Finishing strong.

Happy Friday! On today’s Up To Speed live, host Diana Alvear shared the following updates:

Up To Speed Week in Review

First, let’s look back at an exciting week. You can check out these and any other episodes you might have missed.

Monday: Andy got some glow up tips courtesy of Grammy-winner Meghan Trainor, and we all got to take a quiz testing our 5G knowledge.

Tuesday: We were treated to the beautiful story of the Down Syndrome Diary, featuring V Teamer Jamie Freeman and her 7-year-old son Benjamin. Her diary for families expecting babies with Down Syndrome became a book with contributions by 26 families from 4 countries.

Wednesday: Hans and Christy were live from the Leadership Forum, where they shared the VZPulse+ results.

Thursday: We got serious about gaming and we want you to tune in on Monday for the keynote from E3 — one of the biggest gaming events of the year — featuring our very own Diego Scotti and Nicki Palmer.

Advanced SASE

Verizon Business announced the launch of our new Advanced Secure Access Service Edge solution. What does that mean? It’s the creation of a unified, cloud-delivered service able to meet the increasingly complex digital demands of enterprises. This is going to provide businesses with scalable, flexible solutions that are able to adapt to business requirements, while optimizing performance and security.

On Site 5G

Verizon Business also announced the launch of On Site 5G, our first commercially available, private 5G network solution in the U.S. This will allow large enterprises and public sector customers to bring Verizon 5G to their facilities. Very exciting to see the continued innovation from this team that will help so many of our business customers!

Safety pledge

June is National Safety Month, and we’re joining the National Safety Council to promote the importance of safety at work, at home and on the road. Click here to sign the safety pledge. If you do it by the end of the month, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win one of 50 $25 gift codes that you can use in the Verizon Brand shop.

Props to our Fleet Operations

In honor of National Automotive Service Professionals week, we’d like to give a shout out to our amazing Fleet Operations team that does so much every day to make sure our vehicles are maintained from coast to coast. Fun fact: Did you know that according to Fleet Owner Magazine, Verizon maintains the fifth largest private fleet of vehicles in the U.S.? You can read more about some of our amazing Fleet Operations V Teamers here.

Encircle and Pride

It’s Pride month and we’re doing something special this year to celebrate. Verizon is partnering with Encircle, a non-profit that builds safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, young adults, and families, to build community homes with next-gen technology, including 5G. This is another example of the many ways we’re working to increase digital inclusion.

Support for PFLAG and Human Rights

We're also increasing our financial support to $1 million for PFLAG National, a non-profit that supports LGBTQ+ education and advocacy. We've also committed $1 million through the Verizon Foundation to the Human Rights Campaign to help individuals and organizations improve understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. Let’s show our Pride, and not just during the month of June, but all year long.

1,100 opportunities to join the V Team

Last month, we talked about our rock stars of retail. As more of our customers return to in-store shopping, we’re looking to add more than 1,100+ new retail solutions specialists to our teams across the country. That’s why we’re launching a Solutions Specialist Employee Referral Program.

You’re our best brand ambassadors and we need to expand our network with more talent like you. That’s why we want to reward you for your support. Eligible employees who refer candidates to a solutions specialist role on our Retail team will receive $500 if their referral is hired. Read all of the details on the offer, spread the word and let’s move the world forward together!

Plan Manager

Ever have trouble keeping track of all of the perks and benefits of your network plan? With Plan Manager, you can find all your details in one place. Just go online or visit the My Verizon app to check out all of the features of your plan, including things like entertainment bundles, ways to keep your phone safer and suggestions on how to make the most of your plan.

2021 Commencement Speakers

So many of us know a special graduate this year. That includes our CEO Hans Vestberg, who led a fantastic group of stars saluting the accomplishments of the class of 2021. Tune in next Thursday, June 17, for the second installment of our “Ready for Anything” virtual commencement series on Verizon’s Twitter and LinkedIn.

This week, the series features the hilarious Mellisa Villaseñor from Saturday Night Live along with Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga delivering keynote addresses. Lin Manual Miranda’s Freestyle Love Supreme Academy will perform.

Replays of last week’s Ready for Anything with Alex Rodriguez, Bob the Drag Queen and Aisha Bowe are now available on Verizon’s Twitter and LinkedIn.

Show us your grads

By the way, we’d love to see photos of your graduates of any age! Send them to good@verizon.com and you may catch your graduate on a future Up To Speed episode. Let the world know how proud you are!

Future of Gaming — Diego and Nicki at E3

We mentioned it earlier but it’s big enough news for an extra shout out: Tune in during our Up To Speed on Monday, June 14, at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT to watch Verizon’s first E3 keynote to see how 5G is impacting the future of gaming. Chief Marketing Officer Diego Scotti and Chief Product Development Officer Nicki Palmer will be joined by Riot Games, Dignitas and Team Liquid during the keynote presentation —Verizon 5G and the Future of Gaming —where they will be making several announcements.

Celebrating Juneteenth

Tune in to Up To Speed Live next Friday, June 18 at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT, when our very own Business Group SVP Wendy Taccetta and Finance SVP Shane Sanders share what Juneteenth means to them. Directly following the episode, you can join BOLD’s panel discussion on the racial wealth gap and the current state of Black women-owned businesses.

If you have any questions, email them to live@verizon.com.

Click here for a transcript of the webcast.

Get the latest information on our Coronavirus Resource Page (Inside Verizon, The Street).

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