Bozoma Saint John

Early life Saint John was born to Rev. Dr. Appianda Arthur and Aba Arthur (née Enim) in Middletown, Connecticut, in the United States. Her father was a clarinet player and member of the Ghana Army before emigrating to the United States to attend graduate school. When she was six months old, the family moved to Ghana, though, throughout her early childhood, her family lived between Nairobi, Kenya, and Washington, D.C.

In 1999, Saint John graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in English and in African-American studies.

Her sister Alua Arthur is a lawyer and death doula.

Career

Marketing After college, Saint John worked at the advertising agencies Arnold Worldwide and Spike Lee's Spike DDB. She also worked at the fashion brand Ashley Stewart, where she was vice president of marketing.

Saint John joined PepsiCo as a senior marketing manager in 2005. She later led PepsiCo's foray into music festival-based marketing as head of music and entertainment marketing. Saint John moved from New York to Los Angeles to lead marketing for the company.

Beats was purchased shortly thereafter by Apple, Biz Carson of Business Insider said that her appearance helped to emphasize Apple's complete rebuild of its Apple Music software.

On June 6, 2017, Saint John became chief brand officer at Uber. She said of her choice to leave: "When I got to Uber, I was honest in my desire to go and change essentially what I thought was a challenging environment, especially for women and for people of colour... What I discovered was a lot of people who had a desire to do better, honestly, but couldn't get out of their own way... At some point, it became too overwhelming for me... It became a good lesson for all of us: You don't need to be the savior, you can save yourself too." While at Endeavor, Saint John helped lead a "crisis" branding project for Papa John's Pizza after the company's founder, John Schnatter, used racist language in a conference call.

Netflix named Saint John its new chief marketing officer on June 30, 2020, making her the third CMO for the company in 2019–2020. Saint John replaced Jackie Lee-Joe, who left the company for personal reasons. Saint John started the new role in August 2020 and departed in March 2022.

In autumn 2025, Saint John co-hosted the American reality competition On Brand with Jimmy Fallon. In May 2026, the show was canceled after one season, due to poor ratings.

Writing and podcasting In May 2020, Saint John launched a limited-series iHeart Media podcast alongside journalist Katie Couric, Back to Biz with Katie and Boz. The podcast began with the focus of how small and large businesses across the country began to reopen throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but after the murder of George Floyd expanded to focus also on systemic racism and criminal justice reform.

Saint John wrote a memoir titled The Urgent Life, in which she describes her work as a marketing executive, losing her husband, and becoming a single parent. The book's publication date was February 21, 2023, by Viking Press.

Other work In January 2021, Saint John taught a short intensive program for MBA candidates at Harvard Business School called "Anatomy of a Badass".

In May 2024, it was announced that Saint John would be joining the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a full-time cast member for the fourteenth season.

Activism, advising, and philanthropy Saint John launched the #ShareTheMicNow Instagram initiative alongside Luvvie Ajayi, Glennon Doyle, and Stacey Bendet. On June 10, 2020, 52 Black women took over the Instagram feeds of 52 White women with large platforms to draw attention to the work they're doing to catalyze change. Saint John took over the Instagram account of prominent Black women including Elaine Welteroth, Angelica Ross, Christine Michel Carter, and Gia Peppers took over the accounts of White women including Julia Roberts, Elizabeth Warren, and Diane von Fürstenberg.

Saint John's philanthropic efforts include representing Pencils of Promise as a Global Ambassador to Ghana and serving on the boards of Girls Who Code and Vital Voices. Saint John has been a member of the President's Advisory Council for Wesleyan University, her alma mater.

In May 2022, Saint John was inducted into the American Marketing Association Marketing Hall of Fame.

Personal life Saint John was married to Peter Saint John from 2003 until his death in 2013. They have a daughter named Lael Afiba.

Saint John lost her home in the Pacific Palisades fire in January 2025. She discovered this while on holiday in Zambia.

Saint John became engaged to boyfriend Keely Watson on August 29, 2025. They were married in Accra, Ghana, on August 21, 2026.

Awards and honors 2015: Billboard, Top Women in Music 2016: Billboard, Female Executive of the Year 2016: Fortune, 40 Under 40 2017: Henry Crown Fellow in the Aspen Institute Ad Age, 50 Most Creative People, Innovators & Stars 40 Under 40 feature Adweek, Most Exciting Personalities in Advertising Fast Company, 100 Most Creative People Top 100 Most Inspirational Women of the Year by Glitz Africa Magazine