Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to Launch Memoir in Fall
- Titled “My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future,” will trace her life from her childhood in India to her achievements as a woman and person of color in corporate America.
Former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has a memoir coming out this fall. Titled “My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future,” the book, published by Portfolio Books, will be launched on Sept. 28. As per a March 15 announcement by the publisher, Nooyi’s memoir will trace her life from her childhood in India to her experiences as an immigrant at Yale University’s business school to her many achievements as the rare woman and person of color in the upper echelons of the corporate world.
Earlier this month, the 65-year-old was among nine Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame which inducts a new class every other year in Seneca Falls, New York, the site of the first woman’s rights convention. It is the United States’ oldest membership organization dedicated to honoring and celebrating the achievements of distinguished American women. The Class of 2021 is set to be inducted on Oct. 2.
In 2006, the Chennai-born Nooyi became the first female CEO in PepsiCo’s history, shattering the glass ceiling and making waves. Today, she is considered one of the most powerful women in business. Nooyi, who was instrumental in the lucrative restructuring and diversification of soft-drink giant PepsiCo, Inc.’s brands, served as the company’s CEO and chairman of the board. During her tenure at PepsiCo, the company grew its net revenue by more than 80 percent, and PepsiCo’s total shareholder return was 162 percent.
According to her bio, under Nooyi’s leadership at PepsiCo expanded significantly, acquiring Tropicana Products Inc., merging with Quaker Oats Company and PepsiCo’s anchor bottlers, and acquiring the Russian company Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, resulting in the largest international acquisition in PepsiCo’s history. In addition to her success as CEO, Nooyi was the chief architect of Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo’s pledge to do what’s right for the business by being responsive to the needs of the world.
Nooyi earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Madras Christian College in 1976 and a master’s degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, two years later. After moving to the United States, she received an additional master’s degree in public and private management from the Yale School of Management in 1980. For the next six years, Nooyi worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. She later held executive positions at Motorola, Inc., and the engineering firm Asea Brown Boveri (now ABB).
In 1994, Nooyi joined PepsiCo as senior vice president of corporate strategy and development. In 2001 she was named president and chief financial officer of the company. After 24 years with PepsiCo and 12 years as its first female CEO, Nooyi stepped down from her role in 2018. Nooyi was also inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015.