T-Mobile to employees called <a href="https://www.livemagenta.com/">LiveMagenta</a>, as well as mental health experts who provide care through the program. By discussing what’s working and what isn’t with those who have lived through it on both the patient and professional side, a roadmap for greater success of care well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic is uncovered, as well as hope for what actually waits for us beyond.

"The ability to call someone or speak to someone right away was so key," says Benner, "especially if you're feeling overwhelmed or anxious. It's important to your overall well-being and your health. Just having access to someone to talk to is so very important.

Feeling the Effects

"Pandemic-induced anxiety," Benner says bluntly, when asked what causes her trouble lately. "Being alone. If you don't get to see your family for extended periods of time, it can be very difficult."

Benner's story is all too familiar. The specifics may change from person to person, but according to T-Mobile partners at UnitedHealthcare and Optum - who have collected data from various clients now examining the mental health effects of the pandemic on their employees - the tone remains consistent.

“Why do people need mental health resources?” asks Jessica Zach, an <a href="https://www.optum.com/">Optum</a> Senior Client Executive partner with T-Mobile. “One of the leading diagnostic drivers in the mental health space today is anxiety and most of the recent feelings of anxiety that people are experiencing is attributed to the pandemic.”

Anxiety and trauma stress-related disorders being named the primary reason for seeking help has actually remained steady since the early months of pandemic lockdowns when <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/04/mental-health-coronavirus/">nearly half of Americans</a> reported the coronavirus crisis was affecting their mental health, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/coronavirus-is-harming-the-mental-health-of-tens-of-millions-of-people-in-us-new-poll-finds/2020/04/02/565e6744-74ee-11ea-85cb-8670579b863d_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Kaiser Family Foundation poll</a>.

A federal emergency hotline received an increase in calls by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-health-202/2020/05/04/the-health-202-texts-to-federal-government-mental-health-hotline-up-roughly-1-000-percent/5eaae16c602ff15fb0021568/?itid=ap_paigewinfield%20cunningham&itid=lk_inline_manual_12">1,000 percent</a> between April 2019 and April 2020. Experts began digging into the data to learn about the surge, finding that many more people experiencing emotional distress were reaching out for help, and using their devices to do so.

Since 2017, T-Mobile has offered its well-being benefit LiveMagenta, which provides a wide-range of resources across a bevy of areas, from financial to physical and emotional. Whether you're looking to stop smoking, save up to buy a home, prepare to adopt a child or focus on your mental health, LiveMagenta seeks to connect T-Mobile employees with experts and the tools to tackle some of life's big challenges. The program was expanded to include legacy Sprint employees soon after the merger with T-Mobile in 2020, and the types of services provided, especially in the mental health space, evolved over time - from apps to virtual therapy programs.

"I think things are getting better, but there's still fear," explains Benner. "People are going through fear of what happens when things open up. Will this reoccur? There's an unknown, and having access to tools [like these] is so important to be able to work through those kinds of questions. LiveMagenta gives you that access, which is just phenomenal."

In November, T-Mobile also became the first wireless company to extend mental health resources to customers via the <a href="https://es.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-makes-988-emergency-lifeline-available-to-customers">nationwide 988 emergency lifeline</a>. Those in need of free mental health support were able to access it immediately by dialing 988 to be connected directly to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a network of approximately 180 local and state-funded crisis centers. Further reinforcing that our devices are key to finding help even as we prepared for vaccinations and easing of COVID-19 restriction, since introducing this free service, some 15,000 people have made use of it — with the highest recorded use more recently in March and April of this year (7,933 to be exact).

Empleados

Nómadas digitales y la nueva fuente de juventud

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending”

Employee Spotlight: Why This Customer Care All‑Star and Artist Is “Proud to Be”

Equity In Action:
The Un‑carrier Approach to DE&I

Employee Spotlight: “AAPI Heritage Month Is Important To Me Because I Believe Representation Matters”

Mobile Mindfulness: The Future of Mental Health

Daniel Dae Kim: “Pressure Makes Diamonds, and Our Community Has Been Under Pressure”

A Salute to Those Who Serve: T‑Mobile Continues Support for Active‑Duty Military, Veterans and their Families

Leading by Learning

Employee Spotlight: How This T‑Mobile Standout Helped Make a Great Place to Work Even Greater

T‑Mobile Bets Big on Brick and Mortar

“Sometimes You Have To Be Your Own Hero”

Nómadas digitales y la nueva fuente de juventud

Laverne Cox: “When We Understand the Story, We Can Begin to Write a Different Ending”

Employee Spotlight: Why This Customer Care All‑Star and Artist Is “Proud to Be”

Equity In Action: The Un‑carrier Approach to DE&I

Employee Spotlight: “AAPI Heritage Month Is Important To Me Because I Believe Representation Matters”

Mobile Mindfulness: The Future of Mental Health

Daniel Dae Kim: “Pressure Makes Diamonds, and Our Community Has Been Under Pressure”

A Salute to Those Who Serve: T‑Mobile Continues Support for Active‑Duty Military, Veterans and their Families

Leading by Learning

Employee Spotlight: How This T‑Mobile Standout Helped Make a Great Place to Work Even Greater

T‑Mobile Bets Big on Brick and Mortar

“Sometimes You Have To Be Your Own Hero”

Equity In Action:
The Un‑carrier Approach to DE&I