Leena Nair was a surprising pick for CEO of Chanel in 2021. She’d long run the human resources department at Unilever but had never actually helmed a company. Her qualifications were clear, though: for 30 years at Unilever, she proved that big companies could become more socially conscious and treat employees well without losing market share. This worked out well for Unilever, which racked up prizes for its sustainability and diversity efforts, increasing its share of female managers to 50% from 38% during Nair’s tenure as chief human resources officer.
Nair, who was named one of TIME’s Women of the Year earlier this month, has already brought her brand of management style to Chanel, a fashion behemoth that is privately held by the Wertheimer family, which has been involved with Chanel for a century. Nair, who has a degree in electronics and an MBA, brings in colleagues to help shape decision-making and is pushing the luxury company to make environmentally and socially responsible commitments. She increased funding for Fondation Chanel, the company’s charitable arm, to $100 million from $20 million, enabling more efforts to support women in countries across the world.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
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I know you grew up in southwest India and a lot of women in your life did not pursue careers but instead got married. What made you decide you wanted to pursue a career?
My dad was a big sponsor for me because he believed that I was bright and should have an education. But I was fueled by seeing that I was not getting the opportunities that some of the men in my family were. There was a little bit of, “I also want to have the opportunity to do that.”
They were going to school? And you thought you should be able to do that too?
They were doing engineering for example. Girls didn’t do engineering, but I wanted to do technology and engineering because I enjoyed math and science and was good at it.
I always felt a sense of wanting to…
