Family can mean many things to different people. For three graduates from Fraser Valley India, it means teamwork. In the summer of 2023, Bhavkaran Singh (BBA ‘20), Himalya Sharma (BCIS ‘20) and Priya Kalra (BCIS ‘20) joined together to create The Unified: Marketing and IT Solutions.

After completing his Bachelor of Business Administration in 2020, Bhavkaran dreamed of starting his own marketing business. But for two years following his graduation, he continued to work for other companies, putting that dream aside.

When Priya asked why he wasn’t running his own company, Bhavkaran found he had no answer to the question. This inspired him to begin work on his own company. But he needed people to help him start it.

“I knew I didn’t want to do this alone,” says Bhavkaran. “I’ve always wanted to work with Himalya and Priya. We’ve known each other for almost eight years. We’ve been colleagues, friends.”

Bhavkaran knew these two friends from his Fraser Valley India days would share his vision for the company, so he approached them. Both accepted without hesitation.

The Unified began working with clients in June 2023 and became an official company on September 28, 2023. Since their founding in June, they have worked with a wide variety of clients internationally and across many different industries.

The three have quickly come to learn each other’s working styles and personal strengths, leading them to take on specific roles within the company in a natural manner.

“We never worked together on any projects in university,” says Himalya. “But we always talked about them. So, when we started working together for The Unified, we started to learn how each of us functions individually.”

From that, Bhavkaran took on the role of marketing while Himalya handles the technical aspects of the business and Priya manages operations.

“Bhavkaran is really good at grounding us and has created a strong foundation of what we represent and where we plan to go,” says Himalya.

One aspect of the business in which the trio aligns naturally is the working culture, an element that they bring to the client side.

“The relationship we’ve been developing over the years has been translating into the work environment,” says Priya. “And we get to bring that into our client calls, having fun while also conducting business.”

It’s a value they take seriously. Being able to share their passion for connection with the community helps drive their work.

“We’ve taken the values we learned while attending the UFV into our work,” says Priya. “We are especially passionate about building community.”

From the beginning, the three have focused on the values of their company, creating a place where they can both have fun and produce amazing work.

“I think a value alignment is something you can discuss,” says Himalya. “But culture is not something you can learn, it’s more experiential. You develop it, you grow into it while doing it. And I think we’re at a point where we’ve developed a great culture and focus.”

“This company stands because the three of us work together,” says Bhavkaran.

In fact, Bhavkaran imagines the three of them as coming together as similar to the ‘big bang’ incident that formed the universe.

“In the same way that thousands of random particles and thousands of random elements came together at the right time to create the universe,” says Bhavkaran, “the same thing has happened to us.

“We’re make a big bang of our own.”