During last week’s earnings conference call, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that Angela Ahrendts was transitioning from Burberry and officially joining Apple this week as its head of retail. Her achievements and personality as the CEO of Burberry have been well-publicized but her roots, early career influences, and resulting business and life philosophies are less well-known. These characteristics were recently detailed in a lengthy profile by the folks over at CNET.

For those of you who didn’t now, Ahrendts was born in 1960 in New Palestine, Indiana, where she was one of six children. As a young