Top 60 Bozoma Saint John Quotes

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.

Bring your whole self to work because, that way, you can bring full ideas and the wholeness of your unique abilities.

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.

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.

If our employees are wearing the Uber sweatshirt to the grocery store, that would make me feel great.

Instagram is a blessing – I love to post about everything I’m doing. The explore page is magical.

Music inspires some feeling in you. That’s the same way I think about Uber.

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.

I want to hear LeBron James’s Uber stories.

I’m following the path that was destined for me.

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.

I’ve worked hard for my life. No one gave me anything.

Part of innovation is, fake it until you make it. Keep trying things, but it’s not just the random trying.

I’m such a brand nerd.

Even now, when people ask me, ‘Why did you take the job at Uber?’ I say because my gut told me to.

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.

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.

We should all be allies to ideas or people or initiatives that we don’t necessarily have a real knowledge in.

I’ve never taken the easy route. I don’t even know what that is!

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.

I don’t fear challenge.

I’ve broken through many walls and glass ceilings.

I’ve always been a black woman in corporate America. I’ve faced my share of issues.

I don’t know if I’m ever considered a part of the community I’m in.

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.

I firmly believe brand stories are complex and multilayer.

I bite my nails.

I always do what I’m most interested in first.

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.

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.

My family moved a lot, so I was always walking in as the new kid.

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.

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.

I don’t expect anyone who doesn’t look like me to fix my problems.

Being a black woman in America and the world and in corporate situations is something to be celebrated.

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.’

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.

I am very competitive – with myself and everybody else. I’m petty, too.

We need better corporate environments. We need better workplaces everywhere.

Mentors are like friendships.

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.

Risk is the essence of any reward – to try the thing that no one else is willing to try.

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.’

I can’t be in an environment that is not conducive to me as a black woman.

I’m a woman. I’m black. I am passionate. I am transparent.

You gotta go with your gut. It will never steer you wrong.

We all know this: Music is such a fundamental part of life.

Brands mean different things for different generations.

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.

I think a lot of women have felt really powerless.

Apple Music is a living, breathing brand.

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.

I think that people are innately good.

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.

Part of our human nature is finding new ways of being.

There’s no more exciting moment for me as a brand strategist than a turnaround.

I want things to be great for people of color and for women.

I’ve been told that I overshare. Sometimes I get criticized for it, but how else would I be if not all of me?

Passion should meet your professional life, and I’m a living, breathing testament to that.

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.