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One Team, Together: T-Mobile Employees Volunteer over 16,000 Hours, Raise Nearly $2 Million, During Magenta Giving Month

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“I Want 988 to Be as Familiar as 911”

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When April Ryan applied to work with the team that is in charge of communicating how T-Mobile is mobilizing for communities during times of crises, securing the promotion wasn’t just a professional ambition. It’s an extremely personal one as well.

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“I was an Experience Manager on the Social Media Care team that was responsible for making sure our frontline was prepared with resources to answer questions for our upcoming launches, announcements, and exciting events,” says April. “Thanks to my time with such a wonderful team, I was given the opportunity to work further with Corporate Communications. After a decade at the company, I’m now a communications manager that amplifies the work T-Mobile is doing for those in need during natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes and wildfires, as well as for those in personal crisis as well. That would include resources like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-makes-988-emergency-lifeline-available-to-customers">the 988 hotline</a>. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and four years ago my younger brother Kevin died by suicide. I want to get the word out about his story in the hopes of preventing this from happening to other families.”

We spoke with April about her experience with depression through her brother’s struggle, as well as her own following his death, and how working both personally and professionally to raise awareness for 988 is a way for her to honor his memory and the recent anniversary of his passing by helping others suffering from mental health issues.

May is Military Appreciation Month as well as Mental Health Awareness Month. Can you tell us why each is important to you in honoring your brother?

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Kevin was the youngest sibling of all three of us. He was the wild child of the family and he brought so much laughter and energy into any room that he walked into. He was amazingly brave. It was really no surprise to any of us when he joined the Navy at 18 after high school. He wanted to be the best he could be and help other people. Kevin also had struggled with depression for most of his life prior to joining the military. It was something that he did not like to talk about because he enjoyed bringing joy to other people.

While I knew that my brother struggled for a long time, I had never personally experienced anything to the degree that he went through daily. After his death, though, I got a taste of it and it’s not something that I recognized for what it was at first. He was only 25 years old. I was only 29. I had never set up a funeral before. Talking about mental health in the same way we openly talk about physical health is so important because depression can kill you if you do not seek treatment.

Can you explain what 988 is and why you think it can be such a vital resource for those in need of help?

I’m a survivor of suicide loss and there are more of us out there than people realize, as suicide is the&nbsp;<a href="https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/">12th leading cause of death in the U.S. currently, with an average 130 suicides per day</a>. The 988 Suicide &amp; Crisis Lifeline is an emergency hotline. When you dial 988 you’re connected directly to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a network of approximately 180 local- and state-funded crisis centers staffed 24/7 by professionally trained counselors to help if you’re in crisis.&nbsp;

It’s an amazing resource launched initially for calls in 2020, and then last year it was announced that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/988-free-mental-health-services">you can text to receive the same benefits</a>. I think of my brother, who was a notorious texter and not a phone caller. I am very proud that T-Mobile offers this all free of charge to its customers and I want more people to know. I want 988 to be as familiar as 911. My role in corporate communications is to inform the media to help spread that word to everyone who may need it, either in the moment or in the future. We need to bring this up often, to reach the people who struggle day to day and perhaps hide it or mask that struggle like my brother did.&nbsp;

What else would you like people to know about Kevin, and even your own story?

They say grief after loss never goes away, right? Four years later, I’m still trying to find ways to cope with that grief. But getting stronger at handling it over time.

I started to ask myself, what would Kevin want? I didn’t always have those answers so I felt I had to start asking myself what I would want, because this is my story too.

As I continued on in my career I knew I wanted to join the corporate communications world and when I learned that they are central to getting the word out for the 988 response I said, “That’s how I can help.” It’s something that I can be proud of and know that my work makes an impact.

I was telling my husband about doing this interview and I asked him what he thought my brother would say about it. My brother was a tall man, like six-foot-three inches, and he would often give me an endearing pat me on the head like a small child whenever he was proud of me. My husband said that my brother would probably pat me on the head. And I knew then that I was making the right decision.

My brother was the kind of person who would give you the shoes off his feet. Depression was a lifelong struggle for Kevin, but even at one of his lowest points when he was hospitalized, he still sought to help others, often visiting rooms just to give companionship and lend a listening ear. And while living up to the role model that he set for me, I’m going to do my best to try.

In 2020, T-Mobile became the first major wireless provider to make the <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/t-mobile-makes-988-emergency-lifeline-available-to-customers">988 emergency lifeline </a>immediately available to its customers, which offers real-time mental health services.Calling 988 connects customer to free mental health services from professionally trained counselors at the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, now the 988 Suicide &amp; Crisis Lifeline. In 2022, T-Mobile announced that those customers can also <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/988-free-mental-health-services">text for that same critical support</a>, too.Studies show that those who reached out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline were significantly more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed and more hopeful after speaking with a counselor. This service, available to any T-Mobile, Sprint, Metro by T-Mobile and Assurance Wireless customer, removes barriers to accessing help.

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A T-Mobile employee shares her personal story of loss, in the hopes of raising awareness about the 988 emergency lifeline for mental health services.

