Leah Kateb is an American reality television personality, social media creator and beauty entrepreneur who rose to fame on Love Island USA Season 6. Known for her candid personality, Persian-American background and relationship with fellow Islander Miguel Harichi, she has since turned her reality-TV breakthrough into a broader career that includes major brand partnerships and a leadership role at fragrance company Skylar.
Kateb entered the villa in 2024 as a college student from the Los Angeles area and ultimately finished the season as runner-up alongside Harichi. Her life after Love Island has kept her in the public eye, but her career has also evolved beyond television. She later joined Skylar as its Chief Creative Officer and “Re-Founder,” launched fragrances of her own and earned recognition from Forbes for her growing influence as a creator.
Quick Facts About Leah Kateb
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Leah Kateb |
| Date of Birth | August 11, 1999, widely reported |
| Age | 27 as of September 2026 |
| Hometown | Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Family Background | Iranian/Persian |
| First Language | Farsi |
| Occupation | Reality TV personality, creator, beauty executive |
| Known For | Love Island USA Season 6 |
| Partner | Miguel Harichi |
| Parents | Afshin and Mina Kateb |
| Sister | Daria Kateb |
| Business Role | Chief Creative Officer and “Re-Founder” of Skylar |
Who Is Leah Kateb?
Leah Kateb became widely known after joining the sixth season of Love Island USA in 2024. Peacock introduced her as a 24-year-old college student whose hometown was Los Angeles and who was living in Bell Canyon, California.
Her season became a major turning point for the American version of the dating series, and Kateb emerged as one of its most recognizable personalities. Her romantic storylines drew attention, but so did her friendships, humor, fashion and willingness to speak openly about her feelings.
She initially developed a connection with Rob Rausch before their relationship inside the villa deteriorated. Her later pairing with Miguel Harichi became much more significant. The couple reached the finale together and finished second behind Serena Page and Kordell Beckham.
What followed proved that Kateb’s popularity was not limited to one television season. She built a substantial social media audience, signed professional representation and began turning her visibility into a career spanning entertainment, fashion, beauty and business.
How Old Is Leah Kateb?
Leah Kateb’s birthday is widely reported as August 11, 1999, which makes her 27 years old as of September 2026.
The date is consistent with Peacock identifying her as 24 when Love Island USA Season 6 began in June 2024. August 11 is also supported by public comments surrounding her relationship with Miguel Harichi, who has discussed asking Kateb to officially become his girlfriend on her birthday.
While the August 11, 1999 date is widely reported and consistent with the available timeline, no publicly accessible primary vital record has established her complete birth date. That distinction matters because celebrity biography sites sometimes repeat dates without identifying their original source.
Leah Kateb’s Persian Background and Early Life
Kateb was born and raised in the Los Angeles area in an Iranian immigrant family. Her parents moved to the United States from Iran, and she has spoken publicly about the work and resilience involved in establishing their lives in a new country.
Farsi was Kateb’s first language, making her Persian heritage an important part of her upbringing rather than simply a detail attached to her public identity. As her career has developed, she has increasingly incorporated that heritage into her work.
Animals were another defining part of her childhood. Kateb began horseback riding at around nine years old and has described horses as an important source of comfort throughout her younger years. By the time she appeared on Love Island, Peacock reported that her family had dogs, horses and pigs.
Her attachment to animals also influenced her diet. She had already been vegetarian for roughly 11 years when she entered the villa in 2024.
That interest continued after she became famous. Kateb has fostered numerous rescue dogs and appeared in a PETA adoption campaign with her dog Blue, whom she initially fostered before adopting.
Who Are Leah Kateb’s Parents?
Leah Kateb’s parents are publicly identified as Afshin Kateb and Mina Kateb. Both are Iranian immigrants, and their family background has become a recurring part of Leah’s public story.
Kateb has explained that her parents came to the United States in their twenties without speaking English and built a life through years of work. She has connected their experience to her own approach to professional opportunities and her desire to build something substantial from the platform she gained through television.
Despite Leah’s growing public profile, detailed personal information about her parents is limited. Claims about their occupations, finances or supposed wealth should therefore be treated cautiously unless supported by reliable documentation.
Kateb also has an older sister, Daria Kateb. Daria has had a notable influence on Leah’s fashion interests, particularly her appreciation for vintage designer clothing.
What Is Known About Leah Kateb’s Education?
Education is one area where online biographies frequently present more certainty than the available evidence supports.
