Team Universal

✨ Our biggest event of the year — the Gala — returned in full force with a stunning Wicked-themed edition! ✨ Our incredible co-leads Sofia Alvarez Ulate and Mia Miles poured their hearts into organising every detail, putting a wonderful event together, and showing true resilience through every challenge 💚 💗💫 📅 Date: 7 November 2025 Guests enjoyed a magical evening filled with dancing, a gourmet 3 course meal, and fantastic music. 🌟💚The evening was brilliantly hosted by the wonderful Bronwyn James — best known for her role as Shenshen in the Wicked films — who captivated guests with her sharp wit and vibrant personality. 🎉✨ Made in Chelsea’s Ollie & Gareth Locke were incredible as the presenters of the record-breaking raffle. They were experts at engaging the audience and making the section fun and full of surprises. 🎤 We also held a live auction with incredible prizes up for grabs along with a live band, Rotation Collective, led by star of The Voice UK 2024, Haydn Bardoe. This Gala was a true team effort, with so many stars making the night unforgettable: 📝 Running Order & On-the-Day Logistics Huge shoutout to Christian Stapleton and Cosma Flore for keeping everything running smoothly — absolute superstars ⭐ 🎟️ Auction & Raffle From sourcing prizes to managing the entire section on the day, Arad Soutehkeshan led this initiative brilliantly — with fantastic support from our top sellers Thomas van Dijk, Jazz Moonsammy-Chrystie, Chloé Scarpellini, Parie Desai, Georgia Hayes, and Diana Daljajev 🎉 🎶 AV & Band Management Our resident AV wizard Eva Cullen handled everything related to the band’s AV needs like a pro. 💷 Finances One of the trickiest but most vital parts — flawlessly handled by Thomas van Dijk and Vicky Rowedder 🎭 Talent Management Led by Sadie John and Sophie Conner with Verena Ancella Lesmana and Cynthia Umurerwa helping out. 👥 Guest Management Led by Isabella Campbell, Vicky Rowedder and Anqi Ma 📣 Marketing Team From step & repeat and slides to sponsorship booklets and name cards— thank you Diana Daljajev, Claudia Ribeiro, Trini F., Chloé Scarpellini, Henna F., Isabella Campbell, Nikoletta Varga 🇺🇦, and Anqi Ma for bringing it all to life 🎨 Special Shoutout To Blue Kangaroo for generously donating their time and materials to create our gorgeous decorations 💐💜 🙌 And of course, a massive thank you to our mentors for their guidance and support from planning to execution and beyond. We couldn’t have done it without you! 💚✨ Here’s to another unforgettable Gala and to everyone who made the magic happen! ✨💚 #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

💥 Keeping with sales tradition, our Poster Sale was another record‑breaker! 💥 We nearly doubled the revenue of our previous sale — all thanks to the incredible teamwork behind the scenes. 🎬 Huge shoutout to Cosma Flore, who led the charge from start to finish — sourcing and managing stock, liaising with customers, and sharing detailed insights on every item. 📣We made the Poster Sale accessible to everyone, offering everything from fan favourites to niche, premium-quality titles, so our buyers could walk away with posters from their most‑loved films at unbeatable prices. ✨ Just like our Consumer Products Sale, we introduced an early entry window which was a hit! People lined up to secure signed posters from major Oscar-winning titles like Anora, The Brutalist, and Wicked. There was just as much enthusiasm around other standout pieces, especially the ones signed by Jackie Chan. 🖥️ We also ran an online auction featuring premium signed posters which performed brilliantly! 🎨 Big appreciation to Claudia Ribeiro, who continuously designed and re‑designed posters at a moment’s notice, with fantastic support from Trini F. both in preparation and on the day. 🙌 And a massive thank you to our incredible volunteer team: Georgia Hayes, Jazz Moonsammy-Chrystie, Verena Ancella Lesmana, Sadie John, Henna F., Diana Daljajev, Sofia Alvarez Ulate, Thomas van Dijk, Cynthia Umurerwa, Isabella Campbell, Sophie Conner, Anqi Ma, Arad Soutehkeshan, and Nikoletta Varga 🇺🇦 — from sourcing these fantastic items to running the checkout, you made the magic happen. 🌟 Special thanks to our mentors Tom F., Owen Baldwin-Evans, Amesha Phillips, and Christina Chimarrides for their guidance and support throughout — truly invaluable. Another successful sale in the books — and it wouldn’t have been possible without this phenomenal team! 💛🎥✨ #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

