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Bozoma Saint John

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104
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2017-12-27
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2017-12-27
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  1. “Try to give I know, right? We'll have a nine. Exactly, exactly. Well, you know what? As our great poet TLC would say, I ain't too proud to beg. I'm not too proud to beg for support. I am constantly in need of support. I think sometimes we see people achieving and we think they have it all figured out. I have a lot of things figured out, but I do appreciate support. I am inspired by people. I love to hear about the great things that people are doing. But I also like to be encouraged myself. And so if you see me in the world or you see me on social media, I would appreciate a word of encouragement. And that's what I ask.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  2. “Man, that's a big one. Thank you so much for having me, by the way. This is so amazing. And it's been such a great conversation. You know, I feel like we could keep talking for hours. Oh, yeah.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  3. “Myself on the back all the time because I really do want to see more encouragement of each other and of humanity out here.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  4. “Let's scream from the rooftops when we see amazing things happening. Hell, I'm here for everybody gets a prize. You know, it's like, if you see even a small thing, let's applaud it. Because I think that the drum beat and the noise over great things can drown out people who want to do bad or do badly. When we are in a position to celebrate the great things that are happening or the good things that are happening, we encourage more of it. And so I want to see us do that more. You know, I certainly do it. I do it myself. I am always applauding. I applaud my friends. I applaud myself.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  5. “Procedures and processes to change the dynamics of how our corporation or organization looks. You know that we must do that. We have the power to do that. And that just sitting back and complaining about things doesn't help anything. And on the other side of it Know, I really do think there's a lack of encouragement in general these days.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  6. “Thank you for being part of it. Yeah, really. But I really am enamored by the idea that we really can change anything at all. You know, and that each of us are responsible, responsible for the change. You know, I said it before, like even early on in my career when people would talk about diversity numbers and the lack of women and so forth and so on. And I would say, but why are we looking to the CEO to change the numbers? You know, what about us? Like if you're not in a position to hire, it's like, well, can I recommend someone in a job that I see open? When I am in a position to hire, can I hire from a diverse pool of candidates? You know, when I do have a seat at the table, can I implement”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  7. “You know, making noise about it. But I want us to go a step further. It's not just about making the noise, but then how are we actively changing the set environment? For me, it's very much like, yes, the quote that's in your book, which again, by the way, thank you so much for asking me to participate. It was really, man, by the way, when I got it, I was like, holy crap, look how big this book is. Is amazing. You know, so many people in here. Oh man, it was like a party.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  8. “Right. You know, it's wow. This is a This is a big one. For me, well, first of all, I love that idea about encouraging versus sort of tearing down or destroying. By the way, I am very much a fan of calling things out when we don't like it.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  9. “I wanted to be changed because of this moment. You know, I don't want us to be the same. And so this is not to me. So when people say like, oh, are you going to save the brand of Uber? I'm like, no, that's not what I'm here to do. You know, I'm here to save an ideal. I'm here to make sure that we never go backwards and that we use this catalyst moment to pull us forward into a better community and a better society and a better industry and better work environments. That's it. You know, so and if the brand gets saved along the way fantastic”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  10. “And then in my very comfortable Apple office over the next few days, and I was like, shit, I have to go do it. Like I have to go do it. I have to leave. I have to leave. I have to go do it. You know, and it was a combination of this idea, which of course now so many people are talking about sexual harassment and diversity issues and discrimination, et cetera. And quite honestly, I just feel the real need to contribute to the solutions, you know, that I don't want to sit on the sidelines and wait for somebody else to fix it. You know, especially when it comes down to these more sensitive and what can be catastrophic challenges. This is not necessarily about saving a brand. This is about saving an ideal. You know, that I want our industry, I want my future, I want my daughter's future to be changed.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  11. “Eight hours, you know, just and some of it was, you know, education, right? Me telling him, you know, just being like, hey, no, you should really try this. This is the thing to do. And then, but also like the human connection of, you know, really understanding what happened, why things happen. And himself as a human being, you know, and it was just a complex conversation. And I left that conversation thinking, man, they've got a job to do, you know, like, ooh, I hope they find somebody who could do it.