'We Can’t Hide Behind Logos.' Bozoma Saint John and Jason Wright on Promoting Racial Equity and Inclusion in Corporate Roles

As protesters took to the streets in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, cries of solidarity rang out from the unlikeliest of places: the boardrooms and C-suites of the world’s most prominent companies. Protesters channeled their anger into demands of accountability from institutions they believed had long been complicit in promoting—and perhaps even profiting from—racism. A handful of companies looked inward for ways to further diversity, equity and inclusion. They began hiring, promoting and creating new positions for people of color.

TIME spoke with two of those newly appointed leaders: Bozoma Saint John, chief marketing officer at Netflix (and the first Black C-level executive at the company), and Jason Wright, president of the Washington Football Team (the NFL’s first Black team president), about the future of America’s racial reckoning and the dual burdens of performing high-profile corporate roles while also promoting change.

TIME: What excites you both about your new positions? And what are the main things you’re working on right now?

Bozoma Saint John: This has been quite a complicated year. Lots of personal introspection. For me, there has been a lot that has gone behind my decision to go to Netflix. I find it to be a really important moment, not just for Netflix, but for all of us as consumers who are watching what is happening around the world, trying to understand each other’s perspectives, trying to understand each other’s stories and struggles—and be inspired.

Jason Wright: On both sides of my family, I come from a lineage of civil rights activists, and the values that they brought were of social elevation over time, one generation’s ceiling being the next generation’s floor. For me, the underpinning of inequity and racial injustice is the lack of equitable distribution of capital. The Washington Football Team is a franchise that is in its own reckoning, that needed to shift from something that was not universally inclusive to something that is healthy, inclusive, dynamic and innovative. We’re getting ready to invest several billion dollars of capital to build a new venue and entertainment complex and to be an economic -development engine for the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. For a 38-year-old brother from L.A., to be able to oversee the distribution of that sort of generationally shifting capital, it was a no-brainer for me to jump into a role like this.

What do you both think about the role that companies should play in creating and pushing for societal change?

Wright: The NFL sits at a true cross section of America. That’s why so many of the challenging conversations around racial equity and other topics have found themselves a home in and around the NFL. That is both an opportunity and a challenge. As a former NFL player myself, I think the players have learned the power of their voices. They’ve become incredibly sophisticated and educated on topics they care about.

So coming out of the summertime narrative around Wisconsin, and the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, our players—along with many other athletes around the globe—decided to take a pause and say, “We’re not playing right now”; “We need to have a robust discussion on this.” They said, “Look, No. 1, we want to effect policy change.” Across Virginia and Maryland, our guys were able to participate alongside law-enforcement leaders and state legislators to get police-reform legislation through those states. One of our stars—Chase Young—was testifying in the Maryland legislature as this bill was passed. I see it as my job as a business leader to hear what they want to do, put the infrastructure and resources around them, and then promote the crap out of it with our brand, and tie it to the values that are universal.

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