T-Mobile Retrunship Program Women in the workplace

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New research shows that a thank you text message could be an act of gratitude that’s as effective and impactful as anything — so put your device to work this holiday season!

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The season of giving — and giving thanks — is upon us. We all have that running list in our head of people to thank, but if we’re being honest, year to year we often come up short. And to nod to that age-old axiom, our best intentions could pave a road classic rock stalwarts AC/DC could wrap <a href="https://youtu.be/l482T0yNkeo">a devilish chorus</a> around.

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But what was holding us back from putting our best foot forward when it comes to saying thanks in a meaningful way may have all along simply been procedural.

Look, we’re not knocking that great <a href="https://emilypost.com/shop/books/emily-posts-etiquette-18th-edition">Emily of etiquette</a> and her penchant for sending a post, but when it comes to a simple show of gratitude there’s no need for lack of a stamp and envelope to get in your way.

An impactful thank you, it seems, can be as easy as something almost all of us do several times a day — sending a text.

New research <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_is_the_best_way_to_deliver_a_thank_you">shows</a> that expressing gratitude via text message is nearly as impactful as a face-to-face thank you. Moreover, sending a text might be an even more effective message method for expressing your appreciation when you feel embarrassed or awkward about thanking someone in person. Not to mention, sending that simple text, research <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2021.1913639">also shows</a>, can help us feel more connected and boost feelings of well-being, thereby making people feel less lonely — truly positive news after the last two years of so many of us being separated and feeling so apart.

And recent data from T-Mobile suggests many of us may already be in on this act of device kindness. Year over year, from Thanksgiving 2019 to Thanksgiving 2020, texting was up 21%. Additionally, as more people turn to texts for the holidays, T-Mobile also found a 20% increase in texting at Christmas and a 5% bump at New Year’s, which is still impressive given how popular texting has been on New Year’s historically. And expectations are that those numbers will only increase this year.

So don’t let pen and paper stand in your way of making someone else — and yourself! — feel appreciated. Your best recipe for holiday success could simply be to send a “thank you” text.

As we mentioned in <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/a-holiday-psa-pick-up-the-phone">“A Holiday PSA: Pick Up the Phone”</a> last year, if you’re a tried and true old-school type who prefers something more tactile than text, you can still use your smartphone to send season’s greetings and gratitude with a handwritten note via services like <a href="https://www.handwrytten.com/">Handwrytten</a> and <a href="https://www.postable.com/">Postable</a>. Simply type in your message and the receiver’s address, and the apps will generate a handwritten letter or holiday card and take care of the mailing for you.

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Ever find yourself wondering <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/mobile-etiquette-text-versus-talk">Text vs. Talk – When Is the Perfect Time for Each?</a> Our digital etiquette expert offers more tips on when text may suit you best.

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New research shows that a thank you text message could be an act of gratitude that’s as effective as anything — so put your device to work this holiday!

Holiday PSA: How to Thank Someone Best? Just Text! | T-Mobile Newsroom

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Holiday PSA: How to Thank Someone Best? Just Text!

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A T-Mobile employee talks about how the company’s expanded TechX Returnship program helped him find full-time work and a new career focus after returning to civilian life.

“Returning to civilian life was a bit of a challenge since I joined the military at quite a young age. And, you know, working in the military was pretty much all I knew.”

Alex Asuncion dedicated his life to serving in the United States Air Force as a cyber system operator. When he decided he wanted to transfer to part-time status with the Air Force Reserves after more than five years in active duty, he hoped to do some soul searching.

Alex says he wanted to change his career focus from purely technical to something in business management. But mix in some time off to go back to school with a global pandemic, and he says the job market wasn’t exactly welcoming him with open arms. In fact, <a href="https://www.veterans.senate.gov/newsroom/news/sens-moran-tester-introduce-legislation-to-tackle-veteran-unemployment-during-covid-19-pandemic">the veteran unemployment rate</a> across the entire country saw a significant rise from 3.1 percent in 2019 to 11.7 percent in 2020.

“I graduated with my MBA in May 2020,” says Alex, “but with the ongoing COVID pandemic it was quite difficult to get a job, especially with my work experience being mostly in the technical realm.

That’s when Alex learned about the <a href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile">T-Mobile TechX Returnship program</a>.

The program made some big changes to between its pilot that began in 2019 and its second cohort in 2020 to create more inclusivity for those finding it challenging to re-enter the workforce after a career break. Originally a program that served women through its partnership with <a href="https://www.reachire.com/">reacHIRE</a>, an organization that offers  a path into leadership roles for women in tech after time off to care for family or other personal reasons, T-Mobile extended the  six-month, full-time, paid return-to-work program from six to 26 participants in roles beyond just technology, and also began to accept applications from men, primarily to reach veterans in need.