“I Want 988 to Be as Familiar as 911” - T-Mobile Newsroom

At the start of Magenta Giving Month in April, my colleague, Jon Freier, President of T-Mobile's Consumer Group, asked a question: <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-mobile.com%2Fnews%2Fcommunity%2Fgiving-back-the-t-mobile-way&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=UC8WZ6UoFp59b0EXFOkpGrVa8PBxMh5%2FZi9fkkMrRwQ%3D&amp;reserved=0">What kind of impact will T-Mobile employees make in a single month?</a> We now have a definitive answer—A huge one!

Nationwide, T-Mobile employees rallied together all month long, contributing over 16,000 volunteer hours to philanthropic pursuits, and donating to causes near and dear to their hearts. Using $23 in seed funding from the T-Mobile Foundation, more than 26,000 employees gave over $600,000 to 7,041 causes from education and health care initiatives to environmental conservation and more. That’s nearly 40% of employees who found a way to participate! And just as impressive, matching from the T-Mobile Foundation helped raise nearly $2 million during Magenta Giving Month for thousands of nonprofits. 

True to the Un-carrier philosophy, we acted as One Team, Together as a force for good in communities around the country. That kind of impact is incredible! 

From coast to coast, Team Magenta showed how ingrained community service is in T-Mobile’s DNA:

Bellevue, Wash. Employees created alphabet flashcard sets for <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flovelettersliteracy.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=uKQl54pn9KUlzOYZkIpQc5ZAL6J%2FcU6VgKoSBzGTEF0%3D&amp;reserved=0">Love Letters for Literacy.</a> The organization promotes early childhood literacy to children across the country and world.

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Snohomish, Wash. Team Magenta dirtied their shoes and broke a sweat while planting 730 trees on Farmer Frog’s property. <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffarmerfrog.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=m5NiyWe5VIF37T92heEa%2FItLlpri4f5vlcFVDKthonM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Farmer Frog</a> supports over a dozen school gardens and several urban and rural community sites by transforming underutilized land into environmentally sound, food-producing farms and gardens. Each of the trees planted contributes to the restoration of the environment which will be enjoyed by future generations.

Overland Park, Kan. Employees prepared 5,200 ready-to-eat meals for needy families served by <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harvesters.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=MdXOfdtwRESoBI6Ld%2F3%2Fe8qnvLlP%2B03v5H%2B4xMmbRVw%3D&amp;reserved=0">Harvesters</a>, a regional food bank supporting a 26-county area of northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. Access to healthy, nutritious food shouldn’t be exclusive to those with means.

Oklahoma City, Okla. Employees&nbsp;packed 1,493 pounds of food&nbsp;at the <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.regionalfoodbank.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=cvWspKdnUeI%2Bk5USuvnwrSMGDr9d3TS8n5yGLfKh6fY%3D&amp;reserved=0">Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma</a>. With the help of a Volun-T Grant (funding comes from the T-Mobile Foundation supporting local volunteer projects that fall within the categories of&nbsp;Digital Empowerment,&nbsp;Equity in Action, and&nbsp;Sustainability) the team made a $5,000&nbsp;donation to the food bank for its efforts to fight hunger&nbsp;in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties.

Impactful Partnership Complements a Sweet Initiative

One of the most notable achievements came from our collaboration with <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cityyear.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=jhxUwOeufPi94qCVga5cjS6H22cee3T7h5j5pc%2BG0%2Fc%3D&amp;reserved=0">City Year</a>. The organization prepares students with the social, emotional and academic skills and mindsets to succeed in school and in life. Teams in Bellevue, Wash., Overland Park, Kan., Reston, Va., and Frisco, Texas created an estimated 14,000 backpacks for local youth. These supplies and backpacks ensure students have the necessary resources to succeed in school.

At our Bellevue, Wash. headquarters, senior leadership team members served frozen yogurt to employees while raising money for the nonprofit of their choice. We called this, Froyo for Good. I worked alongside my friend and Magenta Giving Month co-sponsor, Jon Freier, dishing out frozen yogurt and toppings to employees. We had a blast raising money for our two respective nonprofits, <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paws.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=dBEAOawkZUBz6umYLOh0%2Be%2BTeq48aLg0NX1doa5b4uE%3D&amp;reserved=0">PAWS</a> (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) and <a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gems-girls.org%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CBrandon.Black25%40T-Mobile.com%7Ccfb2921edf884073c03a08db5322d9bf%7Cbe0f980bdd994b19bd7bbc71a09b026c%7C0%7C0%7C638195181374060636%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=zI37mGU8aZsRX8cBZwIzPqoS7YfHFX8EoWqNBF2RSt0%3D&amp;reserved=0">Girls Educational and Mentoring Services</a> (GEMS). When the final order was served, Froyo for Good raised over $64,000 for 10 nonprofits.

I love that we’ve started a new tradition where we focus our collective giving during a single month. The results from April are nothing short of outstanding! And we’re just getting started. Why? Because at T-Mobile, giving back to the community is ingrained in our DNA. And it’s part of the solution for how we achieve our mission of being the best in the world at connecting customers to their world. It’s a legacy – and a commitment to creating a better future for generations to come – we’re proud to build!

T-Mobile employees made a massive impact in communities nationwide during Magenta Giving Month in April.

One Team, Together: T-Mobile Employees Volunteer over 16,000 Hours, Raise Nearly $2 Million, During Magenta Giving Month - T-Mobile Newsroom

One of my favorite yet most challenging opportunities coming out of our <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/ceo-mike-sievert-10-years-of-un-carrier">merger with Sprint in 2020</a> has been bringing our two companies’ distinct cultures together. Employee integration is a complicated part of any merger — imagine doing it during a socially distanced pandemic! But we know we are stronger as One Team, Together (there is a reason it’s one of our company values!), so uniting our teams has been a major priority for three years. And I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished.

