Aleah Rae is the passionate powerhouse behind Rae of Light Digital. A creative at heart, Aleah combines a love for fashion and beauty with her keen sense of business to help indie beauty brands market their products through social media. As a Facebook Ads Coach, she provides one-on-one strategy sessions, focusing on teaching efficient and effective ways to use ads to increase conversion rates and online sales.
Raised in a small New Jersey town outside of Philadelphia, Aleah has always been artistic, but she took a few detours along her path to a creative
career. The only child of a scientist and counselor, Aleah wasn’t raised believing
art and creative pursuits could be lucrative, so she attended Rutgers University and graduated with a degree in French Linguistics before teaching middle school French for six years. In need of a life change, she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and found herself behind the front desk of an Aveda Lifestyle Salon; a job that would change her life as she was bit by the beauty bug!
Inspired to create the beauty she was surrounded by, she founded an indie beauty brand, LIPP Beauty, which was later featured
by Essence magazine. This was a pivotal moment for Aleah, where she thought she’d made it, but unfortunately, the positive reaction didn’t match the sales revenue. From this, she learned that it took more than press mentions to make a brand successful and started researching tools to amplify her business and drive sales. After many trials, she learned that creating targeted ad campaigns was a huge part of e-commerce success, and she vowed to help other business owners conquer this difficult task.
With over ten years of experience selling beauty products for large corporations and as a small indie business owner, Aleah knows what it takes to
succeed. Now as a full-time Facebook Ads Coach, she’s found a passion for
helping others scale their brands and has a growing community of indie beauty founders for who she provides countless resources. Her core mission is to help indie beauty brands go from confused to confident about Facebook ads!
You are the only child of a scientist and a counselor. Now if that’s not a powerhouse parental grounding, I don’t know what is! What was your experience like growing up as an only child? How has that shaped you into who you are today?
As an only child, you quickly figure out how not to be lonely, even when you are alone. My dolls were some of my best friends — and we shared plenty of secrets throughout my childhood. Lol. Only children are forced to be pretty outgoing and make friends whenever they go (No brothers or sisters to kick it with if you’re not in the mood to be chatty and a closed mouth doesn’t make new friends!) and I know as a service provider with a growing community of beauty bosses my outgoing personality and ability to connect with new people comes in the large party from being an only!
While reading your bio, I read that you have a degree in French Linguistics! Ok! “Aleah, Tu es la bombe!”
What made you choose that major? You also taught French to middle schoolers. How do you think you impacted their lives at such a pivotal time in their youth?
Soooo random right? I went into college (Rutgers University) originally planning to major in Communications. But after my first Comm class in a lecture hall with 500 other people, I knew it wasn’t for me. I fell madly in love with the language after a mandatory French 101 class — and the vibe and culture of France really spoke to me. Choosing French to major in was PURELY a heart decision…and in all honesty, since I had a full academic scholarship (and my parents weren’t footing the bill for my education) I had a bit more freedom to pursue a degree that spoke to me and that I enjoyed every minute of studying.
You are the founder of Rae of Light Digital. Great play on words by the way! Tell our readers what Rae of Light Digital is all about?
Why thank you! So ROLD started as a full-service digital marketing agency nearly 3 years ago and has since evolved into my Facebook Ads Coaching company 2 years in. I made the switch from full service to coaching to really be able to serve more female entrepreneurs and empower them to be able to manage Facebook (and by extension IG) ads on their own — which is a huge saving for a small business owner looking to grow their brand. Today, ROL’s mission is to help Beauty Bosses go from confused to confident about Facebook ads, so they can DIY their ads management in 30 minutes a week and double their monthly sales!
What are some common things that business owners do that can turn clients away when it comes to marketing?
This is painful to watch, but really the biggest thing that I see is a lack of focus on their content and messaging. Indie beauty brand owners are ALWAYS creating, always innovating. It’s honestly one of the things I love so much about this industry (I’ve worked in beauty retail for the last 11 years!) Once one product launches in their line, they are already thinking of the next — and this is a blessing and a curse. What I see all too often, is Beauty Bosses that try to market numerous different products from their line at a time…instead of focusing on ONE hero product and flushing out marketing content for that product, raking in the sales, and THEN moving on to the next big thing. Each quarter (every 3 months), I challenge my clients to focus on ONE major marketing focus. B/c honestly, it takes all their time and attention, and effort to make just ONE thing (product or promotion) a success in today’s super competitive beauty landscape.
You are a Facebook Ads Coach. What exactly is that? What interested you about being a Facebook Ads Coach? Why is social media marketing so important?
Aye! I teach indie beauty brand founders and whomever is on their support team how to manage their OWN Facebook and IG ads in Facebook Ads Manager program. Having the knowledge of how Ads Manager works — and most importantly understanding the strategy behind running a successful ads campaign for your business is so important.
No one has money to waste on ads that don’t perform, so hiring a coach like me before you jump out there and try to throw spaghetti at the wall hoping it sticks when it comes to ads, can save your hundreds, if not thousands of dollars and countless hours of time and mental frustration. I’ve always been a teacher at heart! (After college, I taught middle school French for 6 years.) Once I transitioned from behind the counters of big box beauty brands like NARS, Bobbi Brown, Smashbox, and YSL, it made perfect sense that I would stay in the beauty world but as someone who could help smaller indie beauty brands grow. Coaching is teaching — and I love every minute of it!
If you could design the perfect job, what would it be and why?
I’m doing it! Seriously. The WAY that I show up as a Facebook Ads coach for Beauty Bosses may change as time goes by (i.e., My packages and products) but showing up and being your Facebook Ads Bestie is my calling.
What is on the horizon for Aleah Rae?
On a personal level, my husband and I are hoping to start a family really soon! So, from a business standpoint, I’m working hard at creating offerings for my Rae Of Light audience that will allow me to still support them, while I balance both family and career.
Lastly, what is your definition of a Pretty Woman Who Hustles?
I’ve never felt that pretty had anything to do with looks — and that’s actually a very French belief as well! Some of the “ugliest” people I’ve ever met, looked great on the outside. #JustSaying So my definition of a pretty woman who hustles is a brilliant woman who is confident within herself, who is filled with a determination that everything she desires is 100% within her reach (b/c let’s face it, it totally is) and moves with gratitude for how far she’s already come,
and who takes ACTION on a daily to get closer to her goals no matter what the world around her throws her way!
Stay Connected with Aleah Rae by visiting her online via Instagram or on her website
Join her exclusive Facebook Community for Beauty Bosses Here.