“The positive results from the Returnship pilot and the profound impact it has had on our Returnship graduates led us to broadening the scope of the partnership across multiple technology organizations,” said T-Mobile’s Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer Brian King, who sponsors the program. “With this diverse applicant pool of 75 percent women in tech, 74 percent people of color and 4.5 percent veterans, we are now setting our sights on going even bigger in the future!”

The program’s next cohort will expand to 37 roles across technology, HR, consumer markets and finance that offer a chance to gain relevant work skills and experiences through challenging projects, assignments and training, all while building a professional network and providing ongoing coaching and mentorship to potentially lead to full-time or extended contracting roles at T-Mobile. Alex says after graduating from the program, he was able to find the right full-time role as a technical project manager with the company’s Technology Project Management Office group.

T-Mobile has shown its commitment to honoring those who have served by offering active military, veterans and their families <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/military-discount-plans">it’s best discount on family plans</a>, but the company is also focused on its employees by committing to hire 10,000 military veterans and their spouses by 2023. Inclusive of veterans and veteran spouses the Un-carrier brought on board with the Sprint merger, the company has announced <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/militaryappreciationmonth2021">it’s over halfway</a> to meeting that goal.

And as the Returnship program is actively seeking applicants for its third and largest yet cohort starting January 2022, Alex spoke with us from his home in San Diego about his story, and explains why he thinks the program is an invaluable service to veterans like himself and for people who simply have <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/successful-returnship-program-returns-2022">taken a career break and need some support to break back in</a>.

This opportunity is a six-month, full-time, paid return-to-work program in Washington, Kansas, Virginia, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, California and Colorado. There’s a total 37 spots available for a mix of in-person, hybrid and fully remote roles. Recruiting will continue through December 9 for candidates with a variety of skill sets for the next cohort that starts in January 2022. At the end of the program, you may be eligible for full-time or extended contracting work at T-Mobile, but it is not guaranteed. Hear from non-veterans graduates who attended the program as well.

Tell us a little about your journey from the military to when you first took a step back into civilian life.

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I enlisted with the United States Air Force back in 2011 and was assigned as a cyber system operator, where I was in charge of ensuring that the Air Force network was safe and secure from any network attacks or threats. And while I was on active duty, I had some opportunities to support several missions across the country. But the majority of my career was spent at Langley Air Force base in Southern Virginia. In 2016, I decided to transition out of active duty and move to more of a part-time military status with the Air Force Reserves.

When you decided to transfer to part-time status with the Air Force Reserves, how did you come to realize you wanted to refocus your career and what challenges did you face?

When I got out of active duty, I was offered an opportunity to work as a contractor in the government space and to continue in a similar line of work from what I was doing in active duty, primarily in IT security. A few years later in that role, I decided that I wanted to make that break out of IT and be in a role that was less technical. So, in 2018, I decided to pursue my master’s in business administration at the University of San Diego.

How did you first come to learn about The T-Mobile Returnship, and what was the program like?

I was introduced to The Returnship at T-Mobile through this veteran hiring program called <a href="https://www.hiringourheroes.org/">Hiring Our Heroes.</a> And I’m so glad that I was! The Returnship was just an amazing program that not only gave me an opportunity to work for a great company, but also provided me mentorship and just that much needed experience that allowed me to be more confident and knowledgeable in the role that I was trying to pursue. I know several veterans like myself that have considered a career shift, which could be challenging due to a lack of opportunities. But when a company like T-Mobile partners with veteran organizations, it’s just really a win-win on both sides. A company gets someone that’s disciplined and has experience of being a leader, while the veteran gets a chance to gain that much needed experience for that role that they’re trying to pursue.

So how’s it going living the Magenta life?

My life so far with T-Mobile has just been just amazing. The culture here is exactly what I was looking for and everyone here has been so supportive of me, including my managers and my peers. Currently, I’m leading several projects for the one ID migration, which would allow all former Sprint employees to be fully integrated with T-Mobile. My career at T-Mobile is still very young, but I’m hoping to continue to grow more into my role as a project manager. I find T-Mobile to be such an interesting company and I’m constantly hearing about all the cool and innovative things that they’re looking to do.

Anything you want to say to those who are reading this and aren’t sure if the Returnship is the right fit for them?

I just want to reiterate how amazing The Returnship program is. Before this, I hadn’t heard of any other company doing something close to this. It’s such a great initiative, and I highly recommend all veterans, especially those looking to do a career shift, to at least look into the Returnship program. The tools they provide to help you succeed and the mentorship are incredible. Even for those who aren’t veterans and are just looking to get back into their careers after a long break, I would also highly suggest looking into this program. From my cohort, we had many that fit that category of <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/successful-returnship-program-returns-2022">people having to take a step away from their careers due to family reasons or other factors</a>. And I for sure know that they all greatly benefited from this Returnship program and it definitely helped them all restart their careers.

