One of the world's most powerful women has some advice for dealing with "mommy guilt": You just have to cope.
Indra Nooyi, the 58-year old Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo and mother of two daughters, delivered surprisingly frank and candid insights on work-life balance in an interview with David Bradley, owner of the Atlantic Media Company, at the Aspen Ideas Festival this week.
"I don't think women can have it all," said Nooyi. "We pretend we can have it all...You know, you have to cope. Because you die with guilt. You just die with guilt."
Over her thirty-minute interview, Nooyi shared personal stories about missing her daughters' school events for work, trying to balance her role as mother, wife, and daughter, all while running a Fortune 500 company.
"We plan our lives meticulously so we can be decent parents," she said. "But if you ask our daughters, I'm not sure they will say that I've been a good mom. I'm not sure."
Nooyi took the helm at PepsiCo in 2006, making history as the company's first female president and its first Indian-born chief executive. In 2013, she was ranked thirteenth among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
Her comments on coping begin around the 23:00 minute mark, below.
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