London-based Leena Nair, CEO of the global, luxury fashion brand Chanel is among 12 trailblazers chosen as this year’s ‘Time Women of the Year.’ These “extraordinary leaders” have been creating “a better future for women” by “building bridges—across generations, communities, and borders — and “working toward a more equal world,” the magazine says.
Nair, 54, is known for her “contributions to the field of human resources, her advocacy for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and her expertise in leading and transforming global organizations,” according to her profile. She was appointed CEO of Chanel in December 2021, succeeding Alain Wertheimer. In her role, she is “responsible for leading and transforming” the brand, the profile said. Time notes that “more than 60% of management positions at Chanel are held by women.
Describing the India-born Nair as “an outsider to the fashion world,” Times says she is “hoping to pioneer a different kind of leadership—one that celebrates compassion, empathy, and kindness.” Speaking to the magazine, Nair said “its a great time to show that the days of the superhero leader are behind us.” She said she has “always believed in the collective voice, in diverse perspectives; if I sit in a meeting, I want to listen to every voice around the table, not just the dominant ones.”
She began her career with Unilever in 1992 as a management trainee and held various roles within the company over the years. In 2013, she was appointed as the Global Senior Vice President for Leadership and Organization Development, and in 2016, she was named as the Chief Human Resources Officer, the first woman to hold the position in the company’s history. During her tenure at Unilever, “she developed and implemented numerous initiatives aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion in the workplace and creating a more inclusive culture,” her profile said.
Other pioneers on the list are actor, writer and director Greta Gerwig; actor and entrepreneur Taraji P. Henson; artist Andra Day; tennis player Coco Gauff; co-founder and leader of Women Wage Peace Yael Admi; founder and director of Women of the Sun Reem Hajajreh; president and chairwoman of nonprofit Nadia’s Initiative Nadia Murad; medical scientist and professor of research on hyperemesis gravidarum Marlena Fejzo; founder and executive director of The Chisholm Legacy Project Jacqui Patterson; U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón; and economic historian and labor economist Claudia Goldin.