The CEO Who Sings the Beatles But Can’t Impress Her Mum, Indra Nooyi on Her 'Life in Full'

Video Description

In a fascinating interview filled with delightful anecdotes of her childhood, her school days and her career, the former CEO and Chairperson of Pepsico has said for her mother she was never a high-flying CEO of one of America’s top companies but a mother, daughter and wife with duties to perform at home. On the day she became President of Pepsico in December 2000, Indra Nooyi returned home bursting to share her success with her family only to get the following response from her mother: “You may be the President or whatever of Pepsico, but when you come home, you are a wife and a mother and a daughter. Nobody can take your place. So you leave that crown in the garage.” Before she even got a chance to tell the family her good news, she was sent out by her mother to buy milk. In a 45-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire to mark the launch of her autobiography ‘My Life in Full’, Indra Nooyi has recounted a multitude of stories about the middle-class Hindu Brahmin family she was born into in Madras in 1955, her childhood, the school band she was part of, her early years working in Johnson & Johnson and selling sanitary pads, how she met and married Raj Nooyi, what made her join Pepsico, the early difficult years when she, in fact, resigned and, finally, what it was like to head one of America’s most important companies for 13 years. Indra Nooyi also talks about how her husband, Raj, often put her career ahead of his and how her daughters, Preetha and Tara, lost something of their mother as she climbed the corporate ladder to the very top. She said she has struggled to ensure that she is always a good wife and caring mother but working flat out, for whichever company she was employed by, was a part of her character which she could not change. Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWtJey46brNr7qHQpN6KLQ/join