“Pop culture and entertainment can be dismissed as surface, but it’s not. It’s the language we all speak, and it’s the connection point between people all over the world.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Passion should meet your professional life, and I’m a living, breathing testament to that.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I want to listen to my Apple Music on my iPhone. I also want to listen to it on my iPad. I want to play it on my Apple TV; I want to be connected everywhere I go. It fits into the puzzle of everything that is Apple, and, therefore, it should not be seen as some sort of separate entity that is trying to find its way.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m a woman. I’m black. I am passionate. I am transparent.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m a great napper. I nap in a lot of places.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Bring your whole self to work because, that way, you can bring full ideas and the wholeness of your unique abilities.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I think women have a unique talent for being able to see the forest and the trees at the same time.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Mentors are like friendships.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Brands mean different things for different generations.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“You gotta go with your gut. It will never steer you wrong.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Part of our human nature is finding new ways of being.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“If I can be in a position of power and influence, and be able to make my present better, then I want to do that.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“We only get better by telling our real story. That’s the only way to be.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Bringing your whole self to work is the mantra for me as I sit in my office and do the work, and it’s also the mantra as I look out at the community that I’m trying to brand for Uber.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Risk is the essence of any reward – to try the thing that no one else is willing to try.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve worked hard for my life. No one gave me anything.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Companies can change. Culture can change.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m living out my dreams every day.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Instagram is a blessing – I love to post about everything I’m doing. The explore page is magical.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Even now, when people ask me, ‘Why did you take the job at Uber?’ I say because my gut told me to.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I believe in manifesting the words that are coming out of my mouth. I’m very careful with what I say because the intention is then out in the universe.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“My job is about emotion. My job is about feeling. This might be controversial to say, but I feel like sometimes data gets in the way of that.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Even though society has come a long way in correcting the inequalities between men and women in the workplace, it still has to be said that women are oftentimes subconsciously playing to the gender roles which we are taught from birth.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“For me, pop culture is very fluid: it’s music, it’s movies, it’s books, it’s art, it’s tech, it’s so many things – and as marketing and brand advocates, we should be able to to take products and services and match them to what’s happening in pop culture.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I am very competitive – with myself and everybody else. I’m petty, too.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m always trying to do things better than I’ve done them before, do them faster than I’ve done them before.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Everyone is going to be skeptical if they don’t know what is happening.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Don’t let the myths make you believe that women don’t support other women.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“There’s no more exciting moment for me as a brand strategist than a turnaround.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I was born in Middletown, Connecticut, while my dad was getting his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and anthropology at Wesleyan University.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Part of innovation is, fake it until you make it. Keep trying things, but it’s not just the random trying.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I do think brands are like people.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“When I was growing up, the brands that were most powerful were people brands, like Michael Jackson or Madonna. They stood for something that, perhaps, wasn’t wholly who they were, which then became an image that they sold. That’s still a brand to me.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve been told that I overshare. Sometimes I get criticized for it, but how else would I be if not all of me?”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I love sleep so much. That’s the one thing I won’t sacrifice. I really cannot.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t even know how to behave without my sleep. I would be a horrible person to be around – cranky.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“We have to find ways to create content that folks want to see.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I have known Tiffany R. Warren for many years, and we have always shared the goal to promote diversity and inclusion in the creative industries.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“When I was in the 10th grade, I decided to run for a position on the student council with the campaign slogan ‘Nuthin but a Boz thang,’ so you might say joining Beats Music is like coming full circle.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve never taken the easy route. I don’t even know what that is!”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m following the path that was destined for me.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t know if I’m ever considered a part of the community I’m in.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I think a lot of women have felt really powerless.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“It’s very personal to me and doesn’t work for everybody, but what I have found in my experience is that when I make pro and con lists, it’s usually because I am trying to talk myself out of a good idea or talk myself into a really bad one.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“The adage is true: Walk a mile in my shoes – or drive a mile in my car. There is nothing quite like sitting in the seat yourself.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“When I first walked into Uber, it was very difficult because people were unsure about what was going to happen – there was a real sense of powerlessness.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I bite my nails.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Live today as if you don’t have tomorrow: my husband was diagnosed and killed by cancer within six months.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t think it’s any secret that there’s a lack of diversity in Silicon Valley. But that, to me, is actually quite beautiful. It allows me to be fully me because there is no one else to look at and say, ‘Oh, I should be more like that.’”