In the early days of bringing our employees together as one team, we were realistic that there may be some challenges and differences to overcome and embrace. But we also learned that our teams had a tremendous amount in common, and one of those things was a passion for giving back to the communities where we live and work. This shared ethos has become a major connector for our people — and has enabled us to better operate, too.

Before we merged, T-Mobile and Sprint each had long and respected philanthropic legacies. But as a combined company, as we’ve done in so many areas because of this merger, we’ve been able to supercharge our efforts. I often said during the merger process that we would not only be a bigger company but also a better one — and I meant that.

We’ve seen firsthand how rallying around shared causes fosters connectedness, improves collaboration and leads to creative problem-solving. Our experience is consistent with research showing that social responsibility creates happier work environments. A recent <a href="https://benevity.com/talent-retention-study?utm_medium=pr&amp;utm_source=website&amp;utm_campaign=talent-retention-study">talent retention study from Benevity</a> finds 52% lower turnover among newer employees when they participate in purpose-related programs.

For example, just this past month, we designated April as “Magenta Giving Month” in response to our employees who asked for more ways to give back together, and it was nothing short of amazing! I was inspired by the big things, like seeing us pack nearly 14,000 backpacks for <a href="https://www.cityyear.org/">City Year</a> students and 5,200 ready-to-eat meals for <a href="https://www.harvesters.org/">Harvesters</a> at our office locations across the country. But the little things stood out, too — like tip jars for charitable causes by our froyo station at our headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, and spontaneous fundraising events organized by teams across the country. Magenta Giving Month proved that employee pride for who we are and how we act as a force for good in our world is stronger than ever. That feels pretty special.

But our giving culture shows up every day at the Un-carrier — not just during one month of the year. In 2022 alone, we invested over $2.2 billion as a company, and through employee giving and volunteering, to strengthen our communities. We support employee giving by matching donation dollars and volunteer hours. We provide money to new hires in their giving accounts to donate to a charity of their choice. Through our Volun-T Grants Program, all employees can apply for funding from the T-Mobile Foundation toward volunteer projects that are most personal to them. 

I’m especially humbled by our overachieving Central Valley South California team, which has more than doubled its 2023 goal of raising $10,000 for its communities. They support many great causes, including the Tulare County Special Olympics, Autism Society Ventura County, and Tulare County League of Mexican American Women, which provides access to education, leadership development, cultural enrichment and civic engagement.

It’s rewarding to see employees join causes we champion as a company, too. Take our five-year, $25 million <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/25-new-towns-selected-to-receive-t-mobile-hometown-grants-for-local-initiatives">Hometown Grants</a> initiative, which we created to fund community projects in 500 small towns across America in five years. We’ve already given more than $7.8 million to kickstart 175 projects across 41 states, and our employees regularly encourage schools, towns and organizations in the communities where they work to apply for these grants. They’re proud to be part of a company that’s helping places like Murray, Kentucky, which struggled to rebound after a 2014 fire destroyed seven buildings in the center of downtown. Their revitalization plan languished until a T-Mobile Hometown Grant helped fund <a href="https://youtu.be/p6mRPOQukQI">Imagination Alley</a>, a now active and vibrant downtown area that greets residents and visitors with colorful, wall-sized murals, comfortable places to sit and Wi-Fi access.

Another commitment that’s close to my heart — and one that our employees are eager to pitch in to help, too — is <a href="https://welcome.us/">Welcome.US</a>, a collaboration that provides supplies, training and community assistance to refugees who are transitioning to life in the U.S. This incredible organization creates smooth pathways for people rebuilding their lives in a new country, and it’s deeply moving to partner with them by providing free lines of service, as well as hiring and training support. In just six months, we distributed nearly 10,000 phones to partner organizations and Afghan and Ukrainian newcomers. Our employees see directly how essential this connectivity is in people’s day-to-day lives, and they’ve stepped up to help manage the program, serve as sponsors, and volunteer at phone activation events and hiring fairs.

At a recent Welcome.US event at the University of Washington, one of our job recruiters was able to offer a software engineering internship to an Afghan family’s son. As a result, the family has expressed hope for a better life for him — and relief that their move to the U.S. was worth it. This is the kind of meaningful difference we and other Welcome.US partners and sponsors are making in refugees’ lives.

Whether our community giving starts small or involves supporting big, nationwide initiatives, these efforts benefit T-Mobile and our employees as much as the people we help. By mobilizing as one Team Magenta, we’re giving even more of our collective time, resources and financial support to lift up others.

CEO Mike Sievert reflects on uniting two teams around a shared passion for giving back to our communities — a great connector for employees that’s led to improved collaboration and creative problem-solving.

Building a Culture of Giving - T-Mobile Newsroom

Amy Viettry learned at a young age that she’d have to largely rely on herself and her own determination if she were to blaze a trail in corporate life, and indeed life itself.

“My parents came here to America to create opportunity for me,” the T-Mobile Senior Program Manager says, “and they’ve pushed me to be successful on my own because they knew they couldn’t line up all the ducks for me.”

