A CONVERSATION WITH RAJ BHATT
RAJ BHATT '97 College | STORY BY: Savannah Summers ‘22 College
Raj Bhatt graduated from Rundle College in 1997. He subsequently attended the University of Calgary, earning a scholarship and his Bachelor of Commerce and Finance, and later went on to Harvard to receive his MBA. He is now a successful entrepreneur with multiple businesses across the US and Canada including Woops!, a French macaron company, and LiveMAST, a vegan coaching business.
Upon interviewing Mr. Bhatt, I was confronted with the theme, “What did you learn in 2020?” It is apparent that everyone, no matter their age or stage in life, has learned something, and this is especially true for business owners like Mr. Bhatt.
and balance in life.” These are fundamental aspects of how he runs his business now. In his words, these are the “hand-shake aspect of things in life.” In fact, this year he enrolled his two sons at Rundle, in grades five and seven, after moving back to Calgary from New York. This is a clear testament to how strongly Mr. Bhatt feels connected to Rundle and the values that are upheld.
Firstly, in search of some background information, I asked Mr. Bhatt how Rundle played a role in finding his path. It soon became clear that he attributes much of his success to his Rundle education, as part of a strong foundation that “definitely shaped [him]”. As a person and student, “[he] Woops! did not have an thrived in the small class size setting online presence, and where [he] was able to find [himself] through athletics, academics, and that was what they leadership.” Furthermore, Mr. Bhatt needed in order to have described to me how he was a boy who, with a little help and a successful business encouragement, could accomplish during the pandemic. great things. He was naturally talented at things like accounting, So he adapted and business, and sport. Mr. Bhatt said, built one. “Rundle allowed me to pull those traits and skills out.” Looking back at his high school experience, Mr. Bhatt said the teachers, and the environment at Rundle taught him “respect, how to treat others, communication, how to stretch yourself,
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Now, getting to the “what did you learn in 2020?” part of the interview. I asked him about what hurdles he came across with COVID-19 and how he overcame them with regards to his businesses. He described the whole experience as a “blessing in disguise”. The early part of COVID-19 was “very painful” for him because it was very unexpected, and he was faced with challenges he never thought he’d have to face as a business owner.
His business Woops! was especially hard hit. Woops!, a macaroon company, whose stores were originally based almost entirely in malls in the US, was closed down completely. He had a couple of blank days like I’m sure many entrepreneurs have had during the pandemic, where he simply didn’t know what to do. However, “in
2021 ASCENT MAGAZINE | RUNDLE COLLEGE SOCIETY ALUMNI
