From Marketing to Magic: 2 Corporate Leaders Who Are Now Tarot Readers

These two former marketing professionals gave up their corporate lives to help others through cosmic guidance.

Pooja Khera, Delhi

When a senior marketing professional with over 20 years of experience decides to quit her high-flying career and pursue her love for tarot full-time, it does cause some bit of surprise.

But for Pooja Khera, it was a natural progression after having started tarot card reading 12 years ago to turn into a happiness coach and restart a new career leading people down the path of spiritual fulfillment.

Pooja, who is certified in the science of wellbeing by the University of Yale, believes tarot is transformational and teaches you about fundamental universal truths and archetypes. “It is a very powerful tool for getting clarity, guidance and thus the ability to make better decisions, which can transform lives,” says the 42-year-old.

Born and raised in Chandigarh, Pooja is also a switch-words expert and a dating coach who largely works with young women teaching them to love themselves so that they can invite and sustain relationships that are truly beneficial for them. As a spiritual guide, she uses tools like chakras and meditation to take people through fun, transformative sessions and real-life experiences.

Twenty years in the corporate world left Pooja with intense anxiety and pressure to continue with a life path that didn’t really resonate with her. “I didn’t feel like I was being true to my soul calling. At the same time, it was scary to think of quitting because I was drawing a high salary and the position I held was prestigious, which only made me feel even more trapped in a situation that just didn’t feel right in my heart,” she recalls.

Eventually, though, Pooja went with her heart and quit her corporate career in October last year. Besides a tarot reader, she is also a certified tarot rituals practitioner, which means she is trained to perform positive and strengthening rituals for various life areas like relationships, career, new beginnings, healings, and so on.

For Pooja, happiness is a state when you accept and love yourself unconditionally. “Self-love is the highest form of vibration one can feel,” she says, advising everyone to make a goal for themselves and document it.

“Make one goal at a time, strive your best to achieve it, document your progress and then when you achieve that, add another one to the list. This is the first step to growth. You will see that achieving one will give you the power to add another one – I call it the ‘muscle of intention’.”

For those who see tarot as merely a predictive tool and a crutch for trying times, Pooja clarifies: “Tarot is a roadmap to your inner self, a tool for self-empowerment and understanding. It reveals the hidden, clarifies the blurred. You can see and acknowledge what you are not doing or what is holding you back. That very acknowledgment and the advice given by a capable reader is the starting point of change in your life, all for good.”

Karishma Makhija, Mumbai

Born and raised in Mumbai, Karishma Makhija had grown up seeing her family members hold senior positions in reputed companies and so, for her, that was the default career aspiration as a teenager.

“I didn’t plan anything; I just believed that what was meant for me would come to me,” says the 41-year-old who recently quit her 16-year career in media marketing to take up the more spiritually fulfilling path of tarot.

“I have always had too many questions in my mind, be it about humanity or the pain faced by humanity, questions about myself and why people go through what they go through,” says Karishma.

“I sought answers in various places, and I was greatly intrigued by the answers I received from tarot readers. The cards fascinated me. I have always been drawn to the occult since the young age of eight or nine, and I intuitively felt this is my calling.”

And so, a few years ago, Karishma picked up the subject herself. “Strangely, I can’t read for myself but I find my answers while resolving riddles faced by my clients,” she smiles.

Her current work is mostly about providing clarity and counselling people, helping them understand their blocks, fears and obstacles.

“I always tell my clients, concentrate on yourself. Victory is always inward-out. I have seen people get good jobs within a few months after trying for a very long time once they took the tarot advice seriously. I’ve seen people find wonderful life partners after a long search once they heed the cards and change their perspective,” she shares.

Karishma advises everyone to live authentically: “Peace and happiness exist within you; you don’t have to go looking for it. Just be playful. In those moments, we find joy and build happiness.”

First published in eShe’s August 2020 issue