They say women can do it all. When it comes to Indra Nooyi, she proves it. The 70-year-old Indian-origin woman is one of the very few at the top. An entrepreneur, a wife, a mother and a media personality, she handles all her roles with an exemplary ease, inspiring thousands of woman across the world to pick the dream they want and make it a reality.Recently, Nooyi went viral for her sizzling claim that she could not have led a global company as its leader in any other country, including India. During a conversation with Condoleezza Rice, the former US Secretary of State and current Director of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. She claimed that the American system was based on meritocracy, rewarding talent and creating opportunities based on the same.“This [USA] is where an immigrant could come in with nothing in her pocket and become the CEO of an iconic American red, white and blue company. I could never have become CEO in any other country in the world, including India. It’s because the system here in America is a meritocratic system. It’s because the mentors here don’t care if you’re male or female, they just want the best brains to rise to the top,” she said. But who is Indra Nooyi and how did she even come to the US?
Meet Indra Nooyi
Indira Krishnamurthy was born on October 28, 1955, in Madras, now Chennai to a bank official father and a homemaker mother. She grew up in a close family with her two siblings, her parents and her grandparents.Growing up in a middle-class family, did not stop her from stepping out and pursuing her dreams. She studied at Holy Angels where she excelled in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics while also competing on a cricket team. According to reports, her mother would ask her and her sister every night at the dinner table: “If you were the Prime Minister of India, what would you do tomorrow?”At the age of 18, she graduated from the Madras Christian College in 1974, with a B.S., where she also played guitar in a female rock band. At a young age, she rebelled against societal expectations, performing on a stage and wearing jeans, something frowned upon for women in conservative Chennai at the time. ““Those moments taught me courage. If I could walk onto a stage defying expectations, I could walk into any boardroom,” she said of the moment now.After graduation, she began her career as a business strategist. Her first job was at a British textile firm, Mettur Beardsell and then moved to a product manager position at Johnson & Johnson Mumbai. There she was charged with introducing menstrual pads, Stayfree, to India and while it was a challenging task since India banned direct advertising for such products, she was able to work around it successfully.In 1976, she received her MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. From there, she applied to Yale University and got in. With three kids and a middle-class lifestyle, her family couldn’t afford Yale. Her father told her it was impossible. But she said: “Let me try.” After winning a scholarship, she packed two saris, borrowed some money and flew across the ocean to the States.
The land of dreams
“When I became CEO, I felt like I had climbed Everest…”
When she arrived in the US, it was less than a dreamy entry. Indra faced numerous struggles including culture shock, financial struggle, racial bias, gender bias, and more. She worked part-time overnight shifts, walked miles to class, and wore cheap second-hand clothes, all to just survive. But her fire didn’t die down. After completing her Master of Public and Private Management from Yale, 24-year-old Indra soon joined consulting firms, building a reputation for unmatched discipline, powerful insight and quick problem-solving skills.She worked at Boston Consulting Group as a strategy consultant for six years. She also married fellow consultant Raj K Nooyi in 1981, with whom she has two daughters. In 1986, she moved to Motorola to work as an internal consultant in the automotive team before moving to corporate planning. In 1990, she switched to the Swiss machinery firm ABB, leading corporate strategy. All the while, the corporate world was looking at her journey, observing the advances.14 years after graduating from Yale she was wooed simultaneously for executive level posts at two global companies: PepsiCo and General Electric. In 1994, at the age of 38, she began working at Pepsi, a company she would become famous for leading. She entered the company at a time when sales were flattening, cola wars were intense, consumer habits were shifting and international markets were unstable. Then, she delivered decisions that changed history: selling PepsiCo’s restaurant chains, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell in 1997, acquiring Tropicana in 1998, Quaker Oats in 2001 and Gatorade in 2001. The same year, she was promoted to President and Chief Financial Officer.She also encouraged the company to be a good corporate citizen on environmental issues, coining the term ‘Performance with a Purpose,’ as its new mantra. In 2006, she became CEO, one of the few women in the world leading a Fortune 500 company, and the first woman of colour to run one at that scale. When she became CEO, the revenue was $35 billion, when she stepped down, it was $63 billion.All this time, her personal life went on in parallel. “When I became CEO, I felt like I had climbed Everest — but my family was still at the base,” she said. She acknowledged that her mother, husband and staff at PepsiCo. served as a huge support system. In her book, ‘My Life in Full’, 2021, she focused on the tohe felt she fell short as a mother. On Valentine’s Day 2022, she published a note to her husband Raj sharing h thing as balancing work and family. It’s a constant juggling act. And many times, it’s the people around us — like our life partners — who make this juggling possible. It’s a reminder that family isn’t female. Family is family.”
Post PepsiCo.
After stepping down from her position at PepsiCo in 2018, Indra has focused on corporate governance, non-profit work and mentoring. She serves on the board of directors for Amazon and Royal Philips, is a supporter of the Yale School of Management and is involved in the MIT Corporation.She is the recipient of 15 honorary degrees and in 2007, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honour. In 2019, her portrait was inducted into the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and in 2021 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.For people who aren’t born rich, but want to change their fate, Indra Nooyi’s story serves as a blueprint, a subtle reminder that the world is truly, your oyster.
