She's a Bad Ass Boz!

Bozoma Saint John isn’t afraid to call the shots and tell it like it is as The Chief Brand Officer at Uber which is the most valuable privately held startup in the world at $70 billion. Uber’s employee demographic stats don’t however hold as much weight as their revenue line, with only 36% being female 9% Black and 2.3% Black Leadership. Making Bozoma the minority in a very male dominated field, but that doesn’t stop her from holding back.

So Just What Makes her a Bad Ass?

Well, simply because she tells it like it is that these stats are “terrible, and companies are doing a poor job at addressing these issues as the number of African Americans in Silicon Valley is dismal.” Saint John believes that now is the time to stand up for Diversity and Inclusion in Technology, supporting the recruitment and hiring of more women in leadership roles and more people of color across the entire organization and the Technology field as a whole. Saint John has made it publicly clear that she can’t possibly do this work alone stating “Why do I—as the black woman—have to fix that?” “There’s 50 of you, there’s one of me. Ya’ll fix it… Everybody else needs to make the noise—I want white men to make the noise.” Charging her Caucasian male counterparts to begin tackling this issue head on to create effective solutions as they yield the power to change and make progress. But is anyone really listening or responding to these messages of #TechsoWhite?

Struggle isn’t new to Saint John who has faced bias, racism and discrimination growing up in Colorado as a Ghanaian immigrant even though she was born in the US. This has helped to shape and mold her into the incredible powerhouse that she is today. Saint John also serves as the executive sponsor for Salam the Muslim Employee Resource Group at Uber even though she is not a Muslim herself but she stands up as an ally to build and support a diverse staff team making her a true Bad Ass Boz!