― Bozoma Saint John
“There is something to be said about taking the risk. We all know that is where the greatest reward is.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“If you are in a hiring position, hire someone that is nothing like you. We keep looking for the commonalities, but find someone with commonalities that are nothing like you.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Any criticism, you should pay attention to. Whether you accept it and change or you take it and move on is the choice, but criticism is not a bad thing.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Human curation allows you to have the emotion and feel music, because it is a very emotional thing. It makes you feel happy; it helps you when you are feeling sad, gets you pumped up, calms you down.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m such a brand nerd.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I think it’s interesting how you can associate a creative brand with a human being and use some of the good qualities of the human being and make it like a really tangible product that a lot of people can love.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I want to hear LeBron James’s Uber stories.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“It’s our job as marketers and brand professionals to nurture the brand and calm it down when it’s angry and to encourage when it’s trying to grow.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve broken through many walls and glass ceilings.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Obviously, as a marketer, I love to work with brands that aren’t static, that have life and personality.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Apple Music is a living, breathing brand.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Apple is a unique company in that the art and the science sit together very nicely. There’s an appreciation for both sides of the brain.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t fear challenge.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve never made a move that I didn’t feel was right in my gut.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Working at Uber, I see opportunity and potential.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I want things to be great for people of color and for women.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“At school, I could talk about what other kids were talking about. Maybe I wouldn’t seem so strange if I connected with them on the level they were used to.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Marketers sometimes get caught in this lie that you must talk to people only in the voice that they recognize.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I want to be something that is worthy to be bragged about.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I can’t be in an environment that is not conducive to me as a black woman.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“It’s important to be an ally. You don’t have to be a black woman to think we should have more black women in tech.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t have to be an engineer to understand we need female engineers.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I want white men to look around in their office and say, ‘Oh, look, there’s a lot of white men here. Let’s change this.’”
― Bozoma Saint John
“The number of African Americans in Silicon Valley is dismal. It’s not up to one company – it’s up to the entire industry to make sure that we are moving the conversation forward. Sometimes those walls of competition need to come down so we can move the entire industry forward.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I love Apple Music. I helped build Apple Music. It will always be a very, very big part of my life and part of the journey.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“We all know this: Music is such a fundamental part of life.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Being a black woman in America and the world and in corporate situations is something to be celebrated.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I think diversity and having women and people of color in key positions is really important.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I really did enjoy my time at Apple – it’s a great company, and I really loved building Apple Music.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I feel really proud of the work I did at Apple Music, and I don’t take anything away from it that’s negative at all.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“You can’t control everything.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“At 13, I learned what it meant to walk into a room and not care what everybody thinks of you.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Music inspires some feeling in you. That’s the same way I think about Uber.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I always do what I’m most interested in first.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t expect anyone who doesn’t look like me to fix my problems.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“We should all be allies to ideas or people or initiatives that we don’t necessarily have a real knowledge in.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“We need better corporate environments. We need better workplaces everywhere.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t see a utopia anywhere for me.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I firmly believe brand stories are complex and multilayer.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Because my husband, Peter, died young, I’ve already faced the scariest thing in my life. Now I live out the dreams for both of us.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve always been a black woman in corporate America. I’ve faced my share of issues.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’ve never run from a job; I’ve always run to another one.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“If our employees are wearing the Uber sweatshirt to the grocery store, that would make me feel great.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m bold in personality, I’m hella tall, and I’m hella black.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“My family moved a lot, so I was always walking in as the new kid.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“Six months after I was born, we moved to Ghana. The first five years of my life were there. In 1982, when there was a coup d’etat, my family left because the government was overthrown, and my dad was involved in politics.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“As a first-generation American, my parents expected that I would go on to have pretty tactical higher-education-type jobs – doctor, lawyer, engineer. Those were the three options. My dad was not at all open to the idea that there would not be a higher education in my future.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“We’re complex human beings. I can wear a leather dress and still have an 8-year-old and wipe up the eggs that are on her face.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I’m a natural optimist.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I think that people are innately good.”
― Bozoma Saint John
“I don’t curse in front of my daughter. Well, sometimes.”
― Bozoma Saint John
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