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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" href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apply To The Returnship Here!</a></div>

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Inspired by the generosity of the T-Mobile Foundation and our VAN employee resource group during our first DE&I Giving Month in July, this Veterans Day we want to expand T-Mobile’s support of the <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F1tribefoundation.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7CLisa.Belot%40t-mobile.com%7Ce4669acf17d8440ce2d608d98e9b0509%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C637697618732332319%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=y9VGUVHB1UZW8lhVy5AtnKyA2W5GX2KZUDgyb8QWNrk%3D&reserved=0">One Tribe Foundation</a> by raising this year’s donation to a total of $100,000. We’re proud to support an organization deeply committed to protecting the mental health of veterans, first responders, medical frontline workers and their families.

A T-Mobile employee talks about how the company’s expanded TechX Returnship program helped him find full-time work after returning to civilian life.

Changing Careers After Military Service: A Veteran’s Story | T-Mobile Newsroom

Changing Careers After Military Service: A Veteran’s Story

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As T-Mobile begins taking applications for its third cohort, we take a look at some of the success stories from the program designed to get working mothers and others displaced by the pandemic — and why you might want to consider the TechX Returnship too!

Back in 2020, we first reported on a tiny but mighty program at T-Mobile called the <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-offers-a-welcome-returnship-for-women-in-tech" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-offers-a-welcome-returnship-for-women-in-tech">TechX Returnship</a>. The company’s technology arm, under Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Brian King, looked to partner with <a href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile">reacHIRE</a>, an organization that helps women returning to the workforce in tech by providing opportunities specifically to those who’ve taken a long professional career break to care for family members, raise children or for other personal reasons — of which there have certainly been no shortage during Covid times.

The Returnship quickly made a name for itself as a holistic approach to providing female professionals with tech-centric resumes to join a six-month, full-time paid return-to-work program in order to return to the careers where they were thriving before life got in the way. The Returnship began small, a pilot program pairing just six applicants that ran from November 2019 until May 2020 with managers who were vetted and prepared to be fully engaged mentors.

Of course, also in that time period, the pandemic hit and drove a deeper wedge between a vast amount of women across the country, especially working mothers, and their careers.

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“Life happens, and we have to take a break from the workforce to become caregivers or take extended leave,” says <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/svp-inspires-women-in-tech">Edwige Robinson</a>, T-Mobile’s Senior Vice President of the Central Regional Network Engineering & Operations and a powerhouse female leader in technology. “After being out for a couple of years or so, you feel like a newcomer again, reticent but also motivated to explore the possibilities — this is why I love the Returnship program — it is a second chance opportunity for a vast pool of highly qualified candidates who are ready to make an impact! You have to trust that you have what it takes.”

<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace">McKinsey & Lean In</a> showed that 1 in 4 women considered downshifting their careers, due to the increased burden that work put on them and their families.Fortune released a study from <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/10/05/women-labor-force-drop-out-september/">The National Women’s Law Center</a> that found 865,000 women dropped out of the workforce in September 2020, a sobering fact when compared to how many men left their jobs during the same time period: 216,000.2021 started with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/economy/women-job-losses-pandemic/index.html">the disturbing news</a> that every single one of the 140,000 job losses in December 2020 were held by women. The final job loss number for 2020 was <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/covid-response-center/inclusive-economy/what-we-lose-when-we-lose-women-in-the-workforce">2.3 Million women</a>.

While staying true to its mission of helping women return to the workforce — more important than ever, once the pandemic took hold — the TechX Returnship recognized other populations of displaced workers as well, and decided to open its door a little wider.

For its second cohort, which ran from November 2020 to May 2021​, the program designed for women also accepted a few select men, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/returnship-helps-veterans-reenter-workforce">focusing on veterans who have traditionally experienced a challenge getting back into the workplace after military service </a>— a problem also exacerbated by the pandemic. Ultimately 20 more spots were created, for a total of 26 members: 23 women and three men.

And with this growth came more success. The results offered a rare bit of good news during trying times: 91.6 percent of the graduating class found full-time and extended-contract positions at T-Mobile.

The program quickly gained credibility with veteran hiring groups like <a href="https://www.hiringourheroes.org/">Hiring Our Heroes</a>, which began recommending the program to its qualifying members.

Recent program alumna <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/returnship-helps-veterans-reenter-workforce">Alex Asuncion</a> found out about The Returnship this way, and says it was instrumental in helping him successfully change his career focus and find full time work after transitioning from full active duty with the United States Air Force.

