Ghanaian-American executive Bozoma “Boz” Saint John has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer of Netflix. In a statement, Boz shared that she is “thrilled to join Netflix, especially at a time when storytelling is critical to our global, societal well-being.”
Saint John cut her teeth working for Spike Lee’s advertising agency, SpikeDDB, and later led music marketing at PepsiCo. She stayed at the beverage company for a decade pioneering their foray into music festival marketing and landing a ,,massive sponsorship deal with international sensation, Beyoncé. Post-PepsiCO, the marketer joined Beats by Dr. Dre shortly before they were acquired by Apple in ,,a deal worth $3 billion. At Apple she was named Global Head of Consumer Marketing for Apple Music and iTunes.
From there, Saint John went on to a ,,relatively short stint as Chief Brand Officer at Uber before landing at, entertainment industry juggernaut, Endeavor. IMG, WME, and Miss Universe are just a few of the companies under the Endeavor umbrella. It’s from Endeavor that the superstar executive joins the streaming giant.
Clearly a superlative marketer, Saint John is also a celebrity in her own right. On ,,Instagram and ,,Twitter, where she goes by the handle @badassboz, she has over 365 thousand followers. Her popular following can be traced back to her time leading marketing at Apple. It was then that Saint John starred in a ,,commercial for their music service with James Corden and fellow execs, Jimmy Iovine and Eddie Cue. Later that year she wowed audiences with her keynote at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The WWDC is historically a buttoned-down affair catering to its mostly white, mostly male audience. During ,,Saint John’s presentation she got the audience to sing along to “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang. Numerous outlets reported that Saint John stole the show, with Buzzfeed naming her ,,“the coolest person to ever go onstage at an Apple event.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w35heeESIU
“Why Bozoma Saint John’s WWDC Presentation Matters” via Newsy
She currently hosts the ,,“Back to Biz” podcast with Katie Couric for iHeartRadio. On the topical podcast, the hosts discuss what the Covid-19 pandemic means for business and how the moment can be seized for positive change.
Saint John’s reach as a C-suite executive cannot be quantified by the number of followers she has on social media or her level of celebrity, but they are indicative of her level of cultural competence and cache. More than ever brands need leaders that understand the people they are marketing to and she is exactly that person. She has her finger on the pulse of the culture, and with that the ability to reflect, refract, and influence it.
Congratulations to our cousin Boz!
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