Raja Syn didn’t originally aspire to be a model and influencer, even though the idea was long on the minds of her friends and family.
“Everyone always said I should model,” she said. “But getting signed with an agency seemed impossible to me.”
As for herself, Raja was an academic, and the stunning and stunningly-smart girl had graduated from high school a year early and entered the University of Maryland to study foreign language, specializing in Chinese.
But things don’t always turn out as planned, and a fateful encounter with a book – along with the realization that college just wasn’t for her – turned the tables on Raja’s life.
One book, a big change
“I used to feel comfortable working every day for someone else. Then I read ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ and it changed my whole idea of life.”
The book – a parable of one father who worked hard but never gained financial stability compared to another father who invested smartly in order to get a leg up financially – was Raja’s catalyst for change.
And you know the saying. For every door that closes… For Raja, the open door was one that those who loved her always known she was meant to walk through.
No longer content to make someone else’s dreams come to fruition, she headed to California, where the sun and surf were perfectly suited for her swimsuit-model body, a combination of genetics and hardcore work in the gym to sculpt it into shape.
She decided to become an Instagram influencer and model, and her sexy shoots soon helped her gather more than 300,000 followers who are hooked on her racy photos and videos.
“I turned to Instagram to build my brand and it’s been the best thing I’ve ever done,” she said.
Another smart move
Raja, however, is full of smart moves. She also chose to leave the West Coast for Atlanta, a southern city that is now the third largest entertainment hub in the United States, behind only NYC and Los Angeles.
“At 19, I moved to Atlanta for a fresh start after realizing Atlanta is the best place to start a career in the entertainment industry as a black girl,” Raja said.
Now among a dynamic group of peers, Raja is steadily growing her brand while looking at other opportunities within the entertainment world.
“I aspire to be a TV personality with my own show,” she said. “I plan on writing my own book soon. I can sing too, but I’m not really focused on a music career. It might happen. Right now, I’m just moving wherever the universe takes me.”