Raj Girn, is an award-winning, serial entrepreneur, and the Founder & CEO of niche media brands ANOKHI LIFE and OPEN CHEST (both est. 2002). She has drawn deep into her well of mentoring and coaching experience to spearhead and create her latest venture The Open Chest Confidence Academy, which sees its soft launch on December 9th , 2020. In addition to this, she has been featured in two coffee table books, a feature length documentary, and is an international best-selling author.

FROM TRAUMA TO HEALING — RAJ’S PERSONAL JOURNEY TO HERE:

It all started in 1992 when she arrived in Canada from the U.K. at the age of 22, to attend her own arranged marriage. At that time, she was a young Sikh woman who didn’t know anyone in the new country, including her husband. This was her first visit — a visit that would have her stay indefinitely, while all those she knew all her life, left after the wedding festivities. She wasn’t prepared for the abject loneliness and fear that was to follow. 

“I know this sounds too sensational to be true and you would assume that if it’s true, it would most likely be the exception rather than the rule,” Raj noted. “I’m here to tell you that it’s not. Not even in today’s post #MeToo world. Culture is far stronger than pop culture, and I, along with millions of girls and women, are a testament to that truth and the reality that comes with it.”

“There were so many layers of trauma and insecurity that came from having to leave everything and everyone I knew,” She continued. “Add to that the dynamics of being coerced into an arranged marriage to a man who was a stranger and having to build a life in a country that I did not know. What amplified things in the first year of marriage was that I wasn’t allowed to go to school or work due to the legal paperwork waiting game. And on top of it all, I genuinely had no idea who I was, because up until that point in my life my only identity had been as a daughter, sister, and friend. I had no relationship with myself. I was a bigger stranger to myself than to the people and country I came to call home.”

It wasn’t until she gave birth to her son, and only child, did Raj realize that she needed to step up and be present for him, as well as for herself.  “I realized that to become a mother meant that a whole new person would be affected by the decisions that I make for myself and I wasn’t willing to perpetuate my ancestral trauma,” she recalled. “I had to cut the cord to build a place of well-being for myself and ultimately, for my son. I went from not knowing how to write a check, to founding a company within a year. And this company operates to this day. A lot of the things that I have accomplished along the way have been because I didn’t know that I couldn’t. I didn’t know the rules, so I didn’t know that I was breaking them. The more rules I broke, the more I came into my own.” 

Almost immediately after her divorce, Raj became a notable South Asian face on the North American landscape. As the founder of the ANOKHI LIFE and OPEN CHEST media brands, her long-time presence has made her a well-known and well-respected figure in North America’s niche media and events space.

ANOKHI LIFE’s mission began and has remained in the diversity and inclusion space, providing multiplatform opportunities for South Asian culture and lifestyle to be recognized and appreciated in mainstream North America. It opened the doors to the concept that traditional (South Asian) and social (mainstream) culture could live hand in hand in North America. She spearheaded this concept through numerous cross-cultural campaigns — years before “diversity” and “inclusion” became buzz words.

She gave numerous mainstream celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez (2002), Nicole Scherzinger (2004), and Nelly Furtado (2006) their first South Asian covers in ANOKHI Magazine, a publication which married South Asian with mainstream culture before anyone else. She is considered the “OG” in this regard. As part of her mission to further amplify the South Asian cultural footprint in North America, she equally promoted South Asian stars in North America, giving Aishwarya Rai (2003) and Lisa Ray (2002) cover credits also.

Raj is also known for her highly coveted events which have been attended by the world’s most notable personalities, including Priyanka Chopra, Freida Pinto, and Robin Sharma. She has also garnered an impressive roster of multinational clients, which include L’Oréal Paris, Estée Lauder, Johnnie Walker, Ciroc, Fairmont, Hilton and Sheraton Hotels. The largest media impressions yield to date took place in 2016 for that year’s The ANOKHI Awards, which was documented at 3.4 billion worldwide.

With the idea of fostering connectivity to build a collective consciousness with her audience, Raj also established OPEN CHEST, a personal brand created to have impactful conversations with the goal of  bringing to light insights that go beyond the reach of Google and other search engines. Her vast repertoire includes niche and mainstream celebrities and thought leaders from around the world, which range from Salman Khan to Dita Von Teese and Kim Kardashian to Priyanka Chopra.  Through this exploration, she has been on a long healing journey to break the ties of generations of expectations that she believes to be the root of much of human trauma, and is on a mission to break that cycle, after a turn of events in 2017 that changed everything.

Her coaching, consulting and mentoring journey began in 2017 when she began to say “yes” to executives and entrepreneurs approaching her to coach them in media, public speaking and personal branding, as well as to consult in niche branding, marketing and corporate advocacy.

Coming from an experiential rather than academic business background, her innovative methods garnered transformative results for her clients. Her demand skyrocketed in early 2020 when the pandemic took hold. The flood gates opened with people reaching out to her for help. She quickly realized she had limited bandwidth to help on the level that she wanted and needed to, so she put together a team of experts to help her develop an online coaching, consulting, and mentoring academy called THE OPEN CHEST^® CONFIDENCE ACADEMY, which is being rolled out in stages from December 2020 onwards.

