A little more than a year later at Netflix and Bozoma Saint John has topped Forbes’ 2021 ranking of the World’s Most Influential CMOs list. Note: She is the first black female executive of Netflix.
The ninth annual list sourced from Sprinklr and data from LinkedIn has Bozoma leading the pack, while Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer at WWE, Stephanie McMahon places second. Dara Johnson Treseder occupies the third position, thanks to her work at Peloton.
Raja Rajamannar of MasterCard takes the No. 4 spot with TikTok’s Nick Tran behind him as No.5.
According to Forbes, the ranking this year has 28 women against 22 men. Six out of the top 10 list shelters people of colour or women, while 30 out of the 50 ranked CMOs are new to the list.
“With marketing, influence and attention are often related, making chief marketing officers mavens of both,” said Marty Swant, Editor, CMO Network at Forbes. “And during the Covid-19 pandemic, the CMOs on this year’s list have quickly embraced wielding both to navigate some of the biggest problems and opportunities facing businesses today. Whether they’re advertising vaccines, leading conversations around racial inequality, fighting climate change or keeping up with the pace of technological innovation, it’s no secret that influence is increasingly tied to far more than a company’s own objectives.”
Bozoma’s qualification at the top spot is partially based on her creative strategy that helped the streaming platform ban fans from sharing spoilers of their hit series ‘Money Heist’ ahead of its premiere. She is credited with working with top companies such as Endeavour, Apple Music and Uber before joining Netflix.
Aside her resplendent career in marketing, Bozoma is also a loud advocate within the black community. Her recent advocacy role was partnering with writers Glennon Doyle and Luvvie Ajayi Jones and Alice and Olivia founder Stacey Bendet in launching the #sharethemicnow campaign which had white celebrity women hand over their Instagram accounts to 50 black women to for a day to foster dialogue and reach new audience.
Next up on her itinerary is a memoir publication ‘The Urgent Life’ about how losing her husband to cancer in 2013 changed her outlook on life and the struggles that she faced along the way.
She is currently the Special Envoy to the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo with a dual citizenship in USA and Ghana.
