Monita Rajpal

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.

Career 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. After she graduated from Ryerson Polytechnic University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) with a degree in radio and television arts in 1996, Rajpal started a six-month contract to be a receptionist at ChumCity. 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.

While situated in his Toronto hotel room in February 2001, a CNN executive was browsing through the television channels and saw Rajpal. She worked about 12 hours daily at the CNN Center, reading news publications like The Economist and The New Yorker.

Rajpal moved to London in late 2004 where she anchored the European edition of CNN Today and the art programme Art of Life. In 2010, Rajpal hosted the CNN art culture programme Icon.

In late 2012, Rajpal moved from London to Hong Kong. She hosted two shows that had their first broadcasts at the beginning of 2013: CNN NewsCenter and TalkAsia.

Personal life Rajpal was born on 20 February 1974 in Hong Kong to "a Chinese mother of Indian origin and an Indian father". and has a brother.