Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Zook.
Hi Rebecca, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I didn’t grow up in a world that taught women to choose themselves.
I was raised within a culture shaped by religious patriarchy-where women were positioned as supportive, accommodating, and second. There was an unspoken expectation to serve, to be agreeable, to prioritize others over self. While this seemed normal for me at the time, something always felt off, and I could never quite embrace the expectations whole heartedly. I felt the disconnection that comes from not fully owning your voice, your body, or your worth. This caused resistance inside of myself that I would later come to understand.
Somewhere along the way, a seed of something different was planted.
It came in the form of an Audrey Hepburn coffee table book when I was 13 years old. I remember flipping through the pages and seeing a woman who carried herself with a kind of quiet confidence and self-respect I hadn’t yet experienced in my own world. She wasn’t loud or performative. Rather, she was grounded, elegant, and fully her own. That moment stayed with me.
As I grew up through the ’80s and ’90s, that seed was tested by a culture consumed with diet trends, body control, and the constant pressure to be smaller, thinner, more acceptable. Beauty was something to chase, to fix, to earn. And like so many women, I internalized the message that my value was tied to how closely I could align with those standards.
Now, looking at today’s beauty landscape, I can’t help but see the parallels. The pressure hasn’t disappeared. It has simply evolved. What diet culture was in the ’90s, today shows up in the form of injectables, filters, and the subtle (and not so subtle) messaging that aging is something to correct. That self-worth and relevance is found in youth.
As I stepped into my mid-forties, something shifted. I felt so much pressure to reverse aging, to maintain a certain version of youthful beauty. I also felt pulled to a deeper truth within me. I didn’t want to spend the second half of my life chasing something that was never meant to be held onto. I wanted permission to age without losing value, to care for myself without trying to erase myself or all of the life I’ve lived, to age with grace, with intention, and with self-respect.
And as a mother of four daughters, that desire became something much bigger than me. I realized I had an opportunity…no, a responsibility…to change the narrative, not just in what I said, but in how I lived, how I cared for my skin, how I spoke about my body. I was called to responsibility in what I chose to prioritize and what I chose to release.
Beauty isn’t about perfection or certain outward beauty standards. It’s not about filters, chasing the next trend, or erasing the storylines written in your skin. True beauty is about coming home to yourself. It’s more about the way you live than what you look like. As women, we’ve been so conditioned to care so deeply about what we look like that we forget to embody what really matters. Grace, love, self-respect…and finding that deep sense of fulfillment and HAPPIness within that naturally radiates outward.
Happi Rituals was born from this place. This is not just skincare. This is a new way of relating to ourselves, slowing down, simplifying, and reconnecting. This is the new POV…honoring the body as it changes and finding beauty in the aging process.
This is my permission.
This is your permission.
…to come back to yourself, to release the pressure to be anything other than who you are, and to find joy in the simple, real things.
Happi Rituals is more than skincare. It’s a movement.
One jar, one ritual, one woman at a time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Overall, launching this business has gone very well with so much great feedback from customers. Our product is different than many tallow-based skincare products in that I approached this from more of a cosmetic approach. I wanted a natural and bioavailable product that still felt like luxurious skincare…not necessarily focused on a “farm-to-face”/rustic approach. The challenge with a product that is truly all natural with no chemicals, no preservatives, and no stabilizers is maintaining the whipped silky texture that everyone really loves. The challenge comes especially with shipping in warm weather conditions and climates. To negate this challenge, I keep an eye on the weather for the shipping address and use ice packs when needed. Otherwise, we are focused on spreading awareness and growing our customer base!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My background is rooted in entrepreneurship and marketing, with a focus on small business and hospitality marketing. At my core, I’ve always been an entrepreneur with a creative spirit and more ideas than I know what to do with.
I started my career by building a portrait photography business, which naturally evolved into brand and product photography. From there, I began helping small businesses with social media, website design, advertising, and digital marketing. Creative direction and marketing came naturally to me, and I developed a passion for learning every skill necessary to help businesses grow. If I didn’t know how to do something, I learned it. That curiosity and willingness to figure things out became one of my greatest strengths.
Although I spent nearly a decade in the corporate world, entrepreneurship continued to call me back. Today, I bring together everything I’ve learned—from branding and storytelling to strategy and creative execution—to help build meaningful businesses and brands.
While I’m proud of my career, nothing compares to raising my four daughters as a single mom. Every business decision, career move, and late night was made with their future in mind. Watching them grow into strong, compassionate, independent women pursuing lives of purpose and happiness is my greatest accomplishment.
If there’s one thing that sets me apart, it’s resilience. Throughout my life and career, I’ve developed an unwavering ability to adapt, learn, and figure things out. Whether building businesses, navigating challenges, or starting over, I’ve never been afraid to lean into the unknown. That resilience, paired with creativity and genuine curiosity, has shaped not only my career but the person I am today.
Those experiences ultimately led me to found Happi Rituals, a skincare company built around simple, bioavailable ingredients and the belief that women deserve to feel confident and at home in their skin as they age naturally.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Something many people don’t know is that the mission behind Happi Rituals was born from my own healing journey. I grew up in an environment where women often learned to suppress so much of themselves and were conditioned to believe their security and worth depended on men and the approval of others. Choosing a different path has become one of the defining purposes of my life. It shaped the way I raised my four daughters and the values on which I built my business. Happi Rituals isn’t just about skincare. It’s about helping women reconnect with themselves, trust their own voice, and feel at home in their own skin. I hope this brand reminds women that their value has never depended on anyone else’s approval—it has always been their own.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.happirituals.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happi.rituals
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happi.rituals
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@happi.rituals3