As the daughter of refugee immigrants from Vietnam, Amy said the language barrier was just one of many obstacles that put a lot of the responsibility on her shoulders when it came to her schooling — and impacted her career ambitions.

Yet, she’s never lost sight of the sacrifices her parents made by creating a life for her in America. Today, with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in her pocket, she is committed to trailblazing a way for others like her to succeed by leading a company program aimed at high school students looking for support with their STEM career and education goals.

“We talk about networking all the time and it’s hard when you have to start with zero network,” she explains. “I don’t have parents who can say I know someone at this college to meet with you or someone at a company I can get you an interview with. I come from a low-income family that’s supporting me and my three siblings. I couldn’t afford college, so I started working right away at 18.”

The T-Mobile Explorer Prep Program follows the company’s goal of hiring diverse early career talent in STEM fields. During the two 8-week summer internships, students can earn a professional certificate in their field of interest while gaining on the job experience.

After completing the program, students are eligible to apply for a full-time employment development role that unlocks tuition assistance for higher education. The program also provides a pathway for students to pursue higher education.

For Amy, as T-Mobile's first program manager for the Explorer Prep Program, this presents a unique opportunity for high school students to jumpstart their careers in technology.

The conventional pathway into a career after completing high school and then college, Amy explains, isn’t always the most accessible or equitable path. For her, the chance to explore an alternative was exactly what she needed to succeed and what others like her deserve.

“There are so many students that might be the first to try to go to college or who come from households that can't afford to pay for college and are fearful of going into debt from hefty student loans,” she says. “This program is there to support them. For me, this is obviously very close to my heart. I’m living proof this can work, even if it is untraditional.”

While the Explorer Prep program is currently offered at select partner schools in the Seattle and Kansas City areas, close to T-Mobile’s two headquarters, Amy hopes its early success will expand its reach to more students in need.

We spoke with Amy about how the Explorer Prep Program works and how she is using her experiences to inform its optimal inclusivity. We also spoke to one student enrolled in the program who says Amy’s story inspired her to pursue her dreams of a career in STEM.

Can you tell us a little about how growing up the child of immigrant parents has impacted you and your career choice?

My mom is Chinese and my dad is Vietnamese. Both were living in Vietnam and came over as refugees from the Vietnam War. I grew up in a low-income neighborhood, but I went to school in an affluent white neighborhood. My dad was the only source of income and worked seven days a week to provide for me and my three siblings while my mom took care of us at home. I’m so grateful because they never made me feel less privileged. I never felt like I didn't have money, I just knew that there were things that I couldn't have that other kids could.

School was a challenge because I had to do a lot of things on my own that I saw others’ parents were handling for them. I had to fill out my own FAFSA and see school counselors and get school documents to register myself for things. I’d have to comprehend it all and explain it to them. There were so many kids out there I felt that had more support and connections when it came to getting into colleges. It’s just about knowing people who can help!&nbsp;

I didn’t get my bachelor’s degree until 10 years after I graduated high school. I knew my family couldn’t afford college, especially if it was just in the hopes of figuring out what exactly I wanted to do next. I started working right away at 18 knowing that my family wouldn't be able to continue supporting me. I got a job at T-Mobile in 2012. Fast forward to 2016 and I asked myself, “Why am I not taking advantage of this tuition assistance that my company's offering?” So, I enrolled into tuition assistance and I got my bachelor’s degree in 2020.

Immediately after getting my bachelor’s degree, I enrolled in my master’s and have just graduated! It was a great opportunity for me to be able to get something later because our company offered that help. It’s one reason why The Explorer Prep Program is so close to my heart. I’m living proof this can work, even if it is untraditional.

Can you explain how the Explorer Prep Program works?

The program started in 2020 and it’s a two-consecutive summer experience program for high school students who are interested in pursuing a career in STEM. We’re starting at the high school level and it’s a great way for us to really help provide students the exposure that they’re looking for in the industry to get their minds thinking sooner. When you think back to high school, many remember having no idea what they wanted to do but they’re applying to a four-year university anyways and paying for general education classes. Students often switch majors and have no idea what a career in the field they’re pinpointing even looks like. This program caters to both the students that don’t know what they want to do and also to the students that know exactly what they want to do. Our targeted audience is simply students that might not have the means to go to college and that’s where that diversity comes in. It’s inclusive of everyone.

There are three fields that we’re looking for: software engineers, cyber security engineers and user experience designers. We’re looking to be able to build a pipeline of diverse, top talent at a younger age than college level. They join the summer of their junior year and the summer after they graduate high school. The application process goes through the schools, and my school partners review those applications and send to our recruiters, who then select 30 student candidates to come in May for what we call the Manager Match Event, which is set up like an interview. It’s all in conjunction with local colleges for them to get a two-year certification in the career track that they want to go into. And they’re paid during it all. The program is small right now with Seattle Public Schools, Edmonds School District and Kansas City Public Schools, but there’s hopes of building it out with more partner schools.

Why is this program an important disruption to the status quo when it comes to the usual paths to education and career in your opinion?

It’s an untraditional way to get into a career because it’s kind of the reverse. The traditional route is you go to high school, you do a four-year university, you get into a college internship and you cross your fingers that you’ll get a career out of it, right? This way is flipped around. You start taking college courses your senior year in high school and you start doing internships your high school summers. But it’s actually so much more focused than an internship. It’s a summer experience with a clear path towards their future.