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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" href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile">Apply To The Returnship Here</a></div>

As we look toward 2022, recruitment is underway for the third cohort, and the program is expanding to 37 positions with various in-person, remote and hybrid roles, some even outside of technology in consumer markets, HR and finance. It marks an important return (and continuation) of the Returnship.

“We wanted to learn through the pilot,” King said. “We wanted to make sure that we have the right managers and mentors and that they were set up to be successful. We now have a formula that works. And we have a formula that we can scale within the rest of our teams and make sure that we’ve got the right level of champions within each of the departments.” 

To kick off the latest application process, T-Mobile assembled a few of its recent graduates for a panel discussion on how the program helped them, and could help others with this next cohort too. Hosted by female empowerment blogger Brandi Riley, the conversation immediately got to the matter at heart.

“We want you to imagine yourself in the shoes of these folks here,” said Returnship recruiting lead Joanne de Guzman. “Imagine not being employed for two plus years, but you have value and you have worth.”

<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/working-mothers-derailed-by-pandemic-face-a-tough-road-11618185600?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">While nearly 1.1 million women</a> dropped out of the workforce between February 2020 and March 2021, the rate of unemployment was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2021/09/09/moms-are-less-likely-to-return-to-the-workforce-post-covid-heres-how-employers-can-help/?sh=4c0cc94e4d72">even higher for women with children</a>, with almost <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/moms-work-and-the-pandemic.html" target="_blank">1.4 million fewer moms of school-aged children</a> actively working during that same time period than the prior year. And getting these women and others temporarily sidelined back to work is of crucial importance to both the program and T-Mobile.

“You often hear people say it’s a priority, but It’s more than a priority to us,” she said earnestly. “It’s our future workforce and current workforce and we all need to do our part and work together to make sure people are employed and find the right cultural fit.”

Though both are seasoned professionals with a list of career bona fides, two graduates of last year’s Returnship class, Pam Joy and Sandie Moshofsky, said the question of whether or not employers would understand the impossible choices they had to make left them doubting their own value.

“If you have a career gap, it’s almost an automatic reject,” explains Joy, who has 12 years of experience and a masters in telecommunications. “But this program only looks for those with career gaps.”

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Joy said The Returnship gave her more than just confidence in her skills after she chose to take a career break to focus on supporting a terminally ill family member before the pandemic hit — the training and support the program provided her helped her understand how her experiences have made her resilient, as well as a valuable hire.

“Many people had to make a difficult choice when they dropped out of the workforce,” she said. “It wasn’t something they necessarily wanted. Perhaps they wanted to work but they needed childcare.”

A self-professed “wireless nerd,” Joy now works full time at T-Mobile as a senior engineer in the company’s Systems Architecture Network Technology organization. She said she’s on the fast track to continuing her career growth, stronger than ever — in life and work.

“I have been through a very challenging situation, but it didn’t break me, it made me stronger,” she said. “So, I felt like I could face whatever challenges work would bring.”

Sandie Moshofsky, who has 27 years of experience in the telecommunications industry in operations and engineering, said she does not regret taking a step back from her career to care for family before the pandemic hit, but that it undeniably put fear in her heart. She says when she had trouble finding work after Covid-19, she was accepted into the second cohort of the Returnship in 2020, but hesitated because she wondered if she “had what it takes” to re-enter the fast-paced technical world after a two year break. Ultimately, she says the program was a chance to get beyond the fear of her past choices when they had to be made, and move forward.

“We are women of experience and know our value and worth,” said Moshofsky, who is now a senior project manager in the Technical Enterprise Technology Solutions organization at T-Mobile. I have so much gratitude for that opportunity as a woman and woman of color coming in. It didn’t go without sacrifices with the kids and work and putting food on the table and having shelter. It’s about making the right decisions in that moment, and it can be life-changing if you don’t make the right decisions along the way because you could be without a job.”

“We are offering people opportunity, reskilling, coaching and development,” said de Guzman, noting her personal enthusiasm for those applying for the 37 spots open for the third Returnship round, “and I think we will find rock stars like Sandie and Pam with a history of performance.”

And for those unsure if they deserve the opportunities the program offers, Moshofsky had these simple words of encouragement to offer: “Just push that button, because I kept saying I can’t do this alone. I needed that support and T-Mobile was there.”

Are you looking to return to work after a career break? Check out the TechX Returnship application by pushing the button below!

<div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-magenta-background-color has-text-color has-background" href="https://www.reachire.com/hiring-partners/partner-brand-t-mobile" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apply To The Returnship Here</a></div>

In honor of Veterans Day on November 11, we have an employee spotlight on one of the TechX Returnship’s former military graduates who discusses his journey back to civilian life and switching careers with the program’s help. Read more about <meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/returnship-helps-veterans-reenter-workforce">Alex Asuncion</a>!

