0:52
- ABC News
- October 10, 2017
Meet Uber's new brand chief Bozoma Saint John
Bozoma Saint John's love affair with Uber started with a car ride.
0:52
\"It is a two-way street,\" Saint John said. \"It’s like, I had to choose Uber and Uber to choose me.”
She explained that her affinity with the company developed almost like a romance.
\"I describe it like when you fall in love and you can’t explain it to somebody else why you love that person,\" Saint John continued. \"That happened to me, and I swear that is the God's honest truth.\"
The new chief brand officer described her position at Uber as ranging from the creation of commercials to promoting partnerships.
Being both physically and psychologically present in any task she undertakes is of the utmost importance to her.
\"I feel an urgency that I didn’t feel before, I want to be present,\" Saint John told Jarvis. \"It makes me very aware, you know, of the conversations that I’m having.”
Key moments in Saint John's life shaped her career. Her story began in Ghana, where she was born and lived until she was 14.
\"When there are extremes, you remember those things, you know?\" she told Jarvis. \"Feelings or smells or sounds, things like that. So that’s what I remember from that time, because I was 5 when the coup happened in Ghana.\"
But not all the memories were simple. Her father had been part of the government that was overthrown and he turned himself in after the coup -- and right before her 5th birthday.
\"He told me that he had to go on a trip, and that he would miss my birthday, which was unheard of,\" Saint John said. \"What I didn’t know then –- obviously I was 5, who was going to know –- but what I know now as an adult is that was probably one of the most difficult things, because he did not know if he was going to be back.\"
Saint John has spoken with her father about their time in Ghana since then, saying that the lessons she learned from him were key in helping her cope when her husband passed away in 2013 and their daughter was just 4 years old.
\"I’m a mother now and I’ve had to deal with very difficult things with my daughter,\" she said. \"So even getting his perspective and his advice on how you communicate to someone who is so young really difficult lessons is actually really a blessing.\"
\"Even though we went through that, and it was quite a devastating time, it’s been a really good lesson for me in my own parenting,\" Saint John added.
In her family and professional life, Saint John said she tries to bring those experiences to the table every day. In her fifth month as chief brand officer, that’s exactly what she says she is doing.
\"Bring your whole self to work because, that way, you can bring full ideas and the wholeness of your unique abilities,\" she said. \"Without being able to bring your full self, then how are you going to contribute in any kind of meaningful way?”
A post shared by Bozoma Saint John (@badassboz) on Sep 6, 2017 at 10:33pm PDT
Hear more of Bozoma Saint John’s interview on this week's episode of \"No Limits With Rebecca Jarvis,\" available on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Spotify, TuneIn and the ABC News app.
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