In her second year of college, Rajpal wished to work at a part-time job, so she did a two-month contract as a switchboard operator at the CHUM-City Building.

[3] On the final day of her contract, Stephen Hurlbut, the vice president of programming, requested that she continue working for several weeks to conduct research.

[4] While based in Atlanta, she had interviewed Ehud Barak, a former Prime Minister of Israel; Andrés Pastrana Arango, the then-President of Colombia; and Moses Blah, who had just taken office as President of Liberia.

[4] She covered news stories about the war on terror, Catholic Church sexual abuse cases, Liberian strife, former American president Jimmy Carter's visit to Cuba, and presidential elections in France.

[9] Notable people she has interviewed for CNN include Mikhail Gorbachev,[3] Vicente Fox,[2] Al Gore,[3] Tom Ford,[5] and I. M.

[3] Upon seeing Rajpal present to a crowded assembly hall, the vice principal requested that she deliver the school's morning broadcasts.

[3] Her guidance counsellor, who knew about her broadcasting work, recommended that she submit a college application to the radio and television arts program at Ryerson Polytechnic University, which she attended.

[4][9] Rajpal said her pop icons are the band U2, the architect Frank Gehry, the artist Damien Hirst, and Oprah Winfrey.