Meet Rebekah Letch | Yoga and wellness influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rebekah Letch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebekah, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
In 2014, I started a company called Radha Beauty while living in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I had just started my Instagram page and was randomly posting my yoga pictures when the first picture I did in pointe shoes in a yoga pose went viral. I was immediately approached by a few brands and my page grew to 10K followers in less than six months. I didn’t know what was happening at that time. People would follow me because of the way I moved when I did yoga and they would comment they loved my long hair and skin color, which was all very strange to me [laughs].

The first product I brought to market was Argan oil, and it failed miserably. I lost my first $20,000 investment. But that didn’t stop me. I launched my next product after doing some quick competitor and market research, and that product became the best seller on Amazon in the beauty products segment. That really launched Radha Beauty, and within six months, we were doing $300,000 in gross sales each month. It just kept growing and by the end of the first full year, the company did $1,000,000 in sales, before growing to $33,000,000 the following year. My partner and I decided to sell the company during our third year, as it was at $75,000,000 in sales, just through Amazon. The company sold in 2017.

During that venture, I learned so much about people and businesses, consumerism, and the power of scale. As the director of marketing and product development, I designed every single package, most very simplistic and basic in design. So many people told me I would fail because the beauty industry was already so saturated. But, I didn’t listen [laughing] and we made it… BIG!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I attended The Juilliard School at the age of 16, right after I won the prestigious Adeline Genee Prix De Lausanne competition in Hong Kong. I entered the competition without having a ballet teacher and was the only student not represented by a teacher. It wasn’t easy — I didn’t have a studio and even trained in a swimming pool through an injury. But one thing was sure — I had to win, to prove something to myself, and I did. After that, I was asked to join every major ballet school in Asia and Australia, but I chose to go to Juilliard in New York City. I really wanted to come to America. It was one of the biggest achievements for me, having come from a small island like Singapore. During my time at The Juilliard School, I suffered a bad meniscus injury and shin splints. I was not able to audition for a dance company, and I was afraid my ballet career could well be over. However, I wanted to pursue other fields, so I applied to the University of London. I studied Business Management and majored in Marketing. After that, I moved back to the U.S. and attended NYU, where I did a double major in Marketing and higher education with a major in Ballet Pedagogy from NYU’s Steinhardt. While attending NYU, I auditioned for American Ballet Theatre and danced with them until 2012, when I graduated Valedictorian and moved to Italy.
My dance training gave me discipline, in all aspects of my life. It taught me about endurance and grace during the most difficult times. It afforded me opportunities to travel the world at a young age. I competed from Singapore to Australia, Japan, the U.S., London, even Russia, and winning many of those competitions meant prize money to keep it going. I also got to perform and be the star of many ballets in Asia as an Asean Brewery Scholar, which made me a ballet prodigy. There was even an Asian documentary show, called “Young Wonder,” that I was a part of, as well as getting to be a judge on other television dance shows. My dance training has literally impacted everything I do as an influencer, from my dance videos to my technique and even my current yoga training videos.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live on 30a, in Santa Rosa Beach. There’s a little beach town here that’s famous called SEASIDE. This is the little neighborhood where the Truman show was filmed. The houses are incredible and so artistic. But the best part about where I live is the beach. We have sand that feels like sugar/snow… but made entirely of quartz. The ocean is turquoise and thats why it’s called the EMERALD COAST also known as the Jewel of the south. You can come here, and enjoy the best beaches in the world, and not forgetting the most amazing seafood the gulf coast has to offer.

One of my favorite places to hang out is Grayton Beach, Fl on 30a. the bars, restaurants and even trails are incredible and so fun.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would love to dedicate my shoutout to my beloved Dog Sophie who passed away in 2019. She was with me through it all and Inspired me every single day to fight and live the best life possible. We lived all over the world, and her death ripped me apart because I relied and depended on her so much. Growing a company is tough but having my best friend in the whole world by my side was everything.

Instagram: @rebekahletch

Facebook: Rebekah Letch

Image Credits
Rebekah Letch. I have rights to the images as they were taken by me.