Bozoma Saint John Wants to Make Space for Black Women’s Hair

Bozoma Saint John has held some of the highest management positions at Netflix, Uber, Endeavor, Apple Music, and PepsiCo, but now she’s ready for her solo spotlight — in hair care no less. Last month, she launched Eve by Boz, her brand of wigs and hair extensions, plus products to care for them, all centering on Black women, this category’s biggest consumers. The hairpieces come in three lace colors and in multiple lengths. They’re made of 100 percent human hair that’s sourced in Asia and manufactured in Ghana. Did we mention she also has a new role as a cast member on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?

“I don’t know if I can go back to that world, sit at a table somebody else has built, and work on their brand,” she says. “It’s difficult to admit that this journey has been tough. Often, I come in and everybody loves my bigness, my fabulosity, my excitement, and my crazy campaign ideas. But quickly it turns to, ‘Ooh, can you tone it down just a little bit?’”

Her career has long seemed like a road map for people of color to claim space in corporate America’s corridors without diluting essential parts of their personality. Below, she reveals that that’s not always been the case and how her brand will change that.

We know you for leading brand building for Netflix, Apple, and more. How did it come about that the first brand you built under your name is a beauty brand, specifically a hair brand?

Years ago, people told me to build my own business. And I’m like, No, I’m a corporate baddie. I come into companies, fix what I need to, make a big splash, and I’m on to the next adventure. I took a sabbatical for my book (The Urgent Life, 2023) and planned to get back in the corporate seat. But when that time came, I felt the heebie-jeebies. So I thought, I’ll do fashion or beauty. I talked to some big guns. And it felt like they were looking for me to bring my vision, passion, and know-how to build their brands. I thought, Why would I do that when I could do it for myself? 

I looked at the beauty industry and realized I’ve always customized my wigs and extensions. I could have my cosmetology license; I’m a kitchen chemist. But why do I have to do that? I’ve got white girlfriends who just pull on their extensions and go. Meanwhile, I’m out here dyeing the lace to match my complexion. I never look at something and think that it’s too big for me to solve. Who’s gonna do that? I’ll do it. So, I approached this the same way. I’ll fix it.

You invested a “couple of million” of your own money into this brand. Was it important for you to have your own skin in the game? 

I have real trauma from my time in corporate. If I raised money, I knew I’d have to report back to them. They’ll be upset if I make choices that go against what will help the bottom line. I’ve had too many experiences where people have told me what to do, even when I know better or when they hired me because I know better. I don’t want to experience that ever again.

In reference to the wig category, you’ve said Black women and WOC make up 80 percent of the buying power but have no say in how these products are constructed. What’s missing from this market, and how does your brand correct that?

First of all, our melanin is missing. So, this is a wig I’m wearing. The scalp right here [points to the lace that sits on the forehead] usually would come in white, for white women. This is brown, ’cause I made it.

Look, I’m not creating the wheel. I’m rebuilding parts of it. I’ve taken cues from foundation and other categories in beauty, like Fenty with its 40 shades. I have three lace colors: hazelwood, chestnut, and mahogany. But I plan to get all the different shades for us.

I understand the benefits of natural ingredients from the continent. [Our products] have shea butter, moringa, rose hip, palm kernel, and baobab-tree oils. Most people wash wigs or extensions with cheap stuff, saving their money for their natural hair. You’ve invested so much in these hairpieces; let’s preserve them with products made for them. The hairpieces come to you in a bonnet I designed. You can use it to protect your natural hair while you sleep.

What was your relationship to your hair while growing up? 

I have always loved my hair, even when my family moved from Ghana to Colorado Springs when I was 12. I won’t lie and pretend that I didn’t try to straighten it like my little white girlfriends. I did. But thank God for my mom and my three sisters. We’re so close in age, I’m the eldest, and my youngest sister is six years younger than me, and we were all going through hair drama at the same time. We relaxed our hair, got braids, cut it, and did everything. My mom was very comfortable doing any style we wanted to try. I’m so thankful she instilled the love of my hair in me. I didn’t feel like I should hate my natural hair to put on a wig, or wear extensions. It’s just an extension of my identity. It was confusing when corporate people said I should pull my hair back to be taken seriously.

What was your relationship with your hair like in corporate boardrooms?

I had a boss once who told me that he could tell whether it would be a good day by my hair. He said that if I came to work with my hair curly, I would be wild, and if I came with it straight, in a low ponytail, I’d be calm. He didn’t even feel like he was insulting me. He thought it was cute. But I have made very intentional choices and worn every kind of hairstyle because I want to represent everybody who feels like they can’t.

You’ve redefined what a CMO looks like in many ways for many companies. Is the hair industry next? 

Absolutely. I don’t understand how we’re the majority consumer and are not considered in sourcing, manufacturing, and innovation. We have to recenter ourselves. Like many other industries, everything comes down to money. If I’m willing to take the risk — I use risk in air quotes — to center Black women and WOC, and if it’s profitable and breaks every metric, I know the industry will turn. Suddenly people wake up, “We can make money off of them, if we only treat them right.”

I want to be successful, but I’m not mad if somebody copies things I’ve done. I’ve had that conversation with my legal team about trademarks. I said, “Leave it open.” I would be honored if the next hair company said let’s make brown lace. My goals are bigger than just having a successful company.

This line feels so personal, from the botanicals native to Ghana where you’re from to the wigs named after members of your family or inner circle. It’s the opposite of a corporate brand built in a boardroom, which is your specialty. Was that intentional? 

I think, counter to conventional wisdom, the way brands should be built is very personal. Companies choose to be evergreen and neutral to appeal to a broader group of people. I believe the opposite: The more personal and intentional it is, the more people will be attracted to it, because it feels human.

I started this with my book. I’ve been in so many leadership roles where no one can know anything personal about you, because you have to appear fierce and as a decision maker. No. You need to know that I cry because I’m in grief, or because my daughter had a memory and I needed to comfort her before I came into the meeting. [In her memoir, Saint John writes about her grief at the loss of her husband and a premature baby.]

Tell us about some of your favorites from the line.

The hair perfumes are fantastic. Regular perfumes are alcohol-based and not nourishing. These are oil-based, with wonderful ingredients to help your hair. Genesis is my signature scent, it smells like what I believe the Garden of Eden smelt like.

Honestly, I love all the hair textures, because they’re curly and not bone straight in a way that’s not meant for us. Working intentionally on the textures was important to me.

What pros and cons did you weigh when you were considering saying yes to Housewives, and what finally made you decide to do it?

I didn’t have any real cons. There’s so much conflict on the show, but was I scared of it? No, this is light work. Do you think the boardrooms I’ve been in didn’t have conflict? It was worse because you were behind closed doors.

It’s wonderful to represent a segment that’s not on the show. For a long time, the Housewives have been women made by their husbands versus self-made. Everything that I have, the homes, the clothes, the bags, the vacations, all of those things I built with my own hands.

What Eve by Boz wig would you wear to a big work meeting?

Folake’s Coily Curls. Because it’s bold and fabulously coil-y, truest to my hair texture.

For the Housewives reunion taping?

I’m gonna go with C.J.’s Silk Press. It’s named after Madam C.J. Walker.

For a night out with the girls?

I’m going to spray Rose of Eden perfume oil, because it smells deliciously like roses, and I would wear Lael’s Curly Ringlets.

On a date?

Amma’s Blowout, because it’s big, fluffy, and soft, in case somebody wants to run their fingers through my hair, you know what I’m saying?

To a music festival or a concert by your favorite artist?

Amina’s Loose Waves, because that’s beachy and free and feels like a good time.