T-Mobile recruits for its 3rd Returnship and shares success stories from how it's helped working mothers and others displaced by the pandemic.

T-Mobile Expands Successful Returnship Program for Third Round | T-Mobile Newsroom

T-Mobile Expands Successful Returnship Program for Third Round

T-Mobile recruits for its 3rd Returnship and shares success stories from how it&#039;s helped working mothers and others displaced by the pandemic.

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T-Mobile Senior Disaster Recovery Manager Becky Romero keeps evolving the company’s response to challenges during hurricanes, wildfires and even a pandemic — because at any point, any of us could be affected.

“Disasters all have the same backbone,” says Becky Romero. “They all have the same spine. They just have different arms and different feet. They have different limbs. And a wildfire is slightly different than a hurricane, which is 100 percent different than civil unrest, which is completely different than COVID, which is different than an earthquake, which is different than a volcano eruption. Different than the Texas winter storm that we had. The constant is the help needed.”

And for much of her career, Romero has supplied that help.

The Deer Park, Texas-based Senior Disaster Recovery Manager for T-Mobile went from helping provide service to cell towers affected by outages as a contractor to focusing on disaster Business Continuity and Community Support full-time for the company.

Today, you can find Romero innovating response protocols to more seamlessly and effectively mobilize and serve the communities in times of need.

Rather than house supplies in one location for packing and shipping when needed, Romero asked, Why not have supplies and trucks ready to go from all over the United States?

As T-Mobile recognized the need for more robust responses to disasters, Romero’s growing team secured more resources, including more local storage and trucks to move equipment quickly.

“We have grown from three trucks dedicated to our team,” she says, “all the way up to eleven trucks and ten warehouses. Do other carriers show up? Sure, they do. Do they show up like us? Absolutely, unequivocally, no. We have it, we know we have it, it’s organized, and we’re able to get it out in a very clear, concise process. That makes us show up as T Mobile.”

When a hurricane, wildfire or other natural disaster ravages a community, Romero and her team carefully monitor the situation, first making sure all of Team Magenta is safely home. Then her team leads the deployment of trucks carrying of much-needed supplies.

“We use our smaller, more nimble trucks during wildfires,” she says. “They’re good for when multiple shelters are housing people that have really lost everything. It is all about making those people feel comfortable that we are here to support them. We do not care what their background is. We don’t care where they live, and we don’t care what provider they’re with. We are simply there to serve them.”

As the team distributes supplies inside a shelter and returns to the warehouse to restock, again and again, Romero monitors each shelter site’s needs. Sometimes, cell phones are the biggest ask. In other situations, power sources for people to charge their devices might be pivotal.

“Sometimes they’re in old gymnasiums,” she says, “where there may be two or three plug-ins for the whole gymnasium. And people can’t keep their phones charged.”

Romero says hurricane responses are typically her opportunity to help organize a full deployment. When Hurricane Ida impacted Panama City earlier this year, she coordinated a truck to be deployed for a week to serve the community. Stationed there for months, she and her team stocked the truck with day-one and day-two kits, carrying ready-to-use phone-charging cables, constantly checking for supply exhaustion and creating replenishment schedules.

“What’s nice is having ten warehouses nationwide; if Panama City got hit again, the warehouse in Alabama is an hour and a half north there, so I can replenish them within about four hours if they run out. If Houston gets impacted, I have a warehouse in Dallas. If it gets impacted in Tampa, I’ve got those in Alabama. That’s about a ten-to-twelve-hour drive. And then I’ve also got Miami, and that’s about a six-hour drive.”

With just a few exceptions, Romero says she’s confident her teams can hit almost every state within twelve hours to replenish or deploy.

“Really, the fun part for me is the strategy,” she says. “How do we do it better? Listening. It excites me listening to our people, to understand their pain points and understand what did work and capitalize on that to make it better.”

While T-Mobile closed 80 percent of its stores at the outset of the pandemic, COVID forced stricter cleaning protocols to keep the team and customers safe at open stores. And essential businesses and the general public were competing for increasingly scarce sanitizer and other cleaning supplies.

​​​​​​​To avoid certain store closures should sanitizer run out, Romero identified an exceptional solution: a fuel delivery company she’d worked with was making its own cleaning supplies. Confirming the product met all the standards of T-Mobile’s Environmental Health & Safety Team, she worked with them to get orders in and figure out transport.

“We can’t, as an organization, ever do the same thing that everybody else is doing,” she says, “because every time we go down the path of what everybody else is doing, we’re going to come to a roadblock because it’s been done. And just like in this case, the supplies we needed were gone. Looking into creative solutions that no one else has tapped into is key.”