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  12. “That would have been the moment, you know, to write one. But I still didn't do it. So I really came upon it because Ariana, I'd been talking to Ariana about, and this was shortly after Delit Uber. She's on the board and we were having tea at her apartment. And I was talking to her about what I would do, you know, as a marketer. I was working at Apple, of course, and she was really fascinated, you know, by what I was saying. And she suggested I talk to Travis County, who was the CEO at the time, about it. And I was just like, oh, okay, well, I don't care. It's fine. You know, and he happened to be in LA. So arranged for us to meet for an hour to talk about it. We ended up talking for eight hours. Eight hours.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  13. “Right, right. man you know that's it's like if there was ever a temptation to write a pro and con list it would have been um when i when i was going to take the job at uber”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  14. “I want them to feel like I care because I do. And sometimes I think it just comes across wrong because you over here looking at the notification that just came on your phone. You didn't mean to look like you weren't paying attention, you know, or like you're looking around the room when they're asking you a question. But to maintain that eye contact, be present in the conversation, not trying to run off somewhere, you know, makes people feel like you care. And I do. And so I want to bring that across”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  15. “Yeah, she's really, very present. It's a really great lesson because I think also, you know, Maya Angelou said, you know, people rarely remember what you said, but they'll always remember how you made them feel. And I have learned that from Ariana, too, just in living, that what I'm with her, I feel like she cares about me, you know, cares about what I have to say is responsive to what I'm saying. I want people to feel that way when they interact with me.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  16. “It's a really important quality and one that I have now taken on to be more present in conversations, you know, because you have your phone or you're distracted. You're thinking about something else. You're like, you know, going on and on. Whether it's in the work environment or in a casual environment, I'm trying to be more present so that I can really hone in on what people are saying and how I'm responding to them. And it's been really, really fascinating to see her do that and how much I appreciate it. So I know people would appreciate it when I do it. It's a good lesson.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  17. “You know what I learned from her? Present she is. You know, when you're in a conversation with her, or hell, when you text her, she is so responsive. You know, when I'm in her presence and she is talking to me, I don't think that she's thinking about anything else except whatever we're talking about. You know, it's a really...”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  18. “Chris Jenner Oprah, even though I've begun to know her recently, which is awesome, you know, Arianna Huffington, who has a real impact, a significant impact in my life right now. But there have been lots of people along the way that I have felt drawn to because I want to not emulate them, but live more boldly or make different decisions based on things I've seen that they've been able to do.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  19. “That is a great way to put it. Yeah, and along the way, there have been different types of people who've come in and out, you know. It's so funny because now when people are like, oh, I want you to be my mentor. You know what? I'm like, but do you need me right now? You know, like I want to know from that, do you need me right now, though? You know, like you see me, but you might not need me. You know, you might need somebody else at this very moment because mentors are like friendships. Some of them are long-lasting. Some of them are for a season. Some of them are from far away. I've been inspired by a lot of people that I don't know.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  20. “Yeah, I mean, certainly I could point to my early role model slash mentors, you know, my parents obviously. When I started working, Spike Lee definitely and his boldness and his, what I would call not carelessness, but he really defied how people his work is his work and he doesn't care about the criticism. You know, he's going to create the work that he knows should be seen. And that has certainly inspired me, that sometimes critics are just people who can't see the world the way you see it. So who cares?”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  21. “And definitely created my own rules. But it was really tough, you know, because obviously, well, not obviously, but I did respect her. And she was more successful than I was.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  22. “And I think sometimes I use it as armor. And what that did was that stripped me of my armor. You know, it stripped me of this idea that I could be bold. It made me wonder whether or not I could show up as myself all the time. Know that perhaps I was too bold and I was too loud and I was too this and I was too that. And that's the damage that it did. So for me, when I look back, it's not about lipstick or nail polish, really, but it was about trying to quiet this boldness and making me wonder whether or not I could appear as myself in any space, in any corporate space, and be accepted. And so that was terrible. Clearly, I ditched that advice. For good”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  23. “What's interesting is that I feel like this is, we can put this in the category of when people have good intentions, you know, like you were talking about. Reading it in the Disney character voice, you know? She was reading it, or she was saying it in a very nice way, I'm sure. She was doing it to help me. But it was really came across sinister. And for me, I really did listen to it. I accepted it. I tried to implement that. The reason why I say it's the worst advice I ever received was that it was damaging to me because she was totally wrong. That's the first thing. But also that there was this psychological sort of reaction to that, right? Which meant that Read to me where my is one of my favorite colors. I do wear red lipstick, red nail polish, and it does make me feel bold back to that word again.