New Delhi: She's the first woman CEO of the American consumer giant Pepsico.

She also prides herself as being “a true daughter of India” and tracks her country's growth closely, all while devouring her favourite cuisine of idli-sambhar.

"I look in the mirror, I know I'm an Indian. I was born there, the Indian is in me," she says, perhaps the best example of the theme India Everywhere.

But the saga of Indra Nooyi goes beyond the glitzy façade. And that’s exactly what makes her the “right choice” for CNN-IBN's Global Indian of the Year award.

She represents India's new global face which is not flashy, but unassuming and pleasant. With a no-nonsense short hairdo and a disarming grin, the current CEO of Pepsico is a torchbearer of a work ethic of 18-hour days and tireless toil – a mark of every Indian professional abroad.

Nooyi joined Pepsico in 1994 and became Chief Financial Officer in seven years. Spearheading company's restructuring, managing its mergers with The Quaker Oats, Tropicana Juices and Gatorade, the company's present CEO only proved her strategic competence.

In 2005, the Wall Street Journal named her as woman to look out for. Just a year later she proved the prediction right, becoming the first woman CEO of the soft drink giant. Back home in alma mater Madras Christian College, one of the world's toughest businesswomen is still remembered fondly. “She was always very active and bubbly and fun-loving girl.

Normally she will entertain us with the hindi hits of the 70s with the guitar whenever we had some free time,” says Head of Chemistry Department of Madras Christian College Wilfred Sugumar.

While Chennai remains the foundation, it was in Kolkata where the heart and mind of the future CEO were shaped.

It was here that she learnt the first and best lesson in corporate management - how to manage people.

Nooyi has credited the Indian Institute of Management – where from she got her management degree - for making her the people's person.

Although she has lived in the US for over 25 years, she continues to track India’s economic reforms with an uncanny businesslike perfection. "I am very bullish on India and the prospects for India are still fantastic," she said.

Indira Nooyi was one of those who created Pepsico's strong profit pipeline and its $108 billion stock market valuation.

She was always a strategist not a line manager, a high powered thinker more than a hands-on floorshop supervisor and though this open-faced determined woman doesn't live in India, her heart truly beats for her homeland.