By Paarull JS Bakshi
They say that marriages are made in Heaven but sometimes it takes a little more effort than that, as I sit down with Anita Ram Sharma, the Founder of South Asian Millionaires Club and a renowned matchmaker in the South Asian Community in Vancouver and the lower Mainland, she begins with saying that “some marriages are made in heaven but others happen by people like me.” Anita started this business in the year 2011 and is a third generation matchmaker, so far she has successfully matched over a hundred clients. She works mainly within the Indo Canadian community and states that even though “my job is very hard because of my client’s expectations, I still love going to work every day and take everything that comes my way as a challenge well accepted.”
South Asian community is a community that celebrates marriages and enjoys the whole camaraderie of families coming together for this occasion. Arranged marriages are also still somewhat existent in this community as many families till this day hope that their children would marry according to their choice. Anita’s business as a matchmaker for the past many years has been catering to families and individuals like these, she says that the families have their own expectation on what they would want for their children and at times these expectations don’t match with what their children’s expectations are, so a part of her business also includes working with counsellors who help with such situations. Anita believes in love and she hopes that all her clients first fall in love and then get married. Marriage according to her requires a lot of commitment and trust which doesn’t happen overnight. “I have learned and taught myself to ‘Love myself and Respect myself’, in turn I teach others to ‘Love themselves– Respect themselves’ then this will lead the individual to ‘Love others and respect others’. These words are the meaning to a great relationship with your life and your marriage” says Anita.
Her company provides personal and confidential services to her millionaire clientele as most of her clients demand privacy. What sets her company apart from the others is that there is a background check as well as a criminal record check which is mandatory for both parties being matched. She says that with the amount of marriages falling apart because of lies about their partner’s past, it’s important to know that the person you are seeing is actually telling the truth!
Anita says that she does her best to find a suitable partner but her job is not as easy as it requires a lot of patience, dedication and honesty from her clients to make sure her clients are satisfied. Anita’s message to anyone looking for love is “keep trying, try to give everyone a chance and be very open to meeting new people.”
