My Life Story

Hi, my name is Zarak and I want to share my life story with you. I was born August 17, 1974 in Toronto, Canada to parents who immigrated from Pakistan. I grew up in a small suburb outside of Toronto called Scarborough and it was, it was pretty rough. I dealt with a lot of bullying, a lot of racism and just didn't feel like I fit in. Never knew how to play sports, never got chosen for the team. So I was a pretty insecure, scrawny kid. My mom is a secretary, my dad's a courier, and they basically lived check to check. At the age of 21, my parents split up and the banks repossessed our house and I was pretty much out on my own from a young age. I got kicked out of three high schools and left to go work in nightlife at a very early age. And I saw the bright lights of the big city and absolutely fell in love. I went from being a go go dancer to a bartender, which led me to go work in Miami for a couple years. Working down in Miami, I learned from the best in the world in the nightlife and hospitality space. And that taught me what a promoter was. So when I moved back to Toronto in 1999, I started throwing parties in the downtown Toronto entertainment district. And those parties blew up over the next three or four years. My partner and I, we were killing it. We were hosting parties for celebrities and athletes and millionaires and billionaires and we were living life. But we knew there was something more that we needed to do. In 2003, I got approached to open up a restaurant. It was a cool modern fusion Japanese restaurant called Blowfish. And. And we absolutely crushed it. And after that I was like, what else can we do? So we opened up the first high end VIP bottle service lounge bar called Sentry Room. And that was a home run right out the gates. Now I had crazy momentum and because I'm a manifestor, my human design is just to create and ideate had more ideas. So in 2005 we opened up Hammam Spa, which was a 7,000 square foot Turkish bath inspired spa. And that again was another hit. So we were just on a roll. So for year after year, over 15 years, I created 12 companies, created more restaurants, music festival called Digital Dreams, created bottled water company health supplements. It was just business after business after business. And this lifestyle made me millions of dollars. I got to travel to over 60 countries. I drove fancy cars, big watches, hot girls, hang out with celebrities, private jets, like all this stuff a single successful guy could possibly want. I had yet There was still something missing. I was just hustling and grinding and pushing and just never in the moment, just one success, one goal after the other. I was always in that hustle and grind mentality until. Until that moment. And it was on my 40th birthday where I was celebrating with hundreds of friends and looking around at all I had achieved and all the beautiful people around me and all the love and adoration. But something was missing. And what was missing was the fulfillment. What was missing was that deeper significance of meaning. And it's on that day, I realized that even though I've created so much in my life, even though I've been wildly successful, made millions of dollars, and had so much to be proud of, I still knew there's something else. And that was the day that began my personal development journey. Because I knew if nothing changed, I was going to keep living the same life over and over and over again. Some people may have been okay with that, but for me, no. I knew there was something else. So my first step into personal development was the landmark education program called the Forum. And this was the first opportunity I had to see my life in a way outside of my own perspective. I saw my life in the way that other people saw it. And I realized what was missing. I realized that the pain from the past of being bullied, getting picked on, not feeling I was good enough was driving me to be successful. And no matter how much success, how much status, how much possessions I acquired, nothing was ever going to make that hurt little boy inside me, little Zarak who got bullied and picked on, nothing was ever going to make him feel better about himself until I made peace with that trauma. And that is when I dove deep into the world of coaching, personal development retreats, plant medicine. I went all in. And for two to three years, I was so engrossed into the world of personal development that I got to peel back the layers and understand why I was blowing money, buying things I didn't need to impress people I didn't like, why I was looping the same relationships in my life, dating the same person, same scenario over and over again, just in a different body each time, why I was not being responsible with my. My money, and why I was still pursuing projects that weren't fulfilling, but just satisfied that superficial need for success. Through these programs, through the personal development, I got to understand the root cause of my behavior. And others around me started to notice this shift. They started to notice the change I was making as well. And they started coming to me for advice and I would share what I could and I could see that I was making a difference for people. And that felt good, that felt meaningful to me. And that's what had me think about if I was to leave nightlife in hospitality, if I was to create something new, what would that look like? And part of me was like, well, I'm a high school dropout, I'm a nightlife guy, what can I do, you know? That imposter syndrome kicked in and I wasn't really sure what I was going to do next. However, I knew that I love to travel, I love fitness, I love eating good food and meeting local like minded people. And I wanted more people to know about personal development. I wanted them to experience what I was achieving. And I came up with the idea of hosting a retreat. So in 2018, I hosted my first alive experience in Nosara, Costa Rica. And from that very first