Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

Indra Nooyi sitting in a chair behind a red background. (Credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME)

When former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi arrived in the U.S. in the late 1970s to study graduate-level management at Yale University, she was a self-described “misfit” from India. Instead of adjusting to the rhythms of college nightlife, Nooyi was working the midnight-to-5 a.m. shift as a dormitory receptionist before heading to class each morning to pay for her degree.

“We worked our tail off because to us, we didn’t come there for the social life—we came there to study and to work hard and to move ahead,” Nooyi recalled in a recent interview with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, recalling the experiences of her and her fellow classmates from developing countries. “So the goal we had was very, very clear: study, work hard, get great grades, and somehow land a job. That’s all the objective was at that time.”