From Kolhapur Factory Floors to Leading Chanel as Global CEO

A long time ago, a girl named Leena Nair grew up in a small city in India called Kolhapur.

In those days, people thought girls should stay home, but Leena wanted to do big things.

She studied engineering even though she was one of only 18 girls among about 3,000 students.

Then she got a job at Unilever, a huge company that makes soap, food, and other everyday things.

She was the first woman to work the night shift at its factory, and she made sure the factory built toilets for women.

Leena worked at Unilever for 30 years and helped many more women become managers.

Later, a very fancy company called Chanel, which makes beautiful clothes and handbags, asked her to be its leader.

She said yes and became the first woman and the first Indian person to lead Chanel.

Now more than half of Chanel's managers are women.

Leena believes in 'lifting as you climb' — helping others move up as she goes higher.