While students typically go for that four-year bachelor’s degree to get a career, what we’re offering is a chance to get the experience to make the right career choice for you. You get a certification, which is a specialized certificate in a field of your choice, and then we offer you an exclusive interview for full-time employment with T-Mobile. Once you become an employee with T-Mobile, we offer tuition assistance. If you still want to pursue your bachelor’s degree, we got you! So, yes, it’s untraditional but we’re offering something that students weren’t able to get before.

Since becoming the first program manager to lead this, I’ve implemented a new recruiting strategy that invites the whole family onto our campus because parents are essentially the decision makers for these high school students, and we need to explain why we are doing this. Growing up, even I thought it had to be a four-year university to get your bachelor’s to then get a career. That’s how we were trained to think. I think it’s important to talk to the parents and explain to them that there is a way to help your kids get their dream job without having to get caught up in student loan debt if that’s the concern. Let me tell you how. Let me introduce you to the professionals who will be mentoring your children and helping them find their own pathway to career success, and how that can also lead to education success as well!

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During AAPIHAM, a first-generation American shares how her unique journey inspired her to lead a T-Mobile program for diversity in technology.

AAPIHAM Employee Spotlight: "I'm Living Proof" - T-Mobile Newsroom

“I’m often asked how we got connected with <a href="https://warriorsandquietwaters.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters</a>,” says Paula Timmons, a T-Mobile director of Government Affairs in Washington, D.C., with a smile. “I guess that would start with me. In the back of my head, I kept thinking of my colleague Laura and her husband Drew. Laura and I have been close friends for almost 20 years and over that time, watching her with Drew, I knew I wanted to be an ally for her — be a better friend for her.”

Our story begins here, with this simple act of allyship.

Paula says in her role she sees herself as an ambassador for T-Mobile, sharing its policies and values with policymakers on Capitol Hill. She was working on a project to find underserved rural markets in need of the benefits of fast and reliable connectivity, when she met officials from the state of Montana. She was invited to represent T-Mobile at an event with Montana Senator Steve Daines. While there, she struck up a conversation with a few men who said they were on the board of an organization called Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters.

“I learned they were all veterans who suffered from some kind of PTSD,” says Paula.&nbsp;

She says they described their mission at Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters as helping post-9/11 combat veterans and their families thrive by building a support system and sense of community through outdoor excursions like fly fishing. She says they asked if she thought T-Mobile might be interested in learning more about one of the biggest events they were planning that year, called the Warrior Taste Fest.

“I knew right away I wanted T-Mobile to be part of this event in our new Bozeman Montana market,” says Paula, “but I found myself constantly thinking about my friend Laura. Knowing she was an avid fly fisher and knowing what she had been going through with her husband Andrew, I just felt like I needed to make that connection.”

“In the words of Johnny Cash, we got married in a fever,” laughs Laura Linderman Barker, a senior director on the Government Affairs team at T-Mobile.

Laura says she met her husband Andrew when he was doing reserve duty in the Navy and working with the Department of Justice. They fell in love quickly — then married quickly — because he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan.&nbsp;

“Unfortunately, when he left for his seventh and last deployment, Andrew was in close proximity to a blast and suffered a traumatic brain injury,” says Laura. “TBIs are complicated. I had no idea what it meant to be a military wife. I was someone who always planned everything and felt in control, but then became someone who never felt so emotionally vulnerable. And I deeply missed my husband.”

Laura says she had no concept of what to expect of supporting a navy veteran reintegrating into civilian life, and though she was struggling, they just kept moving forward working and caring for their two daughters.

When Paula first mentioned her chance encounter with the board members she met from Warrior &amp; Quiet Waters, she says she saw it as a wonderful opportunity for T-Mobile. The part of Montana where the organization is located was a rural area in need of better connectivity and the two were able to get approval to have T-Mobile sponsor the Warrior Taste Fest to continue its work of supporting veterans.

“I admit when I first heard of Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters, I immediately thought, ‘I need to get my husband involved in this and it kind of went over my head that I should apply as well,’” she says.

Laura says when she arrived in Montana to visit the organization with Paula, she was surprised to hear they were beginning to work on a caregiver-focused fishing expedition program. Emily Sather, Chief Development Officer at Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters, asked if Laura would be interested in applying.

“I think Laura for the first time felt that she found a community that understood who she was and what she was going through — she was a caregiver,” says Paula. “And the opportunity to take advantage of this new-found community through fly fishing came at the perfect time with what Laura was going through. I saw her struggling and I needed to help her put one foot in front of the other.”

Once again, Laura says it was her ally Paula who pushed her to see that, she too, was deserving of care.

“My takeaway is that I’m of no value to my husband and family if I’m not taking care of myself. And this program reminds people to stop and energize and refuel because you’re going back to a situation that requires your energy and if you don’t ever recharge it can be a recipe for disaster. It reminded me to not just focus on what it is to have my most basic needs met, but to challenge me to pursue a life of purpose.”

Laura returned from that trip excited to do more for the organization so, she decided to write a letter directly to Jon Freier, T-Mobile’s President of Consumer Group and an avid supporter of the company’s Veterans and Allies Network employee resource group. She told her story and was immediately given the support she requested to have T-Mobile to become a lead corporate sponsor for their next Warrior Taste Fest fundraiser.