Because disaster response helps everyone learn how to navigate challenges that could eventually affect us all.

<a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/dealing-with-disaster-season-2020">Click here to read about the other half of the “Dynamic Duo” who works hand in hand with Becky Romero.</a>

As T-Mobile recognized the need for more robust responses to disasters, Senior Disaster Recovery Manager Becky Romero’s growing team secured more resources, including more local storage and trucks to move equipment quickly.

“Disasters All Have the Same Backbone” | T-Mobile Newsroom

“Disasters All Have the Same Backbone”

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In western states like California, Oregon, and Washington, the idea of a “wildfire season” confined to August through November is a thing of the past. These days the danger exists all year long. In response, T-Mobile has expanded our network preparations to cover more communities that may be impacted by wildfires throughout the year. We’re committed to helping customers stay connected before, during and after wildfires.

Predicting exactly when and where a wildfire will strike is nearly impossible, but T-Mobile takes a variety of precautionary steps so we’re ready to respond immediately when the time comes. We work with forecasting company <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/tracking-historic-weather-conditions-with-stormgeo">StormGeo</a> to keep an eye out for “fire weather” — high winds, low humidity and dry conditions that might combine to create a perfect storm for a wildfire. And in case of commercial power outages, we make sure our cell sites have backup power. Some of our additional preparatory steps include:

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When wildfires wreak havoc in communities, T-Mobile engineering and emergency response teams take immediate action. Technicians make repairs where needed and bolster the network while support teams supply residents with the resources they need to stay connected with family and friends. Here’s how we help:

With a <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/emergency-response-equipment">rapid response fleet</a> that’s double in size. We now have more than 20 different types of response vehicles, including mobile command centers and satellite-capable trucks, that can maneuver through disaster zones more easily than bigger pieces of equipment.

When wildfires damage cell sites or structures, our engineering teams jumps into action to get things up and running again. They bring in the right equipment for recon and repair as soon as it’s safe to do so and work around the clock until everyone is back online.

<a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/dealing-with-disaster-season-2020">Community support teams</a> operate a dozen community support trucks and mobile store trailers, where people can plug into charging stations, connect to the network, or get cell phone chargers, cell phone cords, or pre-activated cell phones so they can let their loved ones know they’re okay.

How Customers Can Be Ready

There’s a lot you can do to protect your home against wildfires and prepare yourself and your family for a wildfire threat:

T-Mobile prepares for wildfire season all year long, and has recommendations for how customers can be ready too.

T-Mobile is Ready for Wildfires All Year Long | T-Mobile Newsroom

T-Mobile is Ready for Wildfires All Year Long

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We hope it never happens. But when torrential rain and high winds beat on your windows or wildfire flames glow on the horizon, your only thought is to get your family to safety. That’s why being prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice is critical. It’s something the Un-carrier knows well.

T-Mobile’s network and engineering teams work around the clock to be ready to help customers, first responders, and communities during hurricane and fire season because we know how important it is to stay connected to the latest news alerts and loved ones. That’s why it’s just as important to take a few minutes now to put together a “Go Bag”. It will save precious time when disaster strikes.

A “Go Bag” is a disaster kit that ensures that you and your family have everything you may need in an emergency. The <a href="https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit-supplies.html">American Red Cross</a> has curated a list of essential items to pack. Each “Go Bag” should include an emergency radio, water container, a personal hygiene kit, and first aid kit. Don’t forget to also pack any medications your family needs. Some of the other items to include are:

There are many options for customers and the community to stay up to date on response and recovery efforts:

We hope it never happens. But when torrential rain and high winds beat on your windows or wildfire flames glow on the horizon, your only thought is to get

How to Pack an Emergency Go Bag | T-Mobile Newsroom

How to Pack an Emergency Go Bag

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Award-winning chef, author and philanthropist Aarón Sánchez was the guest star for T-Mobile’s special Hispanic Heritage Month edition of its ongoing Talking with Trailblazers series, dishing about his cooking career, preserving his family legacy through food and planting seeds for the next generation of Latino chefs.

Aarón Sánchez can whip up a joke about his Latino heritage as masterfully as he does one of his famed dishes.

“Talking about how we live as Latinos,” the chef said, before delivering a punchline like a well-seasoned comedian: “I live with my 63-year-old uncle who does the laundry with Suavitel. We clean our floor with Fabuloso. You know what I mean?”

While the laughs in the room proved the audience appreciated Sánchez’s penchant for the lighthearted, when it comes to the importance of preserving his family’s legacy through food, and inspiring and supporting young Latino talent in the culinary world, he turns to the serious and the heartfelt.

