Bozoma Saint John on Trusting Your Destiny
Naked Beauty
The Naked Beauty Podcast
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode is sponsored by smartwater®
During the Essence Black Women in Hollywood event, I spoke with the indomitable Bozoma Saint John live. Bozoma grew up between Ghana, Kenya, Washington DC, and Colorado Springs, a childhood of constant reinvention that taught her to read rooms fast and never apologize for taking up space. At 14, she wasn't crying because she didn't feel beautiful. She was crying because her classmates didn't recognize her beauty. That clarity and fierce, unshakable self-knowing have followed her everywhere. Her confidence carried her into boardrooms where she was the only Black woman, onto the cover of the New York Times with her cornrows, and through the grief of losing her husband, Peter. Later, it carried her into the unexpected joy of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which led directly to On Brand with Jimmy Fallon. And, eventually, into the decision to sell her corporate stock from every company she'd ever worked for to self-fund her brand, Eve by Boz — on her own terms, by her own rules.
Bozoma has no peers. And she will tell you that herself, in this special episode of Naked Beauty.
Tune in as we discuss:
(2:34) Growing Up Across Ghana, Kenya, DC & Colorado
(5:43) Why She Never Doubted She Was Beautiful — Even at 14
(10:05) Immigrant Parents, Pre-Med Dreams & Landing at Spike Lee's Ad Agency By Accident
(13:36) The Emotional Cost of Being the First and Only Black Woman in Every C-Suite
(16:24) Why Personal Brand Building Means Saying "I" Out Loud
(21:40) The Hollywood Pivot: What Made RHOBH a Yes
(23:57) Moving to LA Four Months After Her Husband's Death
(29:01) What Season 14 of RHOBH Taught Her Going Into Season 15
(30:30) Showing Fibroid Surgery & Her Fertility Journey On Camera
(33:46) Her Go-To Glam Routine & The African Sapo Net Gospel
(37:18) Self-Funding Eve by Boz With Her Own Corporate Stock
(40:24) What Raising Her Daughter Lil Has Taught Her That The Boardroom Never Could
(43:20) Engagement With Keeley Watson: Love After Loss & True Partnership
(46:52) How To Know When It's Time To Walk Away
(51:41) Bozoma's Advice For Anyone Who Feels Stuck
Today’s episode was made possible by smartwater
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Products Mentioned:
African Sapo Net (exfoliating sponge)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, hello, you're listening to the Naked Beauty podcast. |
| 0:11.3 | And today's episode is a special one because we are here at Essence's Black |
| 0:15.0 | Women in Hollywood with a special episode presented by Smartwater. |
| 0:19.9 | When I thought about who I wanted to interview for today's conversation for Black |
| 0:24.4 | Women in Hollywood, there was really only one name that came to mind. |
| 0:28.6 | You know her, you've watched her walk into rooms that were not built for her and completely |
| 0:33.3 | rearranged the furniture. |
| 0:35.3 | Bozema St. John has been the chief marketing officer at Apple, |
| 0:38.5 | at Uber, at Netflix. Forbes named her the number one most influential CMO in the world. |
| 0:45.0 | Harvard Business School did an entire case study about her. She's one of the most recognizable people |
| 0:49.9 | in corporate. Everyone knows her. This conversation is not about her resume, though, because |
| 0:55.1 | what I've always admired about Bose is that she lives her whole life out loud. The grief, |
| 1:00.9 | the joy, the reinvention. She created her novel, the urgent life. And then when most people |
| 1:06.7 | at her level would have retreated into a board seat or a consulting gig, she did something that |
| 1:11.3 | everyone in the C-suite was clutching their pearls about. She went to Hollywood. She joined the |
| 1:17.0 | Real Housewives of Beverly Hills now in her second season and showed up not as a gimmick, but as |
| 1:22.1 | herself. In 2025, she cemented her place in Hollywood by launching on-brand with Jimmy Fallon, bringing her 25 years of marketing genius into a mentorship format for the next generation. |
| 1:33.6 | And if that wasn't enough, she's the founder of Eve by Bose, her own hair care line, funded entirely on her own terms. |
| 1:40.2 | And this is what a pivot looks like when you've already proven everything you need to prove. |
| 1:45.0 | It's not a retirement lap. This is a whole new race. |
| 1:51.3 | Today's episode of Naked Beauty at Essence's Black women in Hollywood is made possible by Smartwater. |
| 1:57.7 | Smartwater has this pure, crisp taste that instantly feels like a reset. It's vapor |
... |
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