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  24. “Instead of doing all of that, I really do go and get into my quiet space and then just concentrate. What do I want to do? What does this feel like? Am I happy about this? Does it bring me joy? Like those type of questions. Usually I can answer those.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  25. “Or that job somebody else took it and look at them now, you know, like there have been time and time and time and time again when I've been right and I couldn't have explained it to myself or anyone else. And so the pros and cons has gone, by the wayside. I just don't do that anymore. I try very much to then just listen to my spirit, you know, instead. So it's like if I ever the time that it's like, oh, I'm going to go into a quiet, you know, because when you write the pro and con list, right, you go into a quiet space, you think about the issue, maybe you write it down, then you start writing your list. For me,”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  26. “Whether it was a job to take or a relationship or a business deal every single time. And I think the other thing is that for me, learning to trust that and call whatever you want, spirit, gut, inner voice, there are lots of words for it. Learning to trust that has been a real process. I'm still doing it now, you know, where it's like, I don't have to have a reason, you know? It's like, okay, brain, just shut off. Like, I don't have to rationalize this. It doesn't have to make logical sense. I just don't like that and I'm not going to do it. You know, and by the way, again and again and again and again and again, I have proven myself correct that later on I find out like, oh, that person was a total ass.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  27. “You know, that my spirit knew, right, that my spirit knew what to do, but my head was like, girl, you better make sure that's right. You know? And that internal dialogue, because I'm thinking, well, you know what, academically and logically, let's think through this. But my spirit always knew what to do. And more often than not, actually no. I mean, every single time that I did not listen to what my spirit was telling me, it was wrong. Even if I rationalized to myself”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  28. “Yeah. Well, okay, so that has more to do with my feeling. And it's very personal, you know, to me. It doesn't work for everybody. But what I have found in my experience is that when I make pro and conless. It's usually because I want to talk myself out of a good idea or talk myself into a really bad one.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  29. “These words are fire, you know, but then being able to unwind that and think about different ways to approach it, doing it with the honey instead of the brimstone is fantastic, a better option.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  30. “Because, man, I used to be dangerous with that thing. You know, it's like I would get something that would just piss me off and then hear it go, right? And then send. And it usually caused a lot of damage. And now, you know, getting things like that, I stop. Maybe I'll write something, but I definitely don't send it, reread it, reread it again. Sometimes pray, but I'm like, Lord, just save them from themselves because I'm about to murder all of them, okay?”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  31. “So learning to kind of slow myself when I could feel that happening. The walking away is really important. And those things have really helped also make me reconsider, you know, because when you do take time off, you can walk away for a second. Oh, let me give you a good example. It's like, you know, the fireback email, man, I've had to like learn to not do that.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  32. “So, understanding that not everything gets done through anger and the fire and screaming, but that you can get a lot more done when you're not that way, you know, when you're peaceful. And again, not that like I don't get angry, but it's just that I unwind it much easier now. And some of those simple things really do help. It sounds like sound corny, but the walking away, the counting to five, the like thinking, okay, let me think about this a different way. Like, how else can I get this done? You know, like the conversation with myself really, really, really, really, really helps, like the pause. Because like I'm one of those, like I, it's like it actually does take me a long time to get angry, but once I once I get angry, the fuse is lit and boom. I'm like firecracker, right? Right.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  33. “That there is an opportunity. I'm not saying you never get angry. I still get angry. Things happen. I'm still impatient. I want things to happen like today all the time. But knowing that I can't damage others based on my anger. Because then you have to fix that and you have to go back and correct those things. And sometimes that's more difficult to do than if you hadn't made the mistake in the first place.