🍰 Bringing Our Team Together, One Bake Sale at a Time! 🍰 ✨ As part of our annual smaller initiatives, our bake sales have become a sweet tradition that brings the whole team together This year, we held three themed bake sales in the CSG building — each one filled with creativity, teamwork, and (of course) delicious treats! Here’s what we cooked up: 1️⃣ Hayu’s Real Housewives of London 💅🎬 Led by the amazing Georgia Hayes, this glorious bake sale included a raffle where we gave away two tickets to the premiere! 2️⃣ Halloween Spooktacular 🎃👻 Part of a wider CSG-wide celebration and brilliantly led by Henna F., this themed sale brought all the spooky vibes. 3️⃣ Valentine’s Day Finale ❤️🍓 Our final initiative as a team — and everyone pitched in to make it a heartfelt success. A huge THANK YOU to all our wonderful colleagues who baked, bought, and supported these events. Whether you whipped up something homemade or picked up treats on the way in, you helped make each sale a hit 🙌✨ Special shoutout to Claudia Ribeiro, Trini F., and Georgia Hayes for designing the gorgeous posters that encouraged our bakers to rise to the challenge and brought everyone together to enjoy the goodies 🎨🧁 And of course, the entire team who helped by manning the stations, contributing treats, or doing both — your energy and teamwork made all the difference 💛 Amazing to see our community in action! 🥳✨ #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

🎄Our beloved annual tradition, the Consumer Products Sale, returned once again on the 2nd of December 2025! ❤️ This initiative not only gave NBCU employees the chance to secure amazing Christmas gifts but also helped us raise a record amount for a fantastic cause. The sale also featured a silent auction, giving people a chance to grab more high-value items. 🕒 For the first time ever, we introduced an early entry window for those eager to snap up premium items which turned out to be in popular demand! 🙌 A huge shoutout to our incredible leads Cynthia Umurerwa and Anqi Ma who handled everything from sourcing and managing the stock to flawlessly running the event on the day. 🎨 And major appreciation to Claudia Ribeiro, who created the eye‑catching marketing assets. 💪 This was truly a team effort with support from: Georgia Hayes, Jazz Moonsammy-Chrystie, Sofia Alvarez Ulate, Diana Daljajev, Trini F., Chloé Scarpellini, Sophie Conner, Vicky Rowedder, Parie Desai, Henna F., Cosma Flore, Verena Ancella Lesmana, Arad Soutehkeshan, Nikoletta Varga 🇺🇦, and Sadie John — helping in shifts and ensuring stock was perfectly organized and catalogued. ⭐ 🙏 A massive thank you to our wonderful mentors, especially Owen Baldwin-Evans, for sharing his wisdom and experience from leading the initiative in previous year. ✨ Proud of the teamwork and the record amount we raised! #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

💫 We’re proud to be nominated! 💫 We’re excited to share that Team Universal has been nominated for The Dream Team and The Resilience Awards at The Million Makers National Final 2025!  Over the past year, we’ve been participating in The King's Trust CPD-accredited entrepreneurial fundraising challenge, #MillionMakers. Whilst aiding our development, we’ve planned, pitched, and fundraised to transform the lives of young people across the UK.

✨ Professional Headshots for All Staff: A New Initiative ✨ Our second brand‑new initiative this year was Professional Headshots, led by Isabella Campbell and delivered in partnership with our internal Employee Resource Group, the Young Professionals Network (YPN). Together, we hosted two photography sessions open to all colleagues in the building, giving everyone the chance to refresh their professional headshots. 💫 A huge thank-you to William deBretton Gordon, our exceptional photographer, who provided us with his knowledge, equipment and skills on the day and cast everyone in such a flattering light. 📸 On the day, colleagues were able to book a quick 5–10‑minute slot, take as many photos as they wanted, and later received beautifully edited images — perfect for LinkedIn or any other professional use. The two sessions took place on 24 September and 4 November 2025, with the second event forming part of our wider internal engagement activities. 📝As mentioned above, this initiative came to life thanks to Isabella Campbell, who organised the photographer and equipment, negotiated the collaboration with YPN (alongside Georgia Hayes), and created the internal comms. Cosma Flore, with support from Christian Stapleton and Verena Ancella Lesmana, played a key role in logistics and sourcing essential materials, while Jazz Moonsammy-Chrystie provided helpful guidance on the event’s setup and flow. ❤️ We’re incredibly grateful for all the generous donations made both before and on the day — your support truly made a difference! 🙌 And of course, a big thank‑you to our wonderful team members who, along with the aforementioned people, volunteered their time on the day to help with check‑ins and any organisational needs that arose: Arad Soutehkeshan, Anqi Ma, Parie Desai, Diana Daljajev, Thomas van Dijk, Henna F., Sophie Conner, Trini F., Claudia Ribeiro, and mentor Amesha Phillips. Your teamwork and positivity helped make both sessions run smoothly. #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

