Jay Shetty

Jay Shetty (born 6 September 1987) is a British podcaster, author, entrepreneur, and life coach. He has appeared on television programs to informally discuss mental health and life purpose.

Early life Shetty was born in London on 6 September 1987 to a Hindu family of Indian origin. He was raised in Barnet, North London and has a sister.

He attended Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, then graduated from the Bayes Business School at the City St George's, University of London in 2010 with a degree in Management science.

Career In a 2008 interview, Shetty claims that at a 2006 event in France of the Iskcon Pandava Sena (the Hare Krishna youth group) he had undergone a "massive transformation" and become appreciative of the Hare Krishna movement. Shetty claimed to have spoke with Gauranga after his talk and followed him for the remainder of Gauranga's lecture circuit around the United Kingdom.

Shetty claims to have then spent four summers in India interning at corporations and training with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Shetty has often claimed that he spent three years, from 2010 to 2013, living the ISKCON lifestyle at an undisclosed ashram in Mumbai, India. Despite this claim, his blog posts and people familiar with his movements during that period indicate he actually spent a majority of this time making promotional videos at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford, England, In 2016, Shetty broke away to become an independent content creator. Shetty stopped working for the HuffPost in early 2017, later releasing videos independently on Facebook and YouTube. By 2019, Shetty had over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and 20 million followers on Facebook. The podcast was downloaded 64 million times in its first year. In July 2023, Shetty interviewed US President Joe Biden on his mental health initiatives in a podcast episode filmed at the White House. Shetty has conducted interviews with a number of other public figures.

In August 2019, YouTuber Nicole Arbour criticized Shetty for posting quotes without proper attribution. This led him to add attributions to 113 posts on his Instagram.

Shetty's website previously referred to him holding a degree in "behavioural science", rather than "management science". Shetty's ex-girlfriend, a practicing psychotherapist and head of mental health services at a university in the UK, opined that he misrepresented his knowledge and credentials.

A 2024 investigation by The Guardian found that the school had made several misleading and erroneous claims regarding its status as being regulated by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). In response to the investigation, Ofqual stated “Ofqual do not recognise Jay Shetty – the Centre is not linked to any OTHM Ofqual-regulated qualifications,” and made demands that references to Ofqual must be removed from the school website as they "might mislead".

The investigation also found the school claimed to be in progression arrangements with the University of Chichester as well as several other UK universities. During an interview, a spokesperson from the University of Chichester stated “We have never worked with Jay Shetty Certification School" and "I’m very unhappy that we are included on the website. We are unsure why we are being mentioned. We will immediately be making contact to get our name taken off.” Following the investigation, Shetty directed his team to delete a number of posts, and hire a crisis PR firm for a SEO campaign.

Other enterprises and roles Shetty is the co-founder of a video production company, Icon Media, along with Alex Kushneir.

In 2022, Shetty joined meditation product company Calm.

He is also in the ownership group of Angel City of the National Women's Soccer League.

Books

Shetty's first book, Think Like a Monk, was published in 2020 by Simon & Schuster. Shetty's second book, 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go was also published by Simon & Schuster. Within a week it became a New York Times best-seller.

Recognition Shetty won a 2016 Asian Media Award for Best Blog and a 2018 Streamy Awards.

In April 2019, Shetty was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement Online Award at The Asian Awards and in May 2019 he won Best in Health & Wellness at the 11th Shorty Awards.

In July 2025, Shetty was named in Time magazine's inaugural "TIME100 Creators" list.

Personal life Shetty lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Radhi Devlukia Shetty.