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  34. “Always demanding. I expected everything and I expected everything to go well too, by the way, because it had, quite frankly. I mean, things had been tough sometimes. And as we talked about the Phoenix and the fire and all that stuff, but I always found a way through. And so I was, and maybe arrogant is a good word too. All of those words to describe the way that I was. And then something totally uncontrollable, you know, an event so catastrophic and traumatic that was outside of my control happened. And all of a sudden, it just knocked me down a peg or two. You know, maybe three or four. And coming back from that has been all of this learning, you know, about not running so hot all the time because really it's useless You could still get a lot of things done without having to leave so much chaos in your wake.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  35. “What's interesting because you're right, you know, I would agree that folks who are high functioning in this way run hot in a lot of different ways. And for me, anger. Is one that I think before I kind of see myself like before Peter died and after Peter died. And before he died, I was definitely quick to anger, you know, impatient, unforgiving is probably a good word, you know.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  36. “Changed my whole perspective, and for me the grief was not even just about just losing him, but also forgiving myself, you know, for having lost precious time that I didn't need to lose, that I chose to lose, and that I would never do that again. And so for me, the grief wasn't just about or healing wasn't just about getting over, and I'm using air quotes because there is no getting over, you know, but it was about learning the lessons from just what I never want to repeat again. You know, if it's like if I'm blessed enough to ever find that kind of love again, I will never take it for granted, you know, and I think that's part of the healing is that understanding what is really important, what's important to us, what's important in making us happy and making us feel satisfied, that things can change, but that we should always, always.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  37. “And I realized that you only get these chances at this type of love maybe once, you know, like they're very lucky get it once. And I had it. And so for me, it was a real moment of reckoning, you know, to understand that, you know, love like that doesn't come around and to appreciate it. And that love like that not only doesn't come around often and to appreciate it, but that it can last after the physical. And after he passed away, it was for me really understanding what it means to forgive yourself, you know, like regret and feeling terribly about maybe angry words you've said or taking someone for granted or taking loving love for granted.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  38. “Yeah. You know, it's amazing. The part about our story that I don't often talk about, actually, I've never talked about, so you got to excuse me because I might get emotional. No problem. Is that... Before he was diagnosed, we were actually separated. It was just a difficult time. And like I said, we were both moving so fast in our career. Things were really popping. And I think we just stopped communicating properly. So we were separated. And I really didn't think that we would get back together, you know, because I just thought, ah, you know what, relationships end. And, you know, that was a time of life and that, right? And then he got sick.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  39. “You know, if he is willing to get to know me on my terms, on my level, even though it's a high bar and he's going to jump it and then go the extra step of being creative about how he presents it back to me in a new way, that was going to be it.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  40. “Know, but literally like three weeks later, he finds me in the cafeteria again and he's like, I read the book. And I was like, no, that's actually impossible. I don't believe you. But okay, you know, we can have a coffee and we can talk about it. So we sat down for coffee and he knew so much about the characters, obviously the plot lines. We had such a rich discussion. And it was such a beautiful moment for me because I was like, wow, okay, you know when somebody is really interested, when somebody really wants to get to know you, they're going to do whatever it is that it takes to get to know you. The bar was raised so high, you know? And then it was raised higher because then for my birthday, which was about a month later, by then we had been dating, he painted a picture of characters from the book for my birthday. And I knew then I was like, this guy is everything.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  41. “And so he's standing behind me in the line. By the way, I don't notice him at all. And he, which is hard to imagine because I just described him as like this big person. But guess what? I'm like a big personality too. So screw that. You know what I mean? Anyway So he sat behind me, and he's trying to drop some lines, you know, like pick up lines and whatever. I'm just like, this dude just needs to quit. It turned around and he's like, I've been coming down here to try and catch you. I would love to take you out sometime. And I was like, or no, he said, I would love to get to know you better. And I was like, all right, if you want to get to know me better, you should read Tony Morrison's Song of Solomon. And then we can talk about it. I walked away, right? Thinking, like, good, there, there we go. I got rid of him.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  42. “And she's just a really difficult author. But I really love her storytelling. It tells the experience of the African American story, the African-American experience so well and so richly. So I really enjoy her books. But my favorite is Song of Solomon. And when I was in, when I moved, when I finally got my permanent job with Spike, it was in the Madison Avenue building with DDB, which is the agency that basically Madmen was created about, right? And Peter worked, my late husband, Peter, worked at DDB, and they had a cafeteria at the bottom of the building. And so one day I'm standing in line, Peter, by the way, was Italian descent, just a big dude with a big voice and a big personality and a big gold chain, which sounds really stereotypical, but he really did wear like a gold chain.