Members of Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters say the attention that they were able to bring to their biggest event was invaluable back then in 2021. Committed to supporting service members and military spouses, T-Mobile has renewed its lead corporate sponsorship every year since, including most recently for the next Warrior Taste Fest in September 2023.

This year the organization is creating a new program called Built For More, which invites six to eight veterans to not only participate in their foundational outdoor events in Montana, but also stay connected for a year long journey that includes life coaches and mentors to help their transition to civilian life with their families. It’s a program Laura says her husband Drew will be participating in.

“It’s not just about helping veterans to survive,” ultimately, says Laura, “it’s how do we get them to thrive? And it’s in that thrive that you come to a self-actualization or a life of purpose. And I know this to be particularly important in the lives of a veteran family. For the veteran caregiver or the children, it’s important because so much effort often goes into helping the veteran succeed, and oftentimes you forget to make sure you’re succeeding. And my participation in this program reminded me of the importance of thinking about challenging yourself to a greater life of purpose, because that’s when you see veterans and their families thriving, and that is the goal of Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters.”

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Recently chosen to continue an additional nine years as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/business/veterans-affairs-selects-t-mobile/nr-hero-us-dept-va-partnership-4-12-23">its primary wireless provider</a>, T-Mobile is proud to be deploying up to 50,000 wireless lines for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare professionals — including doctors, nurses, social workers and crisis hotline staff — so they can stay connected to the millions of veterans they serve.

In recognition of Military Appreciation Month, we bring you the personal story of how Warriors & Quiet Waters is helping one of T-Mobile's own employees.

Warriors &amp; Quiet Waters: Helping Veterans and Their Families Find a Life of Purpose - T-Mobile Newsroom

There’s an aesthetic-focused community on social media that has a message for you: planners are evolving. From <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CdehQXzozrW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D">IG reels</a> to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/digital-planner?lang=en">TikTok</a>, digital planning is the trend that has <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cp2ir52Mhyo/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D">influencers</a> showing off beautifully curated calendars and specialized templates that demonstrate how customizable — and convenient! — it can be to organize your life with your device.

This modern mode of digital planning uses an interactive pdf to combine the tried-and-true organization of paper planners, calendars, and similar tools with the modern edge of your <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/tablets?INTNAV=tNav:Devices:Tablets">favorite device</a>. And when you pair that device with <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/4g-lte-5g-networks">T-Mobile’s 5G network</a> — the country’s largest, fastest and&nbsp;most awarded&nbsp;— you’ll be able to seamlessly keep your planner up to date on any platform, wherever you go.

“We believe in having a booked and balanced life and this is a vehicle to help you achieve your goals and dreams,” says Tannera George, co-owner of the <a href="https://thebookdstore.com/">luxury stationary and lifestyle company Book’d</a>.

Together with Adrienne Harris, the two women started <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebookdstore/?hl=en">Book’d</a> in 2018 with hard copy options, and have since grown to also offer a digital platform that meets the demand of clients who were excited by what they were seeing on social media’s digital planning community.

“We were fresh out of undergrad and looking for a way to enhance our productivity and achieve new goals with the help of a planner and wanted to create a meaningful representation of who we are as Black women in the organizational space,” says Adrienne. “We saw a need, especially in our community, for women to be able to strive for their dreams and be able to hold themselves accountable in those pursuits.”

Though it took some time, as self-proclaimed “pen and paper girls,” these two have cracked the code to digital planning and share some important tips on how anyone can reap the benefits of these tools.

Since getting started requires a few more steps than just cracking open a bound paper planner, here’s a handy guide that breaks down exactly how to set yourself up for success.

The first step in your journey will be to prepare your favorite device, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phones">smartphones are great for when you’re on the go</a> and <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/tablets">tablets are best for when you need a bit more screen space</a> for your brainstorming. If your planner is in the cloud, then you can make edits on the go, which is incredibly convenient if you travel often.

“It’s very useful for your digital planner to link across devices,” says Tannera. “I prefer to use a tablet. Since it’s in between the size of a phone and a desktop, it’s that perfect middle ground.”

While there are plenty of apps available, three of the most popular options are <a href="https://www.goodnotes.com/">GoodNotes</a>, <a href="https://www.notion.so/">Notion</a> and <a href="https://notability.com/">Notability</a>. One of the first lessons you’ll realize upon taking a deep dive into the world of digital planning is that it’s a community built on the pillar of customizability. Financially, for example, if you’re not looking for paid services, you can easily avoid apps that cause you to sign up for yet another subscription. As a beginner, a free digital planning app combined with a free template can be a great low stakes way of getting started.

“There’s so many note-taking apps and pdf annotators out there and finding the right one can get a bit overwhelming,” says Tannera. “A great starting point would be <a href="https://www.goodnotes.com/">GoodNotes</a> for Apple users and <a href="https://notability.com/">Notability</a> for Android users. Both apps have free versions, and offer paid plans if you decide you want to upgrade.”

So, you’ve downloaded a digital planning app on your device and now you’re waiting for the magic to happen. This is where your personal style and preferences will come into play. There are plenty of great tutorials that show you how to setup a digital planner based on your app of choice, but just know that there are usually three basic steps involved: downloading a template, uploading the template to your app, and then filling it out with your life.

“You don’t need a planner if you don’t have plans right,” jokes Adrienne. “Figure out what you want to accomplish that year and any goals you want to want to work towards, and then you can use it as a tool to hold yourself accountable.”