“One of the things I get really charged about is our youth,” he said. “They are our most valuable commodity. How we treat our youth and how we influence them is so important. This industry has given me so much, I felt I had to give back.”

The award-winning chef, author and philanthropist was a guest speaker for T-Mobile’s most recent Talking with Trailblazers event, hosted by Jorge Martel, the company’s Vice President & General Manager, Puerto Rico, in front of fifty employees at its signature store in Miami.

Talking with Trailblazers invites diverse speakers on a number of culturally significant topics to inspire, educate and share, and this particular event was a special celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Throughout the month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), T-Mobile employees are able to donate to the <a href="https://un-carrier.benevity.org/campaigns/353">Hispanic Scholarship Fund</a> and get a 2:1 employee match, thanks to the T-Mobile Foundation. The event also encouraged any of the 1,800 remote viewers to join its Magenta Latinx Network employee resource group, which is already 3,500 members strong.

Sánchez discussed his cooking career as the current chef/owner of <a href="https://www.johnnysancheznola.com/">Johnny Sánchez</a> in New Orleans, a judge on FOX’s hit culinary competition series <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterChef_(American_TV_series)">MasterChef</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterChef_Junior">MasterChef Junior</a>, and an author of two cookbooks, La Comida del Barrio and Simple Food, Big Flavor, as well as a memoir, Where I Come From: Life Lessons From a Latino Chef.

He also discussed how he is supporting other Latino chefs as the partner/creative director of <a href="https://www.chefaaronsanchez.com/cocina">Cocina</a>, the first online content platform dedicated to celebrating the Latin lifestyle through its vibrant culinary culture.

“I think we're living in a really exciting time where second generation Latinos especially are trying to get back to roots and I think it's real exciting,” he said. “And I think technology helps do that. Whether you’re capturing ingredients at a farmer’s market, whether you’re interviewing your abuela and having her tell you about her stories and her upbringing — that’s how you use the technology. That’s really powerful, I think.”

Sánchez also acknowledged how technology during this particular time has helped fuel people’s curiosity of what’s beyond the home environment, where many were isolated during the pandemic, and that’s in turn created a space for Latinos to do more research into their own heritage through home-cooked meals.

“People’s knowledge of the food has grown so much,” he explained. “And the pandemic has helped with that, actually. I think people have cooked a lot more at home. I think people are researching their food more. They're using the technology from T-Mobile. We were already in the foodie era, now I think we just got more food-ier. I think it's exciting time for the home cook.”

And an exciting time for those looking to become professional chefs, too, which is the idea behind the <a href="https://www.aaronsanchezscholarshipfund.com/">Aarón Sánchez Scholarship Fund (ASSF),</a> an initiative empowering aspiring chefs from the Latin community. ASSF provides recipients with full culinary scholarships to the International Culinary Center (ICC) in New York City and ongoing mentorship.

“I know it’s important to give back,” he said, citing his own mentors over the years, like chefs Douglas Rodriguez, Paul Prudhomme, Jonathan Waxman — and most of all, his mother, a chef who risked it all to follow her culinary dreams in New York City and sparked his initial interest in cuisine. “My industry has afforded me a beautiful life, and I would never imagine the things that I've seen and done. So, in order for me to do that, I have to thank my mentors and I have to make sure that I’m planting seeds for the next generation.”

Sánchez says his journey hasn’t been an easy road to success, but he acknowledges those who helped him, while also recognizing the unfair obstacles that he can now help remove for those next in line.

“It’s just this really exciting time right now,” he said optimistically. “Because when I started 25 years ago, I felt there was a huge discrepancy between Latinos getting executive positions in kitchens. We were dishwashers, we were prep people. We never got those big jobs. Our time has come.”

Have room for seconds? Well, you’re in luck! Also in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, check out this story about a cookbook of recipes from employees from T‑Mobile’s Consumer Group team: <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/hispanic-heritage-month-food-is-our-love-language">“Food Is Our Love Language.”</a>

Award-winning chef, author and philanthropist Aarón Sánchez was the guest on T-Mobile’s Hispanic Heritage Month edition of Talking with Trailblazers.

Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come” | T-Mobile Newsroom

Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come”

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In one of the most diverse school districts in the country, T-Mobile partnered with school and city officials in Oakland to help close the Homework Gap.

Friday, March 13, 2020: The President of the United States declares a national emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. That same afternoon, the superintendent of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in Oakland, Calif., declares that, starting the following Monday, OUSD’s 80 K-12 schools would cease in-person classes. The district’s 35,000 students would shift to distance learning through online classes and homework for at least the next month. And so began the most profound logistical challenge that Oakland school administrators had ever confronted.

