Raji Kaur Brar

Born and raised in Fresno County, Raji K. Brar is a first-generation Sikh American whose parents immigrated from Punjab, India, and began their life in the United States working in the fields as farmworkers. Her family eventually moved to Bakersfield, where she attended junior high, high school and college, earning her bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in health care administration from California State University, Bakersfield. Upon graduation, Brar worked as a chemist and in the health care industry before joining her family in owning Countryside Corporation, a real estate acquisition, construction and retail development firm that has been in business for more than 30 years and now employs more than 500 people throughout the Central Valley.

In 2006, Brar became the first Sikh woman ever elected to a municipal government seat in California when she joined the Arvin City Council. As a result of this historic achievement, she was named a Woman of the Year by the California State Assembly. She is a four-time gubernatorial appointee and serves on the boards for the California Chamber of Commerce, Cal State Bakersfield Foundation, Kern Medical and Kern High School District Foundation, as well as the KERO 23 Community Advisory Board and the advisory board of Kern Venture Group.

Brar is co-founder of the Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association, which serves the community through health, wellness and educational programs. She is a mother of three, and she and her husband have been married for more than two decades.