Bozoma Saint John Inspiring Woman

Bozoma Saint John Sweetrocks Inspiring Woman

Bozoma A. “Boz” Saint John is an American businesswoman and marketing executive who is the current chief marketing officer (CMO) at William Morris Endeavor.Previously, she served as chief brand officer (CBO) at Uber until June 2018. Saint John was also a marketing executive at Apple Music until June 2017, after joining the company in its acquisition of Beats Music.

Saint John was born to Rev. Dr. Appianda Arthur and Aba Arthur (née Enim) in the United States but moved to Ghana at 6 months old. The family returned to the United States and settled in Colorado Springs, Colorado when she was 12. Her father was a clarinet player and member of the Ghana Army before emigrating to the United States to attend graduate school. Saint John cites her father as her biggest inspiration. In 1999, she graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in English. 

After college, Saint John worked at advertising agencies Arnold Worldwide and Spike Lee’s Spike DDB, as well as the fashion brand Ashley Stewart, where she was Vice President of Marketing.

Saint John led PepsiCo’s foray into music festival-based marketing as head of the Music and Entertainment Marketing; the division itself came from her suggestion that the company sponsor music festivals and award shows. She remained with the company for almost a decade before joining Beats Music in 2014; when Jimmy Iovine of Beats personally recruited Saint John based on her experience in music marketing, Saint John moved from New York to Los Angeles to lead marketing for the company.

Beats was purchased shortly thereafter by Apple and Saint John became the head of global consumer marketing for iTunes and Apple Music, commuting between Los Angeles and Apple’s Cupertino headquarters several times a week. Journalists described Saint John’s presentation of the redesigned Apple Music onstage during the 2016 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as her breakthrough moment, with a captivating “passion” and persona that captivated both local and online audiences. Biz Carson of Business Insider said that her appearance helped to emphasize Apple’s complete rebuild of its Apple Music software. For instance, she attempted to have the audience sing along with on-screen lyrics, a feature in the redesigned app. Buzzfeed wrote that she was the “coolest” person to ever take the stage at an Apple keynote.

Magazines recognized Saint John’s work in superlative lists including Billboard Magazine‘s list of the top women in music, Fast Company‘s 100 most creative people, and AdWeek‘s most exciting personalities in advertising.

On June 6, 2017, Saint John became Chief Brand Officer at Uber. She was given the task of turning Uber into a brand that people love as much as Apple.

In June 2018, Saint John left Uber to join Endeavor, one of the world’s leading talent agencies, as Chief Marketing Officer.

Thank you Bozoma Saint John(#BozSaintJohn) for being an Inspiring Woman!