The Parkash family is now working together with father, mother and daughter to run their locations in New Jersey.
As a little girl, Sanya Parkash attended Rainbow Academy—the predecessor of Lightbridge Academy. Decades later, she’s running a Lightbridge Academy with her parents in New Jersey.
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Raj Parkash made a switch from his family’s New York City-based business to franchising with Lightbridge Academy. Originally in the garment business, Raj Parkash and his family were headed to their office next to The Empire State Building September 11, 2001, when they were caught in the fallout of the 9/11 attacks.
“It was a very difficult time because we couldn’t come back to New Jersey,” said Parkash. “By the time they opened New York City to come back, it was too late so we decided between me and my wife that one of us needs to be in Jersey and look for a business in New Jersey.”
Left to right: Sanya, Raj and Veenu Parkash.
Instead of cutting his losses, Raj Parkash and his wife, Veenu, decided it was time to find something new. He already had experience with Lightbridge’s predecessor Rainbow Academy through his daughter, a former student, and began researching the brand for franchising.
“Seeing our daughter grow and learn at the center, that was a strong thing that pulled us into doing this,” said Parkash. “Even though we had zero experience running a childcare center.”
Over 20 years later, the Parkashs’ first location is still open in North Brunswick, New Jersey, along with three others. Sanya Parkash is used to hearing about the family business.
“Growing up, a lot of people were always asking me if I would get into Lightbridge Academy and it was genuinely never a thought,” said Sanya Parkash. “I always thought I wanted to do something different.”
Even once she graduated college, working at Lightbridge wasn’t on her mind. After interning with Amazon for a human resources job, she applied for placement in the company. During the application process, she started working for her parents at Lightbridge.
After a month of working with her parents, Parkash decided she wanted to continue doing so and asked for something permanent. Her father encouraged her to wait, but she was persistent, asking him daily to give her a position at Lightbridge.
“I actually had to beg my parents for an offer letter,” she said.
Seeing her determination, Raj Parkash gave her a position. Even after Amazon got back to her a few days later, Sanya Parkash chose to accept her father’s offer. As a director at Lightbridge, she could learn a variety of skills, including accounting and marketing, which she wouldn’t get at Amazon, she said.
Sanya Parkash hit the ground running as one of the youngest directors in the Lightbridge network. She proved age isn’t everything when the center she runs was the highest revenue earner at the brand’s owner’s conference in 2023.
“I’m very proud of her because she was named Director of the Year last year between 65 operating Lightbridge Academies,” said Parkash. “It all changed from having nothing to do with our business from getting in and changing what she does and graduate school.”
Sanya Parkash was once a student at Lightbridge Academy, and is more than happy to be back at her childhood school.
Working with family does have some cons, though. For one, it’s hard for the Parkashes not to talk about work with each other, which can leave Raj and Veenu’s son—Sanya’s brother—out of the loop at dinner. Still, Raj Parkash wouldn’t change the dynamic for the world.
“You can trust, you can depend and count on family,” he said. “Communication is a key part and laying out clear boundaries what the respective roles are.”