Nuggets of wisdom.

On today’s episode of Up To Speed:

• Family in the Final Four!
• Fans meet soccer star Patrick Kluivert
• The speed of Verizon and the Power of INDYCAR
• Looking back at Women’s History Month
• Our responsible business efforts change lives and invest in our shared future
• The buzz from the Hispanic Small Business Security Conference
• Helping to shape the entrepreneurs of tomorrow at UCF
• This week’s 2-Minute Break, featuring Rakim Adell

🏀North Carolina State Wolfpack – and V Team Family – are in the Final Four!

Last week, we shared a fantastic story with you: DJ Horne, son of network engineer Lamar Horne, plays for the North Carolina State Wolfpack, and at the time of that story, they were headed to the Sweet Sixteen. Now, their Cinderella run will take them all the way to their first Final Four in four decades!

▶️ Watch to see: The fantastic pic Lamar sent with him holding up the South Regional Championship trophy after the Wolfpack stunned Duke in their Elite Eight matchup.

📣 Give Lamar and DJ your support: No matter who you’re rooting for — or who you may have in your brackets — let’s show some love to our extended V Team family for their phenomenal showing in this tournament in the comments. Go Wolfpack!

🎉Make some MORE noise: The NC State Women’s basketball team is ALSO headed to the Final Four – what an amazing year for these teams!

⚽ Fans meet and greet soccer star Patrick Kluivert. [01:16]

It pays to be a Verizon customer, especially if you love exclusive opportunities to meet people and participate in one-of-a-kind experiences. That’s exactly what happened when we hosted a meet-and-greet event with international soccer superstar Patrick Kluivert in New York City.

The event, which took place at the Steinway Street store in Astoria, Queens, was part of our partnership with LaLiga via the El Partidazo program – a year-long event series with a mission to bring LaLiga’s clubs and players closer to fans in the United States.

🏁 The speed of Verizon and the Power of INDYCAR. [01:59]

We couldn’t finish our sports wrap-up without mentioning speed and performance. We teamed up with Team Penske and IndyCar to release a short film called “Indy From 500 Miles Away.”

The film features the Verizon INDYCAR team from their homes as they manage two-time champion Will Power in the number 12 Verizon car on the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, putting our network to the ultimate test! Our own Network Performance Engineer, Scott Hansen, is on hand to monitor the network.

🎬Go behind the scenes: Get a glimpse behind the scenes with Scott on the replay above, beginning at [02:21].

▶️See the speed and Power: Watch the full video on YouTube.

🚺 A look back at Women’s History Month. [03:52]

April is now here, and with that is Celebrate Diversity month – you won’t want to miss our preview on Thursday. Today, we’re looking back at March and Women’s History Month:

1. We held an Up To Speed/Women’s History Month takeover with Sam Hammock and Kia Wilson.
2. We celebrated International Women’s Day with the women of the Verizon Leadership Council (VLC), who teamed up for a lively conversation filled with nuggets of wisdom.
3. We met Wonder Women as Sam launched her LinkedIn Live series with the co-owners of the Seattle Storm.

Learn more: at the Women’s History Month hub.

🤝Recapping our responsible business efforts. [04:57]

Last month also brought a big milestone for our Verizon Innovative Learning program: Reaching 7 million students! Learn more here.

Verizon's Small Business Digital Ready program supports thousands of small businesses across the country with free, online resources, and during Women’s History Month, we were able to surprise not one but two women-owned small businesses with $10,000 grants:

1. Charlotte Bowens started her company, Conscious Gear, after a health scare inspired her to take up running and when I say she took up running. Like all good innovators – Charlotte had a problem and created a solution, when she couldn’t find a hydration vest that fit her properly. That’s when she designed the world’s first hydration vest designed by and for bigger bodies, from size large through 8X.

   Charlotte used Verizon’s FREE Small Business Digital Ready program courses and live events to help grow her business, and her vest will soon be in select REI stores. As for Charlotte, she’s still running … ultramarathons!

2. Naomi Romo: She is the owner of Anghelo’s Suit and Tux, but her family’s owned this suit and tux business for three decades. Like Charlotte, Naomi also took advantage of the free resources offered by our Verizon Small Business Digital Ready program, honing in on the value of social media and reviews beyond what you find on Google.

   Telemundo Miami’s local entertainment show Accesso Total captured the moment that Senior Director of Small and Medium Business Sales Jorge Zapata surprised the Hispanic business owner and her family with the grant – you can see it here.

How do you qualify for the $10K grant? Any small business owner who takes advantage of at least two resources on the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready platform can apply. Right now, city-specific grant applications are open to small businesses in the Miami, Phoenix, LA and Houston areas. Learn more here.

🔁 Recap from the Hispanic Small Business Security Conference [07:54]

Last week, we previewed our involvement as a presenting sponsor at the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Business Expo in Washington, DC.

At the Expo we caught up with Lupe Quintero, President and CEO of the Latin American Youth Center in DC, who shared how she felt about Verizon showing up to invest in the hispanic community. To see the interview, go to [08:30].

🎓 We got into UCF! (To sponsor a great event for Latino women in business, that is…)[09:10]

We recently partnered with the Association of Latino Professionals For America to sponsor a college seminar at UCF focusing on Women in Business.

V Teamers Donna Navedo Sexton, Angelic Anderson, and Lucia Mendieta from our Lake Mary Hub spoke on a panel hosted by Marlyn Jasso, a Diversity Ambassador Lead from the Universities Relations HR team.

The goal: Give the students tangible resources and advice to thrive in the world of business.

The message: Inspiration, empowerment, community as well as practical advice and resources. The panelists discussed how working at Verizon has positively impacted their careers.

⏱️ Whew– it’s about time for a break! [10:27]

Have you heard about 2-Minute Break? It’s our weekly Q&A series featuring V Teamers from around the world talking about their jobs, families, hobbies and much more.

⌚ Now edition: Features Rakim Adell, a Retail Specialist, completely stylin’ dresser, and you might recognize him as a member of our VIP program.

📅 New edition: Later this week, our next 2-Minute Break featuring Alizanette Rodriguez will be available. You can catch it here on the Inside Verizon intranet on Friday, but you can check it out as early as Wednesday on #insideverizon on Slack, or on the Inside Verizon App (get the Inside Verizon App - Apple | Google). 

🫵 YOU edition: Want to be featured on an upcoming 2-Minute Break? Just fill out this quick form to volunteer!

Click here for a transcript of the webcast.

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