When Peacock announced the Season 6 cast, it identified Kateb as a college student. That remains the strongest confirmed description of her education at the time she entered Love Island USA.
Various websites have subsequently claimed that she attended California State University, Northridge and studied political science. Those details have circulated widely, but reliable primary or institutional confirmation remains limited.
For that reason, it is more accurate to say that Kateb was publicly identified as a college student in 2024 rather than presenting a particular university, degree or major as definitively established.
Leah Kateb’s Life Before Love Island USA
Kateb was not a nationally recognized entertainment personality before joining Love Island USA. Her public profile essentially began with the series.
She has discussed having ordinary jobs before fame, including working at smoothie shops. Later profiles have also connected her with work in areas such as medical-device sales and quality control, although those employment details are less firmly documented than her television and post-show career.
Her interests before the show were already visible in the personality audiences later encountered on television. Horses, rescue animals, fashion and beauty were established parts of her life well before she became an influencer.
That distinction helps explain why some of her most successful post-show projects have felt connected to interests she already had rather than being unrelated celebrity endorsements.
How Leah Kateb Became Famous on Love Island USA
Kateb joined Love Island USA Season 6 as one of its original Islanders in June 2024.
Her early connection with Rob Rausch quickly became one of the season’s central storylines. Their relationship shifted after bombshell Andrea Carmona entered the villa, leading to one of the most discussed stretches of the season.
Kateb later developed a relationship with Miguel Harichi. Their connection strengthened as the competition progressed, and they ultimately reached the July 21, 2024 finale as a couple.
Serena Page and Kordell Beckham won the season, while Kateb and Harichi finished as runners-up.
Finishing second did little to limit Kateb’s popularity outside the villa. She became one of the season’s major social media breakouts, with viewers also embracing her friendship with Serena Page and JaNa Craig.
The trio became closely associated with the success of Season 6, while Kateb’s fashion choices generated additional attention. Her wardrobe included vintage designer pieces, and she later credited her sister Daria with helping shape that interest.
Leah Kateb and Miguel Harichi’s Relationship
Leah Kateb and Miguel Harichi met on Love Island USA, but their relationship continued after filming rather than ending with the competition.
Harichi later revealed that he officially asked Kateb to become his girlfriend on August 11, 2024, her birthday. Their relationship subsequently became one of the most closely followed romances to emerge from Season 6.
The transition from the villa to everyday life gave them a different challenge from the highly controlled dating-show environment. They nevertheless remained together through 2025 and into 2026.
By 2026, Kateb had confirmed that the couple were living together in California. Interviews from that year indicated that they had moved into their shared home around late 2025.
Marriage has naturally become a recurring subject in interviews because of the length of their relationship. Kateb and Harichi have publicly discussed their future, but no marriage or engagement has been formally announced as of September 2026.
They also have no publicly announced children.
Leah Kateb’s Career After Love Island
Kateb’s post-show career developed rapidly.
Soon after Season 6, she signed with United Talent Agency, giving her professional representation as interest from entertainment, fashion and consumer brands increased.
Her growing audience created opportunities typical of a successful creator, including sponsored campaigns and partnerships. Yet her career eventually moved beyond conventional influencer advertising.
She also returned to the Love Island franchise through Love Island: Beyond the Villa, the Peacock spin-off that followed several Season 6 personalities as they adjusted to life in Los Angeles after the show. The series premiered in July 2025 and included both Kateb and Harichi.
The project kept her connected to the franchise that introduced her to viewers, but by that point her professional identity was already expanding in another direction.
From Reality Star to Skylar Beauty Executive
Kateb’s relationship with fragrance company Skylar represents the clearest evolution in her career.
In 2025, she became the company’s Chief Creative Officer and “Re-Founder.” The position went considerably further than a typical celebrity endorsement.
Kateb became involved in fragrance concepts, packaging, campaign shoots and the broader creative direction of the brand. She has described wanting an active role in building products and shaping the company’s identity rather than simply appearing in advertisements.
Her first major signature fragrance with Skylar, Double Dates, launched in October 2025.
The collaboration also has documented commercial substance. Corporate filings concerning the arrangement disclosed a licensing agreement effective July 1, 2025 that included annual base compensation of $240,000, paid at $20,000 per month, along with potential royalties tied to qualifying sales.
Those figures describe terms of the disclosed business arrangement. They should not be interpreted as her total income or personal net worth.