trip, I knew, like, this is what I want to do. It's actually, as I talk about it, I get the hair standing up on my arms that I just knew, like, this is what I want to do. It sparked a passion in me that I hadn't felt in years. And it was on that very first trip that I pulled out my phone and I emailed my partner and I told him, I'm closing down. The restaurant, Blowfish, had been open 15 years and we'd been going through some ups and downs. And we were about to begin a whole new renovation and kick it off again for 10 years. And I just decided, no, I'm done. And in that moment, because I was a majority investor, I had over a million dollars invested into that restaurant. And I chose to walk away from that money and I chose to close my business to focus on something new. Because I had discovered something that was bigger than me. I had discovered something that was purposeful, something that would be my legacy. Now I had no idea at the time that I was going to become a coach. I had no idea actually where any of it was going to go. I just knew that that old part of my life, all that I had achieved, that chapter was done and it was time for something new. So I'd hosted another retreat a few months later in Whistler, British Columbia. And after that, when I knew, like, yeah, I'm going all in on this. So within a few months, I had divested. I'd let go of the things in Toronto. I had decided to move to Costa Rica, burn the bridges and go all in on retreats. And I did so for the following years, I hosted retreats In Bali, in Muskoka and Sedona, I'd hosted, I think, about nine or 10 retreats before COVID came along and put a stop to all of the travel and all of my retreats. Now, I had already begun my professional coach training certification around that time, because people were coming to my retreats, having powerful breakthroughs, and then going home and needing the support, being like, okay, I had all these epiphanies, all these new ideas. What do I do now? I wanted to be the coach to continue to support them when they got home. So when Covid happened and retreats were on hold and people are at home and they're thinking, what am I going to do with my life? This was a perfect opportunity for me to step in to be able to coach them. So in March 2020, I launched my coaching career. And as I said, you know, I never thought I was going to be a coach because I just didn't see why people would want to hire me to coach them. But what I didn't realize is I'm a serial entrepreneur. I've traveled 60 countries. I've started with nothing and made millions, and I've gone through this wild personal development journey, and that is very valuable for people. So I did my professional coach training certification. I became a certified breathwork facilitator. I've done all the landmark programs. I've done so much development on myself. And I knew, like, I want to share this with other people. I have helped build schools in Kenya, India, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Haiti. Fitness has been my pillar throughout my life. You know, when I started working out at 17, it's what taught me discipline. It's what taught me confidence. It taught me, you do the work each and every day, you know, with integrity. When no one's watching you do the work for you. One day you look in the mirror and you've changed your body. And that is how I've developed my confidence. It's what keeps me on track and has me, you know, really, really commit to things fully. When I turned 40, I decided I wanted to shake things up and take my fitness to the next level. I started competing and did four shows over two years and made it all the way to Canadian nationals or where I placed third, which I'm very proud of. And most recently, after turning 50, I decided to try my first triathlon. And that was a big challenge for me because I don't know how to swim. I had a great fear of the water, and I committed to hiring a coach, getting in the lake, and learning to Swim. And I'm proud to say that I competed and finished two triathlons to celebrate my 50th birthday. I'd lived in Costa Rica from 2018 till 2023. And then I knew it was time to leave the jungle. As much as I loved living the Pura Vida life down there, I knew that it was time to take the magic that I've learned, to take the wisdom that I have accumulated from years of living in the jungle, from all the coaching, the retreats, the plant medicine, the breath work, all that I had experienced, and to come to the city because, you know, I say, like, it's easy to be the monk on the mountain, living the Pura Vida life where everything's Zen, but can you come off the mountain? Can. Can you bring the knowledge, the wisdom, the vibration into the heart of the city and bring the medicine where it's needed the most? And this is why I now host events in Toronto, Miami, Los Angeles, and do workshops online for people all over the world, because people need this work. The collective trauma, the need for personal development and coaching is greater now than ever before. And I am so honored. I'm so privileged and grateful that I get to do this work. You know, I work with amazing humans. I work with men and women. I worked with entrepreneurs. I've even worked with teenagers. And, you know, it's a blessing to be able to help people to see what's possible for their life, because I know what it feels like to feel confused, to feel lost, to not know who you can talk to. And that's why I love doing live events. You know, I love meeting my people, my clients, new friends in person and sharing this work with them. And, you know, I'm just so grateful that this is what I get to call my job. I. You know, there's. I know there's many more chapters, many more stories to still live and to share it with all of you, but, you know, today, this is. This is where I am. This is my life. And I hope that you enjoyed learning a bit about me. And if you got any questions about what I do or who I am, please feel free to reach out.