A Conversation with Indra Nooyi and Reshma Saujani

The Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC) hosts a conversation with distinguished Asian female book authors PepsiCo former Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi and Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani.

Indra Nooyi, the acclaimed corporate leader of one of the world’s most famous brands, PepsiCo, is a returning guest to the AABDC stage, having previously spoken at the organization’s Asian American Business Roundtable in 2020. In a fireside chat moderated by PepsiCo former Chief Scientific Officer Mehmood Khan, she delighted attendees by sharing her journey in PepsiCo, including transforming its product line-up, and the impact of her cultural roots on her approach to work and leadership.

Since retiring from PepsiCo, Indra has written “My Life in Full: Work, Family and our Future”  (Penguin Random House, September 2021), and has appeared on numerous media channels and speaking events. Indra is one of the rarest of CEOs in America – a woman and an Asian -- and she has drawn many lessons from that unique experience. As the first woman of color as well as an immigrant to helm a Fortune 50 company, she is spending her post-PepsiCo life giving back and sharing her story as a guide to others.

The conversation with a global corporate leader also includes a non-profit icon, Reshma Saujani, who founded Girls Who Code to increase the number of females in computer science, still a heavily male-dominated field. The former attorney’s previous bestselling book was “Brave, Not Perfect.”

Her most recent book. “Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work” is a rousing call to arms that dismantles the myth of “having it all”, and lifts the burden we place on individual women to be primary caregivers, and to work around a system built for and by men. The time has come, she argues, for innovative corporate leadership, government intervention, and sweeping culture shift; it’s time to Pay Up.

These two distinguished Asian American success stories are moderated by accomplished trailblazer, Seema Mody of CNBC, who is the first South Asian on-air personality for the global business news outlet. Combining a degree in biology with exposure to business, Seema is a global markets reporter for CNBC, focusing on the intersection of foreign policy and Wall Street. She hosts the "European Close," a daily segment on CNBC's Squawk Alley, which synthesizes complex topics across Europe for U.S. investors. Seema also covers industrials and the travel industry, including hotels, cruises, and online travel operators, for the network.

Seema is a familiar face at AABDC events, having moderated presentations by fellow Asian Americans in the spotlight, as well as being the host of the 2019 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business gala dinner.