In this city of 425,000 in Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area, simply messaging the shift to families was complicated. With minority enrollment at 89% of the total student population, and Latinos accounting for 44%, Oakland USD is by far one of the most diverse school districts in America. Throughout the district, about 11,000 students, or 30%, are learning English for the first time. Half of all students speak one of more than 50 different languages at home.

In this city of 425,000 in Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area, simply messaging the shift to families was complicated. With minority enrollment at 89% of the total student population, and Latinos accounting for 44%, Oakland USD is by far one of the most diverse school districts in America. Throughout the district, about 11,000 students, or 30%, are learning English for the first time. Half of all students speak one of more than 50 different languages at home.

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But communication wasn’t the only hurdle. At the time, says Susan Beltz, chief technology officer of OUSD, only 12% of Oakland’s 35,000 low-income students had a home internet connection.

Even among those who had the hardware, most still lacked the service to get online, leaving a huge disparity between those prepared with the tools for distance learning and those without. That disparity is an ongoing issue known as the Digital Divide — or in the context of school, the Homework Gap — and it plagues not only OUSD but school districts across the country. For Oakland schools and students, shifting to online-only classes was not as simple as just getting on Zoom. “The logistics were mind-boggling,” Beltz said.

She and Ali Medina, executive director of the Oakland Public Education Fund, charged ahead. They partnered with administrators across the district, plus officials from the City of Oakland. They all had the pandemic-incited emergency in mind, but they also saw the bigger picture. “We came together to say there's this huge need, and it’s essentially the issue of this generation and it's got to get solved,” Medina says. “We were all truly answering a call, and that includes T-Mobile, to do what's right. We have this technology, and we're going to get it into the hands of kids that need it.”

Recognizing that the problem is bigger than government or nonprofit agencies can address alone, T-Mobile has devoted immense resources to bridging the Digital Divide for years — and, with its Project 10Million, the Homework Gap. Announced in 2019 and launched the following year, T-Mobile’s Project 10Million has been providing schools with connectivity solutions for a year, and prior to that with its smaller-scale EmpowerED campaign, so the company already had a relationship with Oakland USD and the Oakland Public Education Fund, the nonprofit that fundraises and serves as a fiscal sponsor for OUSD.

But COVID upped the urgency. The key to bridging Oakland’s Homework Gap would be to scale up — and to do it faster than anyone imagined possible. An early donation from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to what became known as the #OaklandUndivided campaign paid for thousands of new tablets and laptops for students. But there was no service for the devices. “And here came T-Mobile like a knight in shining armor,” Medina said with a laugh.

T-Mobile and OUSD’s partnership had begun on a much smaller scale. In this new scenario, every aspect expanded. Beltz and Medina convened weekly meetings between district administrators, city officials and T-Mobile staff. Day after day, week after week, they stayed in touch with dozens of staffers in disparate organizations and departments.

“We were having these recurring conversations about, you know, when are the hotspots coming in? And when they arrive do you want us to install the SIM cards or do you want to do it? And how are we tracking all this stuff and how do we know when a line should be shut down because the device got lost and there's no longer any usage?” said Beltz. “It was a lot of in-depth work to make sure that these devices were going out to kids and being used by kids and were well supported, and being replaced and reissued when they needed to be. The vendor partnership with T-Mobile has been amazing because once the contract was signed it wasn’t just like, ‘OK, we’re going to ship a bunch of devices and we’re off to our next customer!’”

Together, #OaklandUndivided procured and distributed tens of thousands of wireless devices, including hotspots, tablet and laptops, plus service plans to get them all up and running in classrooms and private homes across Oakland. It took months, even at warp speed. And the partnership has not only weathered a year of remote learning, it’s ongoing in the new school year. Now almost every student in the district can get online — Beltz and Medina say that Project 10Million has helped improve the connectivity rate from 12% to 98%. But the challenge is never ending.

“There's always that next student that just moved to Oakland and is enrolling,” Beltz says. “And even if they're attending school in person, you still want to make sure that the Homework Gap and the Digital Divide continue to be solved."

“I’ve spent my entire career in tech,” she continues, “and the term ‘Digital Divide’ has existed since the ‘90s. The fact that it has such tremendous urgency in 2021 shows where things are and this tremendous opportunity gap between people who have connectivity and devices and people who don’t. I think there’s real recognition on the part of education leaders and city leaders to say, ‘This is not acceptable for our kids.’”

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“Disasters All Have the Same Backbone”

T‑Mobile is Ready for Wildfires All Year Long

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Chef Aarón Sánchez: “Our Time Has Come”

A Big Step Across the Digital Divide: T‑Mobile’s Project 10Million Connects 35,000 Oakland Students

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