🎨 Our First Brand New Initiative – Arts & Crafts! ✂️ We’re happy to share a brand new creative initiative introduced this year: Arts & Crafts, created and led by Trini F. and Diana Daljajev. We hosted two events, bringing colleagues together through creativity, collaboration, and a lot of fun. 🧶 Event 1: Crochet Workshop – 30 July 2025 Our first session welcomed 50 colleagues from across the business to try their hand at crocheting their own wristlet keychains. A huge thank you to ALFA-G Haberdashery for generously donating many of the supplies that made this workshop possible. The session was taught by NBCU’s own talented crafter Bex Oates, who created the instructions and guided participants throughout. We also had fantastic on-the-day support from Georgia Hayes, Jazz Moonsammy-Chrystie, Cynthia Umurerwa, Mia Miles and Vicky Rowedder. And for anyone who didn’t finish their wristlet in time, we handed out pre‑made ones to take home! 🎄 Event 2: Christmas Cracker Networking Workshop – 4 December 2025 Building on the brilliant feedback from the crochet workshop, we organised a second event—this time adding a networking twist! We brought together colleagues from NBCU’s AVOD and Networks teams for a two-hours session aimed at boosting connection and collaboration between teams that work in creative roles, but don’t always get the chance to interact. We kicked off with team introductions and ice breakers hosted by Diana Daljajev, followed by the main event: crafting homemade Christmas crackers and learning origami with guidance from Parie Desai, Verena Ancella Lesmana and Trini F.. Special thanks to Isabella Campbell, who sourced materials alongside Parie Desai, and to Georgia Hayes and Jazz Moonsammy-Chrystie for their continued support. ✨ Thank you to everyone who joined, crafted, donated, or cheered us on! #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

🏌️♂️ Kicking Things Off with Team Universal’s Third Annual Golf Day ⛳ We started the year off in style with our third annual Golf Day, organised by alumni, Johanna Beaven and Callum Bennett, on the 7th of July 2025 at the beautiful Westerham Golf Club. The day featured a game of 18-hole Scramble-format golf, with fantastic prizes, such as golf clubs, a tour bag, and a range of vouchers, up for grabs followed by a delicious three-course dinner. 🤝We welcomed 16 teams made up of colleagues from across NBCUniversal, as well as partners, clients, and people from external agencies. 🏆Alongside prizes for our top two teams, the day also included a series of fun competitions such as Longest Drive, Closest to the Pin, and Beat the Pro. 🎟️We also hosted a raffle that added even more winning moments to the day, all in support of raising extra funds for a meaningful cause. 💫A special shoutout to Chloé Scarpellini from this year’s team, who was a star on raffle ticket sales and kept our Instagram buzzing with updates throughout the day. A huge thank you to everyone who attended, organised, donated, and helped make the day such a success! 🙌💙  #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #TheKingsTrust #NBCUniversal

🚀 Introducing Our First-Ever Creative Marketing Team for Team Universal 2025!   As shared in our last update, this year marks an exciting first: our very own dedicated Creative Marketing Team! The team was created to streamline efforts across all marketing channels, provide an opportunity for anyone keen to get hands-on experience in creating assets, and support initiative leads so they can focus on the bigger picture.   🌟 Meet the Team Behind the Magic This initiative was created by Trini F., who led the team with amazing creativity and direction and created our very own branding guidelines. Chloé Scarpellini and Diana Daljajev supported the process by keeping the communication and workflow running smoothly.   🎨 Creative & Digital Highlights A huge portion of our assets was crafted by the talented Claudia Ribeiro and Trini F., who took on any task necessary and delivered quickly with beautiful results. These creations were then used to advertise our initiatives internally to all our colleagues at the NBCU London main office. Anqi Ma, Henna F. and Nikoletta Varga have been invaluable in supporting them, generously sharing their insights and creating stunning assets of their own.   Trini F. also built and maintained our website (https://lnkd.in/eAabsyDs) which was a new marketing channel starting with this year's team. Chloé Scarpellini has been running our Instagram (https://lnkd.in/eAWtdvgr) with exciting live story and post updates. Sophie Conner has taken charge of all things TikTok (https://lnkd.in/e2r-siZF). And Diana Daljajev’s been looking after our LinkedIn presence (👋 hi there!)   📣 Special Thanks We’ve been especially lucky this year to have Sadie John from NBCU's Corporate Communications team guiding us through all company‑wide guidelines, deadlines, and approvals. Her oversight ensured every poster, visual, and campaign asset went live smoothly and on time.   Thank you to our wonderful team and so so proud of what we’ve built together for Team Universal 2025! ✨ #TeamUniversal #MillionMakers #KingsTrust #NBCUniversal