The Ride to Success

By Sara Baxter

During her time at Agnes Scott College, Joy Howard ’91 remembers looking at the photos of distinguished alumnae in a display in a campus building’s lobby and noticing one of W. Burlette Carter ’82, who was the college’s first Truman Scholar and subsequently went on to be an attorney in Washington, D.C.

“I had just won the same scholarship, and even though I had never met her, I just had this feeling of, ‘Wow. I can do meaningful work someday too,’” recalls Howard.

She went on to transform this epiphany into a reality throughout her career, seeking roles in which she could make an impact. She has played in a rock band, been named one of Fast Company magazine’s “100 Most Creative People” and held key global marketing roles at The Coca-Cola Company, Patagonia, Nike, Converse and Sonos. Last October, she became the chief marketing officer of Lyft, the ride-hailing company based in San Francisco. In this new position, she has set her sights on revolutionizing the concept of “civic marketing.”

“My hope is to build one of the greatest civic brands of the 21st century,” she says of her job at Lyft.

The woman with big plans had small-town beginnings. Howard grew up in Reidsville and Brooklet—two cities in Southeast Georgia about 45 miles apart on either side of Interstate 16. Reidsville is known for being the home of the Georgia State Prison, the state’s main maximum-security prison, and Howard says the biggest thing in Brooklet was the yearly Hog Show.

Though Atlanta was a “big city” to her with several university options, she says she chose Agnes Scott because she was looking for a small, supportive environment where she could focus on learning.

“I also chose Agnes Scott to make my grandmother proud,” Howard notes. “She always admired the college.”

Her memories of Agnes Scott include having strong professors and mentors who encouraged her and nurtured her creative spirit, listening to the Indigo Girls at nearby Trackside Tavern and being a part of a small but vibrant campus. She was also a member of Witkaze, the college’s Black student association.

After graduating from Agnes Scott with a political science degree, Howard became—literally—a rock star, co-founding the band Seely. She played bass and piano, sang and wrote songs. Together for 10 years, the band toured all over the country and produced four albums.

To help pay the bills as Seely was getting off the ground, Howard returned to Agnes Scott to work as the student activities coordinator.

“I booked historic shows that Agnes Scott had never even seen before, such as singer Cat Power and photographer Roe Ethridge in the dating parlors, as well as OutKast and Goodie Mob in the amphitheater,” she says. “I used the fax machine and free long distance in the office to land us our record deal. This was pre-internet and email.”

When she realized that recording and touring was not a long-term career choice for her, she decided to go to business school, a decision influenced by reading “The Ecology of Commerce” by Paul Hawken.

“The book says that we are on a path to environmental destruction and that businesses will play a critical role in building the technology we need to create solutions to our problems,” Howard explains. “That led me to believe that it’s possible to work in business and leave the world better than you found it.”

In 2000, after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan Flagler Business School with a master’s degree in business administration in sustainable enterprise, she set her sights on making a difference in business, but it did not happen right away.

“For the first decade of my career, I worked with brands that didn’t consider their cultural, political and historical context,” she says. “But then I started to discover cultural branding. It was not hard for me to think of brands as platforms for activism and brand managers as the activists. The idea that brands exist in culture and that there is a dynamic that determines the brand’s success or failure is very exciting to me. From that moment on, I was determined that I would do that kind of work.”

She was working as chief marketing officer for Sonos, a company that specializes in wireless speakers and home sound systems, when she was approached by Lyft for the same position, where she says she saw a great opportunity to build “a truly great” civic brand.

“There’s a growing cynicism of corporations that aren’t being agents of civic duty,” she says, “but I saw this consistent commitment from Lyft’s co-founders to support communities, bring people together and give back to the cities where they operate.”

She now oversees a team of more than 200 marketers, communicators and designers tasked with building the brand and growing the business.

When asked about her proudest accomplishments, Howard—who, along with her husband, Shannon Bain, has a 13-year-old daughter named Elsa—ticks off a list: the work she has done leading and building iconic brands, the teams she has built and led, being featured in Fast Company and the fact that she wrote and recorded four albums.

The seeds for some of these accomplishments were planted at Agnes Scott.

She says attending Agnes Scott made her appreciate strong female role models and the power of mentorship. Though she has worked in a world of strong leaders and has become one herself, she says her most influential role model is her mother, a former teacher and high school principal.

“My mother is my inspiration,” she says. “She’s always been a strong leader. She’s transformed every institution she’s touched, and I got to see that work up close over and over again.”

In a case of like mother, like daughter, Howard has done the same on her remarkable career journey, making a difference as she makes her mark in the world of marketing.

Editor’s note: As of Aug. 1, Joy Howard ‘91 will become the chief marketing officer at Dashlane, a company specializing in password security.

Inside Lyft’s headquarters in San Francisco, California, where alumna Joy Howard ’91 works as the ride-hailing company’s chief marketing officer.

Photo by Lyft