TIME Chief Marketing Officer Sadé Muhammad Provides Career Day Keynote Remarks

Sadé Muhammad ‘08, Chief Marketing Officer for TIME, was the keynote speaker for Career Day 2023, which saw a return to in-person presentations by many guest presenters (see thumbnails on following pages) for the first time in three years.

Sadé shared her inspirational life and career story with students – which combined her knowledge and passion for her heritage, culture, and social justice issues with her flair and talent for storytelling. She candidly shared several experiences in schools she attended prior to MFS at which she felt “erased and unseen” when topics related to slavery and the trials and tribulations of African Americans were discussed in classrooms. Her personal therapy at an early age was her writing. “The vastness and freedom I felt when writing was in stark contrast to the smallness I felt sitting in that classroom feeling unseen,” she reflected about a fourth grade memory. “Words were powerful, I learned. I didn’t consciously realize it then, but I saw that words could be used to encourage and empower, or subdue and neglect.”

Sadé enrolled at MFS in ninth grade and by junior year found herself President of the MLK, Jr. Club. In 2007, she organized a silent protest in which Upper School students wore black in solidarity with the Jena 6 – six black teenagers in Jena, Louisiana, made national headlines when they were tried as adults for fighting a fellow classmate after a slew of racially motivated incidents.

“I am proud to have gone to a school like MFS because we were supported and encouraged by the administration and teachers,” she said. “At MFS, I began to find my voice by doing two things: 1) leaning in to what made me happy – writing, and 2) taking action around what made me angry – social injustice.”

The following summer she attended a minorities in journalism workshop at Monmouth University and felt a strong kinship working with other students to tell the stories of historically underrepresented communities. This excitement was tempered after a visit to the Newark Star-Ledger during which she learned about the meager salaries earned by entry-level journalists.

However, with assistance from her AP English Teacher Katy Rinehart, she obtained a Senior Project assignment that was life altering. Sadé spent four weeks working with MFS alum Sheryl Huggins Salomon ’83, who was running an online magazine for black women at the time called NIAOnline.  “Those four weeks changed everything,” said Sadé. “I managed the office as an assistant and even got to write my own article. But it was the exposure to an environment dedicated to centering, affirming, educating, and supporting black women that had me hooked.”

She had achieved clarity about her career path as she embarked on her studies at Syracuse  University and took advantage of the school’s vast network as a magazine journalism major (with a minor in marketing). Sadé was accepted into the multiyear Emma Bowen Foundation internship  program for young media students of color. “I met a slew of powerful, influential women along the way who would affirm my dream, straighten my crown, and lift me up when needed,” she said.

She started her career at NBC as part of the Page Program, working in New York City. In 2016, she  began working at Forbes, where she steadily climbed the ranks from Brand Producer for Content Marketing; to Senior Brand Producer; to Associate Director of Content Partnerships.

In 2020, she founded Forbes’ Representation and Inclusion Practice, an award-winning Business to Business advertisement endeavor which encouraged marketing partners to broadcast Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a foundational aspect of their company’s growth strategy. As Vice President of the practice, she led all business development, sales and marketing strategy, client relationships, and sponsorships.

In January, Sadé was named the new Chief Marketing Officer at TIME, where her role is to oversee the brand’s integrated marketing, customer success, branded content and communications, as well as TIME’s newly created impact division. TIME has just celebrated its 100th anniversary, and it has over 20 million subscribers.

“My passion is harnessing the power of authentic brands to get audiences to listen and, in turn,  unlock their unique power to affect change,” said Sadé in TIME’s announcement of her appointment in January. “TIME is one of the world’s most trusted storytellers and I am thrilled to bring our partners’ stories to life with imaginative ideas to inspire a smarter, better marketplace.”

Sadé closed her remarks to students with three simple kernels of advice:
1) Follow your happy, and don’t be afraid to be fueled by your angry.
2) Think like your life depends on it, because it does.
3) Following your dream isn’t a privilege, it’s a birthright.

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