When Riley Beek started her Instagram page years back, she had no idea it would eventually become a lucrative career. In addition to her personal Instagram page, @rileybeek, Riley currently owns one of the most influential comedy pages on Instagram- @bitc.h. Originally from Newport Beach, CA, Beek had always assumed she’d be a journalist, but ultimately ended up pursuing a psychology at the University of Mississippi.
Riley still resides in her hometown of Newport Beach, with her high school-sweetheart-turned-fiance and business partner, Blake Bell. Riley originally got started on Tumblr her freshman year of college, where she created a comedy-themed page as an expressive outlet. Within a year of creating her page, Riley amassed over 600,000 Tumblr followers. “I have no idea how it happened”, says Beek, “I just started it as a way to blow off steam from the stress of school, and suddenly it blew up and people loved the content.” She then moved her jokes to Instagram, where she’d later become known as the “Queen of Memes”, after garnering over 300k followers in less than two years on her new page “@bitc.h.”
Blake, her then-boyfriend and who’s also possesses a keen interest in comedy, had started his own comedy on page on the late app Vine. But when Vine started to take a turn for the worse, Blake, alongside his content creator, Hau Ma, teamed up with Riley to make @bitc.h one of the most prominent comedy pages on Instagram. Five years later, @bitc.h boasts a cool 5.8 million followers with jokes relating to friendship, relationships, school, and money.
They make jokes using references from shows like SpongeBob SquarePants and Keeping Up with the Kardashians, bringing a new, funny perspective to specific and relatable issues. “Relatability is key”, claims Beek. “The content that does the best is the content that our audience finds most relatable. People like being able to feel a personal connection to a joke, then they end up tagging their friends, and so on. That’s how content goes viral.”
Their passion for online comedy and marketing skills has made them some of the most powerful influencers in the comedy game. Riley and her team now work hand in hand with household brand names such as Burger King, AOL, Tinder, and Match.com under their social marketing agency, Beach Social.
Riley did admit that her humor can be dry at times, which is why she has a team that ensures that her jokes will be funny, and relatable, to everyone. When she’s not “memeing”, you can most likely find Riley in her kitchen baking and whipping up new healthy recipes. “Cooking is my other passion”, claims Beek. “Memeing and cooking. Very different from each other but I love them both! I’m a very health-concious person and am always experimenting in the kitchen.”
Riley also uses her online fame to get attention for her other passion; traveling. On her blog, “@thebitcheats,” she stresses the importance of living a healthy and active lifestyle while on the go. Riley is an inspiration to anyone who wants to be an achiever; both workwise and health-wise. As she so gracefully puts it, “I care about people. I care about making them laugh when they’re having a rough day, and I care about their health and informing them on how to make the best choices for themselves. Instagram has allowed me to do both, and I am so grateful for that.”