Tannera says while she’s a “weekly planner, brain dump, check list kind of organizer,” she knows that Adrienne prefers a scheduler. Adrienne says that you’ll want to take time to think about what your needs are, and which format works for you — for example, dated vs. undated, weekly vs. daily scheduler, and whether or not you want sections like blank pages for brainstorming and checklists. Once you do some organizational introspection, you can find planners that match your lifestyle.

STEP 4: Find or design your first template

Once you’ve watched a tutorial or two, you should feel ready to pick your very first template! If you’re comfortable with design, this is a great chance to get creative and make your planner your own. If you aren’t, no worries! There are plenty of free templates available to download and even premium ones that are already pre-designed to make getting started easy.

If you get little lost in the template search, you can always start with the basics.

“A good option to fall back on is a general planner that’s dated and allows you to add customizations,” says Tannera. “You can also find some more specialized, like a mental health focused planner, for example.”

That’s it! And just like that, you are now a part of the burgeoning digital planning community that’s serving people of all walks of life. Whether you’re a working professional looking for project clarity or a parent hoping to streamline your family’s schedules, you can now use your digital planner to prepare for your busy week, track your workout progress, plan grocery trips — and pretty much everything else under the sun. The sky’s the limit when it comes to your productivity potential!

“That’s how our planner came about,” says Adrienne. “It’s a vehicle to help you reach your goals and your dreams.”

T-Mobile Stories is joined by two digital planning community experts to show us how to turn the page on traditional planners by turning to your device.

Digital Planning: The Trendiest Way to Organize Your Day - T-Mobile Newsroom

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Share this quiz with your friends to help debunk common myths and misconceptions!

To learn more about T-Mobile’s sustainability efforts, visit <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/sustainability" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">t-mobile.com/sustainability</a>.&nbsp;

We've put together a true/false quiz with seven common myths around sustainability. Can you solve them all?

Quiz: Can You Bust These 7 Sustainability Myths? - T-Mobile Newsroom

At T-Mobile, we refuse to ever be satisfied with the status quo because customers are never satisfied. And as the world changes at an insanely fast pace, customers’ expectations only continue to grow. We believe it is important to meet them where they are, but also to stay ahead by constantly looking around corners to understand what they will need in the future. So, we do something that is incredibly unusual in the wireless industry: We listen to our customers. We find solutions to smash their pain points. We innovate on their behalf. And above all else, we never, ever stand for “good enough,” an approach that is all too common among the carriers. Instead, we disrupt.

This <a href="https://youtu.be/ck2NsPfuNu4">Un-carrier ethos we have lived and breathed for 10 years now</a> has delivered 20+ Un-carrier moves, including some of this industry’s biggest moments. Music Freedom in 2014 marked the beginning of unlimited as we know it today. Unlike the carriers who charged for every song their customers streamed, we hooked up our customers with the top music streaming service of their choice — without data charges. And in 2016, our Unlimited Talk, Text &amp; Data move abolished data limits forever. Despite saying they’d never offer unlimited, eventually the other guys followed our lead. Another favorite is <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/coveragebeyond">Coverage Beyond</a>, a 2022 move making it easier and more enjoyable than ever for travelers to stay connected around the world and in the air.

And one of the most important moves of all happened just over three years ago. After merging with Sprint in 2020, we put the “new” T-Mobile in the best position to realize our most audacious Un-carrier dream yet: breaking down the wireless industry’s decades-old forced choice between the best value and the best network. And that’s exactly what we’ve been working to do. Just as we said it would when we first announced the combination with Sprint, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/merger-success">our merger</a> over the past three years has created titanic shifts in wireless and broadband that have led to massive benefits for consumers and businesses!

When we combined forces with Sprint, again, we listened to our customers. We knew they wanted reliable connectivity, so we bet on mobility and mid-band spectrum — what we call “Goldilocks” spectrum. Meanwhile, our competitors were insisting nationwide mmWave technology would be the future, a strategy that would cost them $1.5 trillion. Eventually, the others were forced to shift their strategies and make huge investments to try to catch up with us. Our merger became the catalyst for an all-out race to connect Americans, with the U.S. rolling out 5G nearly twice as quickly as we rolled out 4G! We are proud of that fact and believe consumers should be the winners here — and they are.

Today, we cover 98% of Americans with T-Mobile’s <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/mobile-world-congress-2023-wrapping-up-the-first-quarter-of-5g">transformative 5G network</a>, and third parties are recognizing us as the <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/16-reasons-theres-a-new-wireless-network-leader">OVERALL network leader</a>! Considering that the U.S. didn’t have nationwide 5G until T-Mobile launched it at the very end of 2019 makes our progress even more remarkable!

Our network not only enables us to offer customers and businesses amazing products and benefits, but it has also created unbelievable competition in wireless and beyond. We’re delivering reliable connectivity — with great value — to those who previously lacked choice, increasing 5G coverage in rural areas by 90% since we closed the merger three years ago! We are also using our network capacity to transform broken industries like big cable. Communities now have access to <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/home-internet?INTNAV=tNav:HomeInternet">T-Mobile 5G High-Speed Internet</a> for only $50 a month with AutoPay — and peace of mind with Price Lock, our promise to ALL new postpaid and broadband customers that we won’t EVER change the price they pay for their talk, text, and data, and home internet.

