I'M BACK!
It’s been a while since I’ve written for The Open Chest Confidence Academy and I’d like to tell you why. It’s a big why, so keep reading, I promise you there’s loads of value for you if you’re a woman. If you’re not, then please still read, because we welcome your allyship with open arms, and encourage you to share this article with all of the women in your life; she’ll thank you!
OK, back to my big why . . .
PREAMBLE FOR THOSE WHO ARE NEW TO MY WORLD:
In 2023, I celebrated a 20-year success milestone with one of my other brands, ANOKHI – a multimedia, multiplatform media and events company, that I founded in 2002, freshly out of a divorce after 10 years of marriage (arranged by our families, that initially brought me from the U.K. to Toronto, Canada) – a story for another day (or perhaps my inaugural book).
The brand was created to solve a problem. The problem of not being seen, because when you’re not seen, you’re not understood, and when you’re not understood, you’re not valued. I felt this way much of my life, as the first generation from my family born outside of the Indian subcontinent, where I faced a lot of racism and cultural identity crises. As a single mother of a 5-year-old in tow, I finally decided to do something about it – create a place where people like me – the misfits, could find a home to be themselves and be valued and celebrated for it.
So this is what I did . . .
- Despite not having a business degree, I set up a corporation and secured angel investment, because I knew I had to protect myself and anyone else who may join me on my lofty mission.
- Despite not having a media degree, I set up a multimedia brand strategy to tell our stories across many channels, to get to the most amount of people that we could.
- Despite not having a journalism degree, I launched a quarterly print glossy magazine which was the first of its kind to get rack space on mainstream newsstands across Canada (Chapters), the U.S. (Hudson’s News & Barnes & Noble), and the U.K. (WH Smith). The brand launched ANOKHI magazine as the first crossover print magazine of its kind in the world, that showcased a deep discussion on the dual identity of North America’s South Asian community, steeped in Eastern tradition within the melting pot of Western society. Covers equally featured Western stars as well as Eastern stars, a highly innovative (yet risky) move, but it worked.
- Despite not having any experience in events, I created North America’s most glamorous awards gala to celebrate my community, the only one of its kind in North America that garnered consistent multinational support from the likes of L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Estee Lauder, T-Fal, TD Bank, Rogers Communications, Johnnie Walker, Cîroc, and many others.
And these large-scale awards shows were legendary, with attendance from the likes of Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Frieda Pinto, Robin Sharma, and Bibhu Mohapatra to name a few.
To learn more about my career milestone, CLICK HERE (it’s a fun page highlighting my professional career since 1997).
After reaching the 20-year milestone of the brand, I felt a sense of completion – that I’d provided my contribution to my cultural community’s amalgamated identity (still ongoing) in its mainstream footprint, at a time when very few were participating or being recognized. Now that we had entered our renaissance period as a community, with so many rising to smash glass ceilings in every industry, I felt that my big-picture mission had been served and bowed to the calling of another mission that beckoned my soul . . .
Women who felt disabled by the ‘Confidence Gap‘ in the workplace, despite their competence being above that of their male counterparts.
Sit with that for a moment, because it’s big. It’s huge!
Actually, it’s fricking astronomical when you start breaking it down, especially if you factor in the research, which indicates that men apply for jobs with a third of the accomplishments asked of them. While women in comparison, don’t apply unless 90% of what is being asked of them exists in their professional repertoire. That’s how large the disparity is in the confidence gap between genders that is still rampant today, albeit less that previous eras throughout history (but what marker is that anyhow?).
I think this is a great segway to reintroduce you to the TOCCA brand that I founded back in December 2020 (especially for those of you who are new to our world), so that the rest of my story makes sense, to where I am currently in the present.
WHAT MISSION IS THE OPEN CHEST CONFIDENCE ACADEMY ON?
As an immigrant, woman of colour, and single mother, I often struggled with confidence in the workplace. I constantly felt like I wasn’t educated enough, skilled enough, or experienced enough. Simply put, I believed I wasn’t good enough to compete in a male-dominated environment — the same system that continues to favour men.
It felt like I was always fighting other women for that one token “woman” position on corporate executive teams, even though statistics prove that women-led companies outperform their male counterparts.
To my surprise, I met countless women from all walks of life who shared similar stories. They, too, couldn’t get the breaks they deserved and began to believe that maybe they just weren’t (good) enough.
After over two decades as a successful entrepreneur (I started in 1997 as the co-founder of my then-husband’s dental business), I realized there was a massive void in the system. Instead of continuing to complain about the inequities, I made the conscious decision to do something about them. I wanted to equalize the playing field — not just between genders (hierarchical power structures) but also within the sisterhood (breaking the scarcity mindset). That’s why I founded The Open Chest Confidence Academy in 2020, as a one-stop, holistic community designed around women’s sensibilities — to learn, access resources, and build powerful networks that empower us to compete in the game of life, with ease. Additionally, it serves as a platform to give back to the women who are coming up behind us.
This vision led me to create a three-tiered Academy, Agency, and Foundation — a space for women in leadership to build and amplify their brands, cultivating unshakable confidence for success in every aspect of life, so that the light of our confidence would never be dimmed again, and be instead, used as a standard bearer to pay dividends to our competence.
After 3 years of serving clients, in 2024, after much deliberation and soul searching (I’m that weirdo who cannot work for a living if I don’t 1000% believe in the corporate culture, mission, and values), all whilst continuing to serve our clients, my team and I gathered enough data to expand and diversify our mission.
I gathered enough data to expand and diversify our mission so that in January 2025, my team and I were able to spearhead the launch of TOCCA 2.0, a complete 360-degree rebrand, designed to serve bigger, better, and more!
