Quotes from Bozoma Saint John

I've never taken the easy route. I don't even know what that is!

Marketers sometimes get caught in this lie that you must talk to people only in the voice that they recognize.

I'm following the path that was destined for me.

Any criticism, you should pay attention to. Whether you accept it and change or you take it and move on is the choice, but criticism is not a bad thing.

When I first walked into Uber, it was very difficult because people were unsure about what was going to happen - there was a real sense of powerlessness.

I love Apple Music. I helped build Apple Music. It will always be a very, very big part of my life and part of the journey.

I do think brands are like people.

Bringing your whole self to work is the mantra for me as I sit in my office and do the work, and it's also the mantra as I look out at the community that I'm trying to brand for Uber.

Because my husband, Peter, died young, I've already faced the scariest thing in my life. Now I live out the dreams for both of us.

I am very competitive - with myself and everybody else. I'm petty, too.

I've broken through many walls and glass ceilings.

The number of African Americans in Silicon Valley is dismal. It's not up to one company - it's up to the entire industry to make sure that we are moving the conversation forward. Sometimes those walls of competition need to come down so we can move the entire industry forward.

I have known Tiffany R. Warren for many years, and we have always shared the goal to promote diversity and inclusion in the creative industries.

Pop culture and entertainment can be dismissed as surface, but it's not. It's the language we all speak, and it's the connection point between people all over the world.

I can't be in an environment that is not conducive to me as a black woman.

I was born in Middletown, Connecticut, while my dad was getting his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and anthropology at Wesleyan University.

I think diversity and having women and people of color in key positions is really important.

Instagram is a blessing - I love to post about everything I'm doing. The explore page is magical.

I don't know if I'm ever considered a part of the community I'm in.

Being a black woman in America and the world and in corporate situations is something to be celebrated.

We need better corporate environments. We need better workplaces everywhere.

I've been told that I overshare. Sometimes I get criticized for it, but how else would I be if not all of me?

I don't curse in front of my daughter. Well, sometimes.

As a first-generation American, my parents expected that I would go on to have pretty tactical higher-education-type jobs - doctor, lawyer, engineer. Those were the three options. My dad was not at all open to the idea that there would not be a higher education in my future.