Rebecca Ma—better known as Becca Bloom due to her popular Instagram and TikTok accounts, amassing more than six million followers across the platforms since January—and software engineer David Pownall first struck up a conversation at Philz Coffee in Palo Alto on December 28, 2019. “I was home from college, and it was only David’s tenth day in the Bay Area after moving to the US from Vancouver,” the social media star, who also works in fintech, recalls. “David asked if he could buy me a coffee, to which I responded, ‘I don’t drink coffee, only tea.’ Not exactly the flirtiest response, but somehow he rolled with it.”
What should’ve been a quick cup of coffee—or tea, rather—turned into a 15-hour first date. “We wandered through my old Palo Alto neighborhood,” Becca remembers. “Me showing him the parks and streets I grew up with, him seeing it all for the first time.” One thing led to another, and they kept extending the day, eventually ending up at one of Becca’s favorite sushi spots.
Nearly four years later, David proposed in Positano on July 23, 2023. It was the very first day of the couple’s summer vacation, and he told her that he had booked a private sunset boat ride. “He said it was for my ‘Instagram photoshoot,’ and I didn’t think twice about it,” Becca admits.
The content creator has built a vast, highly engaged following by giving her audience a peek into her luxurious life, posting everything from self-help tutorials to details about her wedding planning journey—all with an approachable smile and a soft, soothing voice that has since become her signature. She’s filmed herself plating private chef-made meals for her cat Oscar—complete with Beluga caviar on Versace china chargers—and unboxing Hermès shopping hauls, but also breaks down finance terminology and gives career advice tips on how to improve one’s confidence and negotiation tactics. She’s been dubbed “the reigning queen of RichTok”—largely because her vibe is the complete opposite of last year’s “quiet luxury” trend.
With all of that in mind, in true Becca fashion, she arrived for the boat outing in a dramatic hot-pink feathered cover-up over an orange Burberry bikini, while David wore a crisp white linen shirt. “When he asked, ‘Are you sure you want to wear that?’ I was slightly offended, but carried on,” she jokes. Eventually, David asked Becca if they could take a photo together. “I agreed, and that’s when he dropped to one knee and proposed,” Becca says. “From there, everything was a blur of joy.” That evening they toasted at a candlelit dinner overlooking the Amalfi Coast, serenaded by a live band, and then continued the celebration with family in Provence.
