Bozoma Saint John

Bozoma Saint John is a Hall of Fame inducted Marketing Executive, author, entrepreneur and general badass.

Boz got her start in her marketing career at Spike Lee’s ad agency, SpikeDDB. She then went on to manage brands in the PepsiCo beverages portfolio, before becoming Head of Music and Entertainment Marketing at the CPG giant. After that, she led Global Consumer Marketing at Apple Music & iTunes; before serving as Chief Brand Officer at Uber; she then took on the Chief Marketing Officer role for Endeavor (including WME, IMG, UFC, Miss Universe, 160over90 etc). Mostly recently, she served as the Global Chief Marketing Officer at the entertainment behemoth, Netflix.

Boz’s work has been lauded and awarded by the industries she’s operated in; including induction into the American Marketing Association Hall of Fame (2022), following induction into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement (2014). Boz is currently named as the #1 Most Influential CMO in the world by Forbes (2021). She’s also been inducted into Billboard’s Women in Music Hall of Fame after making their list of the Most Powerful Women in Music for 10 consecutive years (2013-2022), and crowned as the Executive of the Year (2016). She’s been featured on the cover of Adweek as “one of the most exciting personalities in advertising;” and is on lists ranging from The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Power 100 (2018) to Fast Company’s and Ad Age’s Most Creative People to Ebony’s 100 Powerful Executives, Black Enterprise’s Most Powerful Women in Business and Fortune’s Most Influential CMOs.

In 2021, Harvard Business School published a multi-media case study on her career, titled “Leading with Authenticity and Urgency”; through which she developed and taught a program at the University aptly named “The Anatomy of a Badass.” Boz has also created a public online class, “The Badass Workshop” to teach the nuances of achieving success when one feels like an outsider.

Boz has expanded her service outside of the US, and been named as an Ambassador for the African Diaspora and Special Envoy to the President of Ghana. Boz is also a philanthropic Ambassador to Pencils of Promise in Ghana and serves on the boards of Girls Who Code, Vital Voices, the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Soho House and the CFDA. She’s also currently on the Board of Trustees at her alma mater, Wesleyan University.

In the Spring of 2023, Penguin Books will publish her first book, a memoir, “The Urgent Life.”

All of that said, she counts her highest achievement as being a mother to her 12 year old daughter, Lael.