A FORMER Vedic monk and now a global internet superstar whose videos rack up billions of views, Jay Shetty describes his online thoughts, views and philosophies as ‘wisdom going viral’. Not that you will necessarily have heard of him if you’re a few years older than the average millennial and an infrequent user of social media and the internet.
However, one measure of his burgeoning stature and influence is that Shetty, who comes from London but now lives and works mostly in LA, was named in Forbes Europe 30 under 30 list in 2017.
Another is that over the summer he interviewed the superstar footballer Eden Hazard, widely considered one of the best players in the world, who had moved from Chelsea to Real Madrid in a deal worth more than £150 million. The significance of the interview in assessing Shetty’s standing (the two discussed a ‘winning mentality with Hazard revealing he left Chelsea to ‘win more trophies’’) is that it shows that global sports icons know who Shetty is and want to engage with him and his followers.
Shetty’s videos have racked up over four and a half billion views across many online platforms, and he continues to offer an array of advice and thoughts on how to be better, live well, and fulfil the potential you have.
His initial breakthrough came on Facebook where his page is now followed by 25 million people, while he is estimated to have 30 million followers in total across social media. It was on Facebook that he first started posting videos.
Another breakthrough moment, and the one that helped launched his career in America, was when Huffington Post (and Ariana Huffington) came calling with a request to appear on a daily show called Followthereader, the exposure taking Shetty’s profile to a higher level.
Many of the people he interviews are similarly in the self-help and wellbeing category, and two really stand out: he interviewed Deepak Chopra, Hollywood’s best known health guru, and Radhanath Swami, the best-selling author and Hindu-inspired Boston-born spiritual teacher and Hindu monk.
While many of Shetty’s own homilies are delivered as common sense messages about life and how you treat people – behind them lies the philosophy of ancient India and the principle of Karma, that what ‘goes around, comes around’.
His latest substantial venture is his own podcast channel, On Purpose, which started on February 14 2019, and on which he interviewed his wife Radhi for the first time. “We are two very different people who have created something special together,” he says.
For the record, she’s a vegan dietician and they met through her mother and the local temple, while Radhi was in her 20s and at university. They are understood to have wed in April 2016 and her actual name is Roshni Devlukia.
You can see them talking to each other on Jay Shetty’s Youtube channel – and when he says, ‘I love you’ you know he really, really means it.
Many remark on their physical similarities – often they get asked whether they are brother and sister. Their eyes are green (but of different hues) and they are of similar builds, lithe and supple. Watchers say that they complement each other perfectly.
More recent interviewees on Shetty’s On Purpose channel include world tennis No1 Novak Djokovic and comedy icon Russell Brand.
Shetty grew up in North London and went to Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, then got a first class honours degree in behavioural science from Cass Business School.
On his own website, without going into too much detail, he says he met a monk when he was 18 and that led him to a “reassessment” and a redefinition of what success meant to him.
At 22, he went off to his native India (his father is from Bengaluru and his mother from North India) and travelled around, meditating and studying. He also got involved in charity work, helping to build sustainable villages, supply food and prepare a million meals every day.
What prompted his return to his parent’s home in North London isn’t explained, but he had “no money” and spent nine months re-orientating himself to modern life. What came next is perhaps pivotal in understanding how his path began to unfurl. “Jay’s friends from business school began inviting him to speak to their companies as they were undergoing high amounts of pressure and stress”, continues his website.
The monk’s life had taught him much and with an understanding of the workplace and business, he honed a message about success, health and wellbeing. He had found his calling.
He became Accenture’s social media coach and his Facebook page was beginning to get huge traction – he was among the first to effectively exploit the digital possibilities of the self-improvement sector.
He moved to New York in 2016 to head up the Followthereader for Huffington Post’s video series. He subsequently moved to LA and from there runs his own his company called Icon Media, with Alex Kushneir, a former content producer for Huffington Post, among others. Shetty has already worked with Facebook, Google and Coca-Cola.
He is reported to be writing a book and, in the summer, signed to CAA, one of the world’s largest talent agencies and a mainstay of Hollywood. Known to be charismatic and friendly in person, Shetty has already achieved a great deal in his short 32 years though his best may be yet to come. He is definitely one to watch.
