Blue Crew Jade

Image: Jade Wang-Angelastro and her adventurous family! 

Welcome to the August edition of the “Blue Crew” blog. This month we met with life long VTeamer turned Blue Jade! Grab your popcorn and join us for an exciting story about Jade’s career path from the mothership to our starfighter. 

What’s your name and job: Jade Wang-Angelastro
Senior Manager Product Sales (Global Enterprise and Public Sector) 

How long have you been with BlueJeans/Verizon? Almost 3 months with BlueJeans….and my Verizon career is almost a legal adult..almost 18 years here! Verizon was my first job right out of college…and clearly has been my only career in my adult life. 

How have your unique experiences and insights made you successful in your career? Looking back on my career, it seems like yesterday that I was just starting with the company - the time has flown by -- or I am just in denial of how long it has actually been! I have had some pretty unique experiences over my career with being a part of various leadership and recognition programs which has helped me in learning how to be a better employee and leader. I know that everyone has different opportunities that might be different than the path I have had, but what I would say, being deliberate with your leader and your leader’s leader about what you want to do with your career will be the first step. Find out what truly inspires you and what your passionate about, from there, proactively reach out to individuals who are part of that organization to learn more…network as much as you can, build meaningful relationships and be confident in yourself and your brand -- but also be open to feedback on how to improve your personal brand.

What do you enjoy about working at BlueJeans/Verizon? The people and the culture that our leaders strive for with their teams…And knowing that a lot of the technology/services we provide are making a positive impact in the world.

Who/what are some of your biggest inspirations within the company? Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work for a lot of great leaders that have been inspiring. I would say that there are definitely only a few from past experiences that I would with no question go work for in a heartbeat, and those leaders are within BlueJeans. I always think you can have a leader that you HAVE to work for or you have leaders you WANT to work for - and I have that today. 

I have had some great leaders that have been advocates for me and believed in me when I haven’t believed in myself - I think it's easy to have imposter syndrome, but having great leaders (and friends) who push you, coach you and believe in you have made me into who I am today.

Which benefits are your favorite and why? BlueJeans/Verizon has great medical benefits that I probably take for granted. Over the years, my family has had to take quite a few trips to the emergency room so knowing that our benefits cover medical expenses like this it takes some of the stress away! A couple of years ago my daughter broke her arm at school which required a few surgeries --- knowing we could go to the nearest emergency room and have a great surgeon perform her surgeries because of our insurance benefits made things a lot easier for us. 

Oh and I can’t forget to shout out the tuition program - I recently decided to FINALLY finish my MBA after “dropping out” when I had kids --- knowing we get assistance for education helps for sure! 

What’s the most unique part about working here? Every day is different, there are always new challenges that we haven’t faced before. Not having a redundant role helps keep things exciting (and sometimes overwhelming). Our organization is changing all the time - but also with that change the leaders are always looking to the future. We may not know or understand why change happens from day to day, but I always think that in 1-3 years time, you look back and have that epiphany of “oh that is why that change was made..now it makes sense.” 

What's something most people don't know about you? Probably a lot…by nature, I am very much an introvert but I have had to adapt over the years to be more extroverted at work --- I think that I actually call it an ambivert. With that said…something that a lot of people don’t know is that I was practically raised in a family owned Chinese restaurant. My parents opened a restaurant when I was about 3 years old and that was their life 7 days a week. I have several memories of helping out in the kitchen and saw how hard my parents worked to provide for us. I learned a lot of my work ethics from them, but also the importance of having work/life balance because they didn’t have it for the longest time. With my mother having just a high school diploma and my father being an immigrant from Vietnam/China, they taught me a lot with determination and independence.

Any words of advice or a favorite quote you would like to share with us? Several years ago, I had a leader that once stated, “If you want to accelerate or challenge yourself, you need to put yourself in uncomfortable situations.”

This is something that has always stuck with me and there have been several pivotal moments in my career where I have been scared of a presentation or a career move, but ALWAYS that statement seems to pop into my mind.  After I remember that exact moment of hearing that statement, it puts me at ease that it's those uncomfortable situations that are going to make me a better individual and leader. Over the last several positions I have held, there has always been some fear in applying and I can truly say this statement has always helped me through the process and looking back I can definitely say, I was very uncomfortable and uneasy, but what I learned and who I met during the process is remarkable. 

What's your social handle so people can follow you on social media? I have a work Instagram that I am not great at posting on, but will do a better job now that I have the pressure of people potentially following me! It’s: @Jadewangelastro