THE OPEN CHEST CONFIDENCE ACADEMY:

Why now? “I saw this as an opportunity to reach anyone and everyone around the world who needed help creating an identity around their personal and professional lives and belief system online,” Raj explains. “The online space is where everyone needs to be today to consume knowledge, learn skills and do business. Everyone needs to be public facing but very few people know how to do that. That’s where I come in.”

As a Sikh woman, Raj also wanted to use her decades-long experience to help others reach their ultimate best version of themselves. A personal mission of adhering to the Seva philosophy of Sikhism.

Raj continues, “I created my personal and professional life through the lens of trauma and a severe lack of confidence, which has left me asking ‘What more could have I have accomplished if I had the support that I needed’? That’s why I’m doing this so that others regardless of their status or where they are, can build with confidence and bring to fruition their grandest version of life.”

THE OPEN CHEST® CONFIDENCE ACADEMY is a multifaceted knowledge and skill learning community dedicated to transforming personal and professional life by viewing mindset, branding, media, and marketing through the lens of diverse and inclusive communications.

The Academy is being built around the belief that people have different learning capabilities, are at different stages in their knowledge and skills journey, and have different financial resources to invest in their future. That’s why the Academy is launching three core pillars to address this: Work With Us, Learn From Us, Designed For You. In the 2021-2022 window, you will see the gradual drip launch of the following products and services within these pillars.

WORK WITH US:

• Just Launched! Consult With Raj Girn: If someone is looking for a “Dedicated To Me” environment to work on their personal and/or professional development and growth goals, then this service is for them. Raj incorporates her one-on-one coaching, consulting, and mentoring methodology to help clients reach their personal and professional goals quickly. This is the first service that she has launched. To find out more, CLICK HERE.

• Next to launch in early 2021!  Monthly Mentor Mastery: If someone works best in a group setting, then this subscription membership community is for them. The goal here is to curate monthly, virtual mentoring sessions with Raj and her expert resource pool, to encourage transformative learning, deep dive Q&A sessions, and peer-group exercises, with development goals to support and encourage individually-paced wins.

Drip Launching Throughout 2021:

LEARN FROM US:

• ‘7-Minute Insights’ Series: A video library that gets to the crux of what needs to be known, for those who have limited time and attention span, and want the nuggets of wisdom at warp speed.

• ‘101’ Series: A beginner’s guide for those who are looking for the foundations.

• ‘Industry Insiders’ Series: An intermediary guide for those who want the facts and stats from experts and thought leaders.

• ‘Transformation 31’ Series: A 31-day guidance course series, which is designed to activate a positive transformation through the idea that if you practice it for 31 days straight, it becomes a habit. This is a combination of academic and skill-learning techniques.

• ‘Zero To 360’ Program: A 12-week hybrid program to help level up, whether you are a corporate executive stuck in middle management or entrepreneur looking to inspire advocacy in your leadership.

Launching in 2022:

DESIGNED FOR YOU:

Corporate Mastermind: Creating, sustaining, growing, and advocating corporate culture is the difference between being a relatively known brand, to one that has built a timeless, global legacy (not to be confused with legacy brands that are considered those that existed before the internet).

To do this, the Academy will be launching a 2-day ‘Corporate Mastermind’ retreat, for organizations to utilize an in-person, group environment (with their team leaders and our experts) for innovative and interactive training centred around cultivating advocacy culture — the key ingredient that Raj believes transforms brand equity quickly and sustainably.

All of the above will be accessible in a combination of one-on-one sessions, peer groups, courses, programs, masterminds, and retreats.

THE OPEN CHEST CONFIDENCE FOUNDATION:

In keeping with Raj’s Sikh upbringing which mandates the practice of giving back, The Academy pledges to donate 10% of the profits from the Academy, to THE OPEN CHEST^® CONFIDENCE FOUNDATION, to be distributed to charities and initiatives that Raj believes in.

In addition to her earning various certifications with global coaching organizations including being an ICF Certified Coach via the International Coach Federation and a FCI Certified Coach with the Flow Coaching Institute, Raj is also an Usui Reiki Level II Practitioner specializing in Clearing, Healing and Focus Building, currently working on her master level. She continues on her journey to acquire more knowledge and skills as she advocates the same through the Academy.

For more information on Raj Girn: https://www.theopenchestconfidenceacademy.com/about/the-founder/

For more information on ANOKHI LIFE: www.AnokhiLife.com

For more information on OPEN CHEST: www.RajGirn.com

For more information on the Academy: www.TheOpenChestConfidenceAcademy.com

Solo Photos: Pure Studios/Agnes Keisz
Hair/Makeup: The Beauty Concept/Shirley Wu
Stylist: Monika Bhondy
Jewellery: Banglez & Hello Gorgeous Girl