RAJ GIRN, 47, president and CEO of Anokhi Media, Toronto

Raj Girn was 32 and newly divorced with a five-year-old when she decided to start Anokhi Media, which gets its name from the Hindi word for unique.

She was convinced there was a need for a magazine that spoke to an audience that looked like her: brought up in the West but still very much connected to South Asian culture.

“Media at that time was monochromatic. It was either mainstream media, which didn’t talk about the ethnic culture I was brought up in, or cultural, which didn’t really talk about the Western society we lived in,” she says of the industry in 2002 when she launched. “I felt one without the other was incomplete to who I was and who many were, who like me, resided in a dual cultural environment.”

With $36,000 raised from angel investors and capital from cashed-in RRSPs and a second mortgage, she published the first issue. Canadian actress Lisa Ray was the cover story.

Girn knew she had to bootstrap it because she didn’t fit the typical mould of a businesswoman. She describes her look as flamboyant – “It’s part of my culture. Hello, Bollywood,” she jokes – and figured no bank would back a woman, let alone one who belonged to a visible minority and wanted to start a risky media enterprise.

Fifteen years later, the internet and social media have caused a seismic shift in the media landscape, and it now favours niche players. Anokhi has diversified and, in addition to its monthly digital magazine, the multimedia company runs a website covering South Asian pop culture, lifestyles and entertainment, with three video channels and a blog, as well as an events business and an annual awards show.

Girn first broke even in 2013 and has yet to turn a profit, but says the Anokhi brand is No. 1 in the North American marketplace in terms of brand awareness.

At 47, Girn has enough experience and social capital to be taken seriously as an entrepreneur.

“I have substantial resources because of the relationships I’ve built over the years and how much I’ve done within and for my community with the various Anokhi offerings. So when I want to start a new product, I have places I can go for assistance.”