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  43. “Yeah. Oh man. Okay. So Tony Morrison is one of my favorite authors. I've been reading her since I was in high school. And she's a really hard author. You know, she doesn't take it easy on her readers. I think, you know, like sometimes you write for the lowest common denominator, right? But she doesn't. She's like, you're going to meet me at my level.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  44. “And he was looking for head of marketing. And the funny thing is, of course, here I was like, okay, I know big brand marketing. I get it, right? All of the important, the foundational stuff. I also understand the music entertainment space because I've been doing it. Plus, I needed emotionally something to look forward to. I needed to build the future. And I needed something, again, back to like taking risks and quitting jobs, maybe sometimes for stupid reasons. I was like, you know, I need to take another risk. I need another one. I need something to make me feel alive. And so I told him I would move across the country with my four-year-old daughter. This was three months after my husband had passed away. And I said, okay, I will leave New York. I'm going to quit my job, leave New York, and I'm moving to LA to help you build this thing. And I also took it as a sign that Beats Music was born on my birthday. So I was like, hell.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  45. “And also, you know, by divine intervention, I met Jimmy Ivan around the same time. And Jimmy had just launched Beats Music. So he already had Beats Electronics, you know, headphones and speakers, et cetera. That was already a booming business. But he had launched Beats Music, which was the first streaming platform for music under him.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  46. “Was like a real threat. I'm afraid of ghosts. And I was like, you can't haunt me. That's not fair. And he's like, yeah, but I will though. So you better raise for Catholic. Which, you know, makes me laugh now because I really am raising her Catholic because I'm really afraid. But in any case, that's a whole nother story. But part of that also and what he made me promise was that, you know, I wouldn't stop living life as deeply as, you know, again, back to the fire, you know, with as much fire as possible, that what we had learned in the six months was that you really can't take any day for granted, and that I would need to do that. And so after he passed away, and I went back to work because I really do enjoy my work and I find solace in it and I find inspiration in it. But I went back to Pepsi and I just knew that I needed to find something different to do.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  47. “Everything that we could to fit the rest of our lives into those few weeks. And one of the things he made me promise, along with, he was also a very funny guy. So he had a lot of jokes. One of them was that I'm not Catholic. I'm not really religious. I am spiritual, though, but he was born and raised Catholic and he promised, or he made me promise that I would raise our daughter Catholic after he died or he would haunt me.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  48. “What happens? Like, what's the plan? What do we do? And there was no plan because he had a very rare cancer. And for him, he just wanted to be able to live his life, you know, as passionately as he could for whatever amount of time that he had left. And we found out really quickly that he really didn't have a lot of time. And so six months after he was diagnosed, he passed away. And that was in December. We just actually celebrated four years that he's been gone. And I just, I was so lost, you know, in that I wasn't quite sure what to do. You know, we had been living this very fast life. He was so much alive, you know, for me. And that in those last months, you know, we were trying to do.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  49. “Right, because I had really found my stride in what I felt like corporate America, but in marketing with this music and entertainment marketing team, we had just come off like this big show for the Super Bowl with Beyonce. I was feeling myself. I was like, I am just the best. Like nothing can take me down, you know? And my husband Peter was also doing really well. He was an advertising and well. He was a producer. And we were both doing really well. Our daughter was four. We had our little family. And when he was diagnosed, it was just such a blow to us. Unfortunately, neither of us are strangers to cancer. Both of our mothers are cancer survivors, breast cancer survivors, and they both receive treatment and radiation, chemo, and all of that, surgery. And so our first questions were.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT

  50. “Yeah, you're hitting like all the points. So I went back to Pepsi after my Ashley Stewart experience, which was a much better situation for me, by the way, because I went back knowing that I didn't want to do traditional brand management, but that I was really good at the pop culture stuff. And so we created a new group called the Music Entertainment Group, which meant that I was doing all the deal making for all of the brands in the Pepsi portfolio across all entertainment types. And so all of the deals were coming through me and I was able to really do some fun things. Towards the end of or the middle of 2013, my husband, who I'd been married to for almost 10 years, was diagnosed with cancer. And I was really at the, you know, it just hit us at a time when we were both really high on our careers.”

    2017-12-27 · The Tim Ferriss Show · #288: Lessons from Bozoma Saint John -- From Spike Lee to Uber, From Ghana to Silicon Valley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT