Monita Rajpal (born 20 February 1974) is a Canadian journalist. She is a former news presenter for Citytv and CNN International.
At CNN, she anchored CNN Today , World One, the art programmes Art of Life and Icon, CNN NewsCenter, and TalkAsia . She worked for CNN between 2001 and 2014, first in Atlanta at the CNN Center, next in London, and finally in Hong Kong. Rajpal is now a life coach helping high achieving women to cut through the noise, make sense of pivotal life shifts, and create lives rooted in clarity, purpose, and self-trust.
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In her second year of college, Rajpal wished to work at a part-time job, so she did a two-month contract as a switchboard operator at the CHUM-City Building. [1] After she graduated from Ryerson Polytechnic University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) with a degree in radio and television arts in 1996, [2] Rajpal started a six-month contract to be a receptionist at ChumCity. [1] She responded to phone calls and led visitors on building tours. [3] On the final day of her contract, Stephen Hurlbut, the vice president of programming, requested that she continue working for several weeks to conduct research. [1] Rajpal became Hurlbut's assistant at CP24 as the channel was being launched in 1997. [1] She then became a reporter and anchor for CP24 [1] and Citytv, where she reported on stories for the "primetime nightly news" such as federal elections, teacher strikes, and homelessness in Toronto. [4]
While situated in his Toronto hotel room in February 2001, a CNN executive was browsing through the television channels and saw Rajpal. [1] He extended an Atlanta-based CNN International anchor position to Rajpal, who accepted [1] and started working at CNN in 2001. [5] She worked about 12 hours daily at the CNN Center, reading news publications like The Economist and The New Yorker . [4] While based in Atlanta, she had interviewed Ehud Barak, a former Prime Minister of Israel; Andrés Pastrana Arango, the then-President of Colombia; and Moses Blah, who had just taken office as President of Liberia. [4] She covered news stories about the war on terror, Catholic Church sexual abuse cases, Liberian strife, former American president Jimmy Carter's visit to Cuba, and presidential elections in France. [2] [6]
Rajpal moved to London in late 2004 where she anchored the European edition of CNN Today and the art programme Art of Life. [2] [7] In 2010, Rajpal hosted the CNN art culture programme Icon. [5] The show's first three episodes discussed Paris fashion and art, guitarist Les Paul's legacy, and advertising. [5] In 2011, she co-anchored World One, a daily CNN International news programme while based in London. [8] [9]
In late 2012, Rajpal moved from London to Hong Kong. [9] [10] She hosted two shows that had their first broadcasts at the beginning of 2013: CNN NewsCenter and TalkAsia . [9] CNN NewsCenter is a news programme that discusses international headlines, while TalkAsia is a weekly programme that interviews an internationally known person for 30 minutes. [9] Notable people she has interviewed for CNN include Mikhail Gorbachev, [3] Vicente Fox, [2] Al Gore, [3] Tom Ford, [5] and I. M. Pei. [5] Rajpal left CNN on 4 July 2014. [11]
Rajpal was born on 20 February 1974 [1] [12] [13] [14] in Hong Kong to "a Chinese mother of Indian origin and an Indian father". [2] Her maternal grandfather moved from Punjab to Shanghai at 16 years old. Her mother was raised in Shanghai and became an electronics company executive. [9] Rajpal is Sikh [15] and has a brother. [2] Rajpal grew up in Hong Kong and at age 14 immigrated with her family to North York in Toronto, Canada. [3] She attended A. Y. Jackson Secondary School where she took part in its Amnesty International club. [3] Upon seeing Rajpal present to a crowded assembly hall, the vice principal requested that she deliver the school's morning broadcasts. [3] Her guidance counsellor, who knew about her broadcasting work, recommended that she submit a college application to the radio and television arts program at Ryerson Polytechnic University, which she attended. [3]
Her parents had wanted her to be a physician. [1] Her uncle worked at RTHK. Her mother listened to radio news broadcasts on the radio all day which introduced Rajpal to the news business. [9] She is fluent in Cantonese, English, French, and Punjabi. [4] [9] Rajpal said her pop icons are the band U2, the architect Frank Gehry, the artist Damien Hirst, and Oprah Winfrey. [5]
She blogs on her news and lifestyle blog, The Citrine Room. [16]