Chanel CEO Leena Nair was ‘the first at every job’ she’s done, ‘woman, Asian, Indian’ – and received thousands of letters from women and girls praising her role with the French luxury fashion brand
- Nair was an exec at Unilever before joining French luxury brand Chanel, where she became the second female boss in its 113-year history in January 2022, taking over from co-owner Alain Wertheimer
- Fortune’s Global 500 rankings of the world’s companies by revenue found that just 6% have a female CEO – but Nair hopes to ‘make it easier for those who come after me’
The CEO of Chanel said she got about 7,000 emails and letters from women and girls praising her appointment, she told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week.
The French luxury retailer appointed Leena Nair as its second female boss in its 113-year history in January 2022.
“I’ve been the first at every job I’ve done. The first woman, the first brown person, the first Asian, the first Indian – but I don’t want to be the last, and I am going to try and make it easier for those who come after me,” Nair told the Journal, adding that one of her mottos is “lift as you climb”.
Nair said she’d been told she couldn’t do something “because I’m a girl” many times in her life. The 54-year-old added that “afterwards, you stop listening”.
Nair was previously chief human resources officer at consumer goods giant Unilever before joining Chanel.