Bozoma Saint John opens up about trauma, grief and healing in 'The Urgent Life'

NPR's Book of the Day

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Bozoma Saint John says that the loss of her first daughter, who was born prematurely because of preeclampsia, left deep scars in her relationship with her husband. It contributed to their separation later on – but it also led to a lot of reflection after Saint John's husband's cancer diagnosis brought them back together before he died. These are some of the challenges the former Netflix and Pepsi executive explores in her new memoir, The Urgent Life. As Saint John tells NPR's Asma Khalid, there's a lot more shame associated with marriage and motherhood – especially for Black women – than is often talked about. But there's also a lot of resilience in finding a path forward.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Book of the Day from NPR. I'm Timbid Armius filling in for Andrew Limbong for a couple weeks.
0:09.1	It probably would have been pretty easy for Bozum of St. John to write a memoir about how to slay
0:14.7	a corporate career, having served as the top marketing chief for a number of major companies,
0:20.3	like Netflix, Pepsi, and Uber.
0:22.7	But when it comes to her new memoir, The Urgent Life, she takes the deeply personal and brutally
0:28.4	honest approach, and that means confronting some pretty devastating life moments, a miscarriage,
0:34.6	a failed marriage, oh, and deciding not to divorce her husband
0:39.2	and instead help him through chemo.
0:41.4	In this interview, St. John talks about it with NPR's Asma Khalid.
0:45.9	She says she collected a lot of anger at her partner, God, and even herself.
0:51.9	And in the process of understanding that anger learned a lot about herself.
0:57.3	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts,
1:04.2	diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground
1:09.9	bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:16.2	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:22.5	Bozema St. John has navigated a high-flying corporate career, a black woman who held top marketing positions
1:28.9	at Netflix, Pepsi, and other major companies. But over the years, she has also faced immense
1:34.6	personal tragedy. And she writes about this all in her book, The Urgent Life.
1:38.8	It was when my husband was diagnosed with cancer that my impatience and unwillingness to wait for
1:46.4	things to just sort of happen, you know, wanting to go do things immediately, really start
1:51.8	to take form in purpose. Her life, she told me, took on a new urgency. She went along with her husband
1:58.3	Peter's wish to cancel their divorce. They had been separated for three years. And she decided to shelf the things that had once troubled her about their marriage.
	...

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