Before I continue, and to avoid an even longer article than this already is (lol), I encourage you to explore our About pages to discover the heart of who we are, what we do, who we serve, what others say about us, and our foundation which fuels our 3 giveback initiatives, and the valued partners who stand alongside us in true, aligned purpose — helping us provide a 360-degree landscape that empowers our clients to level up to a category of their own making, with ease and confidence!
On behalf of my team and myself, I am pleased to introduce you to a completely rebranded and robust 2.0 version of TOCCA, starting with our mission and management team, to our service suite and how to be a part of our world!
OUR MISSION
To Support Women To Being Empowered, Confident, And Empathic Leaders, By Authenticating And Amplifying Their Authority Worldwide!
We do this by providing women with a holistic, one-stop, 360-degree resource community to combat the Confidence Gap that has existed between genders, due to the workplace having been, originally, created by men for men.
Although there have been many advancements in bridging the gap between genders, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done — and we are here for it!
MEET OUR TEAM
Driven by values that include integrity, empathy, and excellence, our team brings a wealth of expertise and an unwavering dedication to supporting each client’s journey toward personal growth, professional success, and genuine confidence.
TESTIMONIALS
See what people are saying about us, as it will instantly tell you if you feel we are the right fit to work together on your next big milestone.
SERVICE SUITE 1: HIRE OUR EXPERTS
If you need business consultancy or personal growth coaching to accomplish your goals in rapid time, then this high-touch service suite is for you.
This 2-pronged ‘experts-on-demand’ service targets both professional and personal growth. Our clients can access our ‘Business Consultancy’ and our ‘Personal Growth Coaching’ to accomplish this.
SERVICE SUITE 2: PROGRAMS & COURSES
Across various domains, including Mindset & Accountability, Branding & Marketing, Media & Public Relations, Professional Speaking, Leadership & Advocacy, and more.
Here at our e-learning hub, we offer a variety of Programs & Courses for those of you who are looking to learn a new skill or level up your authority.
These range from micro, self-learning courses like the ‘Transformation 31’ guided mastermind series, to our hybrid group programs like ‘The Ultimate Mentorship Experience To Become TEDx Worthy.’
- TRANSFORMATION 31: 5 Guided Mastermind Courses
- THE ULTIMATE MENTORSHIP EXPERIENCE TO BECOME TEDX WORTHY: For Women Who Want To Amplify Their Voices & Lead With Confidence
SERVICE SUITE 3: BRAND YOUR AUTHORITY AGENCY
Authenticating & amplifying women’s voices globally by leveraging a diverse, à la carte menu of services customized to meet the needs of each client.
Whether you’re looking to create a brand or redefine one, amplify or elevate your public presence, or grow your business opportunities, our dedicated team of professionals are ready to collaborate with you to strategize, manage, and accomplish your goals.
Our done-with-you & done-for-you services include mindset, branding, media, public relations, content creation, ads & marketing, speaking, and course creation.
WHY DID WE LAUNCH THE OPEN CHEST CONFIDENCE FOUNDATION?
To support women & girls who do not have the means to invest in nurturing their full potential due to a limited self-perception, society’s conditioning, and life’s unfortunate circumstances.
OUR WHY:
Our founder has longtime lived experience with diversity & gender related prejudice, and has met many women who echo this in addition to low-income, body-image, and limiting-beliefs narratives, which made it very challenging for them to rise up.
Today, Raj is on a mission to make it easier for women & girls facing these and similar issues that are holding them back from reaching their full potential.
There are 3 ways that we are accomplishing this:
The Confidence Gap, The Dream Gap, The Allyship Gap.
OUR MEDIA
Check Out Our Magazine, Podcast, Newsletter & Media Features!
‘TRANSFORM YOUR CONFIDENCE’ PODCAST
- A fully rebranded experience!
- Season 3 will launch on March 27th, 2025
- New podcast episodes will go live every 2nd & 4th Thursday of each month.
- For previous episodes, watch here, listen here & read blog articles here.
‘TODAY’S CONFIDENT WOMAN’ MAGAZINE
- Launching March 2025
- Premiere Issue launches on March 3rd, 2025!
- For previous articles, click here
- Check out where we have been featured in various media outlets worldwide – Click Here to access
BECOME A TOCCA VIP MEMBER - HERE'S WHAT YOU GET:
- First access & member pricing on all services & programs
- An extensive partners’ community of preferred pricing
- Exclusive offers for newsletter members only
- Pre-public access to our retreats, conferences, and galas
- VIP enrollment into our e-blast community
- A weekly round-up of our magazine articles & podcast episodes
If there’s anyone in your network who you feel would value something like this, feel free to share the link with them!
FREE RESOURCES
A Library Of Recommendations To Optimize Your Journey To Self-Actualization
Whether you’re looking to get inspired, ignite your purpose, get actionable knowledge, learn a skill, and/or network with like-minded individuals, these transformative resources are for you.
Unlock your potential, expand your abilities, and grow your opportunities with this diverse library of internally created and externally curated resources, at no cost to you.
These include masterclasses, masterminds, guides, tools, books, and incubators, designed to optimize your journey to personal and professional growth.
OUR PARTNERS
At The Open Chest Confidence Academy, we are proud to collaborate with industry-leading partners who share our commitment to empowering individuals and transforming lives.
Our partners bring diverse expertise, resources, and passion that strengthen our mission to support personal growth and professional success.
Together, we strive to provide opportunities that inspire confidence and foster holistic leadership for lifelong learning.
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
I would love for you to stay connected with us @TheOpenChestConfidenceAcademy on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube because although we are into our 5th consecutive year of serving women like you, we are only getting started!
And if any of the above resonates with you and you want to learn more, please email us at [email protected] and we will see you on the other side!