Speaking of Price Lock, the value this merger enables us to deliver is another thing the carriers have rushed to replicate. We’ve shaped a market that’s become so competitive that there has never been a better time to be a wireless consumer. T-Mobile customers on our lowest-priced plans are paying about four times less per gigabit today than they did pre-merger. And customers on our best plans, are also getting tremendous value-adds. For example, customers on our <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Go5G plus</a> get over $270 worth of benefits—every month with things like <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/tv-streaming/apple-tv-plus-deal">Apple TV+ on Us</a>, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/support/plans-features/netflix-on-us">Netflix on Us</a>, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/benefits/travel">free high-speed data abroad</a>, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/benefits/travel/in-flight-wifi">free in-flight Wi-Fi</a>, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/benefits/aaa-membership-deal">AAA for a year on us</a>, <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/scam-shield">free Scam Shield Premium</a> and so much more — all on top of their wireless service on the <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/4g-lte-5g-networks">nation’s largest, fastest and most awarded 5G network</a>. Non-T-Mobile customers are winning, too. To keep pace with the Un-carrier, the carriers have been forced to get rid of things like 5G surcharges and launch unlimited 5G smartphone plans. This is all especially meaningful to American families who are doing everything they can to reduce costs in this inflationary environment.

And our commitment to customers extends to putting our network to use for GOOD through programs like <a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/news/community/project-10million-fall2022-update">Project 10Million</a> and other education initiatives, which in just a few short years have connected more than 5.3 million students with $4.83 billion in services. As a company whose mission is to become the best in the world at connecting customers to their world, nothing’s more gratifying than helping bridge the nationwide digital divide that still exists.

Undeniably, this merger — the <a href="https://idcdocserv.com/US50542623">most successful one in telecommunications history</a> — has changed the shape of this industry for consumers because T-Mobile has been even more empowered to continue being all that the Un-carrier set out to be a decade ago. We’ve accomplished so much over the past 10 years and even in the last three years, but we won’t stop now! We are a company on the move, storming and prioritizing to do BETTER and do MORE for customers. Dream Big and Deliver is one of our company values for a reason. It reminds us to aim higher, and to never stop being restless and relentless about putting customers first. These are the qualities that have made the Un-carrier who we are past and present — and will lead us into the future.

Be sure to check out our newest phone plans, Go5G and Go5G Plus. The first plan where new and existing customers always get the same great device deals.

Today, T-Mobile is in the best position yet to realize our most audacious Un-carrier dreams.

10 Years of Un-carrier, 3 Years Into Merger … Forever Disrupting! - T-Mobile Newsroom

T-Mobile has long been a participant in the FCC’s spectrum auctions, which the Commission has used for 30 years to rapidly assign licenses. These auctions fuel the U.S. economy—they’ve returned <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-391576A1.pdf">$233 billion</a> to taxpayers so far, and once armed with this spectrum, wireless companies have spent <a href="https://www.ctia.org/news/u-s-wireless-investment-hits-record-high">another $635 billion</a> building out networks. American consumers benefit from these investments—they’ve resulted in the world’s best 5G service that is now a platform for innovators and has created millions of jobs.

That’s why Congress must act now to renew the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, which lapsed in March for the first time in 30 years. Without such authority, the FCC can’t auction licenses, and there’s no other practical way to bring more spectrum to market. That’s a massive competitive disadvantage for the United States and a disadvantage for American consumers. &nbsp;

Pumping more spectrum into the marketplace has benefitted Americans with faster and more capable networks that, for example, have allowed T-Mobile to offer home internet service over our 5G network to millions of underserved consumers. As consumer and business demands increase (customers with 5G phones on our Magenta MAX plan now use nearly 40 GBs per month), so does the requirement for more spectrum. The U.S. needs a certain and reliable spectrum pipeline to meet Americans’ current and future needs.

For our part, T-Mobile has been working tirelessly to build and deploy the largest and fastest 5G network with our existing spectrum assets. Mid-band spectrum has given us the gas in the tank to supercharge our 5G network and offer home internet service that is bringing competition to cable. In fact, we are now the fastest growing broadband provider in the U.S. So, when T-Mobile bid on, won and paid over $300 million for licenses in the most recent FCC auction (Auction 108), we made plans to immediately put that spectrum to use for consumers.

But the FCC did not grant our licenses prior to the lapse of auction authority, and they’re now stuck in regulatory limbo. Those licenses support wireless service in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. They will boost speeds and bring mid-band 5G to consumers for the first time in some places. Many of the licenses sold cover rural areas where the spectrum has been dormant, sitting on the shelf at the FCC for nearly 30 years. In cities and suburbs, the licenses will allow us to create more consistent speed and capacity across metro areas.

Even though auction authority has lapsed, we strongly believe the FCC still has the power to issue the licenses from the last auction. After all, the auction finished successfully before the authority lapsed and all that’s left to do is routine processing of licenses from the completed auction. We’re not alone in that view. Four former FCC General Counsels <a href="https://www.jenner.com/a/web/e32ms32xaUDSdv4qRruD9P/fcc-auction-authority.pdf">have said</a> the FCC’s power to issue the stranded licenses is “unambiguous.” And regardless, T-Mobile will continue pushing Congress to renew the FCC’s auction authority right away, so we hope this issue becomes moot.

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