Tessa Rhea was born and raised in the Bay Area. After exploring different dance styles in her teen years, she fell in love with belly dance at age 15. She later emerged as a solo artist from behind the redwood curtain of Humboldt County while dancing with Shoshanna Rose's Ya Habibi Dance Company. Tessa Rhea has always loved drawing influence from other styles of dance and feels the most expressive as a tribal fusion belly dancer. She now lives and dances in Honolulu, Hawaii and is a member of Kalae Kaina's Shakti Dance Movement.