Issue 13 · Winter 2008
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Profiles in Achievement Wesleyan Women Leaders in Marketing

by Faraneh Carnegie ’05 and Sandy Tello ’06

Early on in her Wesleyan career, Bozoma Saint-John ’99 recognized the importance of branding. The parties she hosted were among Wesleyan’s most popular, an unequivocal fact guaranteed mainly by virtue of having been put on by “Boz.” It should come as no surprise then that today Saint-John is making her mark as manager of Diet Pepsi Marketing, where she leads her team and collaborating advertising agencies in the creation of Diet Pepsi’s brand perception for consumers in the United States.

As an English and African American studies major, Saint-John spent much of her time at Wesleyan exploring writing both creative and nonfiction. Through Professor Kate Rushin, she learned the art of making personal everyday experience relevant and relatable to a larger audience. Combining her intelligence and charisma with her passion for writing and her flair for the creative, Saint-John developed her interest in marketing at Wesleyan. She led student organizations, successfully promoted several on-campus events, and honed her entrepreneurial spirit. She enjoyed both the organizational and creative challenge of creating something from nothing.

Immediately after graduation, and eager to flex her communication skills, Saint-John spent a year promoting the advantages of Wesleyan’s liberal arts education in the Office of Admission. During that time, Saint-John discovered that she wanted to pursue “the glamour of a creative and constantly evolving profession.” She packed her bags and headed to New York City. Soon after, she landed a position at Spike DDB, filmmaker Spike Lee’s full-service advertising agency founded in collaboration with DDB Worldwide, where she managed accounts for the New York Knicks, McDonalds, Jaguar, and Pepsi. She then got a position at the prestigious advertising firm, Arnold Worldwide. At this point in her career, Saint-John’s reputation preceded her and Pepsi reached out to her to manage their multicultural marketing. After spending a few years working on some very exciting projects including the AND1 basketball tournaments and the Beyonce ad campaign, Saint-John accepted her current position with Diet Pepsi.

When asked about the challenges of her job, Saint-John identifies the task of alignment.

“It’s literally like herding cats,” she says, “It’s a lot of work to convince people of your concept and communicate that perspective to several constituencies.”

However, when asked to describe what she enjoys most, Saint-John enthusiastically asserts “Communication!” and passionately describes her hectic days dealing with myriad agents and corporate sponsors and consistently peddling her vision to designers and producers.

“My experience at Wesleyan has definitely shaped me professionally; it afforded a wide open space with boundless opportunities and a motivating learning environment,” she says.

Charlotte Castillo ’94 discovered early on in her Wesleyan career that she had a passion for marketing. In typical Wesleyan fashion, she was not only an American studies and sociology double major, but she was also actively involved in several extracurricular activities, including but not limited to the Student of Color Council, Wesleyan’s radio station WESU, and the Social Committee. Today she is director of Consumer Products Marketing and Planning for Nick Jr. working closely with the brand marketing teams to manage marketing across the United States. Among other responsibilities, she works daily to promote products based on such beloved characters as Diego, Dora, and Blues Clues.

Castillo admits that upon leaving Wesleyan she was still uncertain about what she wanted to do with her education.

“My first job out of Wesleyan was working with young people. I knew it wasn’t going to be a long-term career but I knew I wanted to give back,” she says.

Castillo eventually decided on a career in academia and entered a PhD program in American studies with a concentration in Latino popular culture. While studying Latino culture’s influence on general market culture, she realized that she was far less interested in studying culture than actually creating it. Castillo found a home with Latina magazine and was eventually promoted to marketing director; it wasn’t long before she was looking for the next step, a larger company with a larger perspective.

She speaks fondly of her time at Latina Magazine and when asked about the transition to Nick Jr., she says, “I missed working directly with the Latino community, but I now have the opportunity to work with Dora and Diego, who have really positive characteristics, I’m also still in a position to market to the Latino community, which is booming.”

“Working with Dora is definitely my favorite part,” Castillo adds. “She is such a positive role model and she has such resonance with the community. It’s amazing how kids react when they hear that I work with her, I become a rock star by affiliation.”

Though Castillo did not study marketing at Wesleyan, she attributes wholeheartedly her early training to her Wesleyan experience. She talks passionately about postering the campus, developing a grassroots marketing campaign when she was running for senior class president, and the pride she felt upon winning. She also recalls enthusiastically her work promoting the radio station and planning events for the social committee. Castillo thinks of her Wesleyan career as “on-the-job, day-to-day training” and felt prepared and eager to flex her skills as she began her marketing career.

“I know everybody has had different experiences and relationships with Wesleyan,” she says. “I had a very positive one. I felt Wesleyan did a lot for me, and I felt like I gave a lot to the campus. I was very involved as a student and I encourage alumni to get more involved.”