Exclusive: Verizon Teams With Jill Scott for Black History Month Campaign

Verizon has teamed with Jill Scott for a multi-tiered print, TV and online advertising campaign to coincide with Black History Month -- a rare artist endorsement deal for both parties -- Billboard has learned. Scott's involvement as one of Verizon's "Innovators & Pioneers" was teased in a company blog post on Monday. Other spotlighted talent includes Navarrow Wright, E. David Ellington, Lia Neal, Maritza Correia, Jeff Henderson, B. Smith, Will Packer and Robert Townsend.

The initiative, dubbed "Celebrating Your Story," features talent from different lifestyle categories sharing tales of their own career empowerment and ways that Verizon technology has made a difference in their lives. For Scott, the biggest impact has been on her songwriting process, as she says in a video on Verizon's Insider blog. "I think possibly the best part of being an artist at this level of technology in the world today is that I can really work with anybody. Whether I'm working with somebody in Nashville or working with somebody in Hungary, I can create music with anybody. I can make songs on my phone, on my computer. I can do so much more so easily, it's almost scary."