Pomegranate Princess and Her Persian Heritage
Kateb brought her cultural background more directly into her beauty career with Pomegranate Princess, a Skylar fragrance launched in March 2026.
The product drew inspiration from her Persian heritage and the significance of pomegranates in Persian culture. Its timing around Nowruz further connected the launch with that background.
For Kateb, the fragrance also represented an opportunity to incorporate cultural representation into a commercial project. She spoke about wanting Persian and Iranian consumers to recognize something familiar and personal within the product.
That made Pomegranate Princess different from a conventional influencer fragrance. It connected her family history, public identity and emerging role as a beauty executive within the same project.
Forbes Recognition and Growing Creator Career
Kateb’s post-Love Island growth has also received recognition outside reality television.
She was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Media class, reflecting her transition from television contestant into a larger creator and business personality.
Forbes later included her among its 2026 Top Creators. Its published data attributed approximately 11.4 million combined followers to Kateb and estimated her creator earnings at $7.1 million for the ranking’s measurement period.
The distinction between those earnings and personal wealth is important.
An earnings estimate measures income generated during a defined period according to Forbes’ methodology. Net worth attempts to estimate the total value of someone’s assets after liabilities. They are not interchangeable figures.
What Is Leah Kateb’s Net Worth?
Leah Kateb’s exact net worth is not publicly confirmed.
Celebrity and biography websites publish substantially different estimates, often without enough documentation to establish how those figures were calculated. Some place her wealth around $1 million, while others offer much higher numbers.
The more credible financial information comes from Forbes’ estimate of $7.1 million in creator earnings for its 2026 Top Creators ranking and the publicly disclosed terms associated with her Skylar arrangement.
Neither figure establishes her personal net worth.
A reliable assessment would require information about assets, investments, taxes, business ownership, expenses and liabilities that is not publicly available. An exact net-worth figure should therefore be treated as an estimate rather than fact.
Fashion, Animals and Leah Kateb’s Public Image
Kateb’s appeal after Love Island has extended beyond her relationship and television appearances.
Fashion became part of her identity during Season 6, particularly her preference for vintage designer pieces. Labels such as Roberto Cavalli, Miu Miu and Jean Paul Gaultier have been associated with her wardrobe, while Kateb has credited Daria with helping cultivate her interest in vintage fashion.
Animals remain equally important to her public life. Her long history with horses predates television, and her rescue and fostering work continued after fame.
Those interests have helped give her public persona continuity. Rather than completely reinventing herself after Love Island, Kateb has built much of her creator identity around interests that were already present before the show.
Her Persian heritage has followed a similar trajectory. What Peacock initially mentioned as part of her background later became more visible through interviews, family discussions and projects such as Pomegranate Princess.
Leah Kateb’s Social Media Presence
Social media was crucial to turning Kateb’s Love Island exposure into a lasting career.
Her primary Instagram account is @leahkateb, while she uses @leah.kateb on TikTok. Both have become major channels for her fashion, beauty, lifestyle and partnership content.
Her growth after Season 6 illustrates how reality television increasingly functions as a starting point rather than the entire career for successful contestants. Kateb’s large following gave her commercial leverage, but her later work with Skylar provided a path toward building a business identity beyond sponsored posts.
Conclusion
Leah Kateb turned her appearance on Love Island USA Season 6 into a career that now extends well beyond reality television. Her relationship with Miguel Harichi remains an important part of public interest, while her Persian background, creator following and work with Skylar have become equally significant parts of her story.
From entering the villa as a college student to developing fragrances and taking on an executive creative role, her post-show career explains why interest in her has continued after Season 6 ended.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Leah Kateb?
Leah Kateb’s birth date is widely reported as August 11, 1999. Based on that date, she is 27 years old as of September 2026. Her age also aligns with Peacock identifying her as 24 when she joined Love Island USA in June 2024.
Is Leah Kateb Persian?
Yes. Kateb comes from an Iranian family, and her parents immigrated to the United States from Iran. Farsi was her first language, and she has increasingly incorporated her Persian heritage into her public and professional work.
Who are Leah Kateb’s parents?
Her parents are publicly identified as Afshin and Mina Kateb. Kateb has spoken about them moving from Iran to the United States in their twenties and building their lives after arriving without speaking English.
Are Leah Kateb and Miguel Harichi still together?
Yes. Kateb and Miguel Harichi remained publicly together in 2026. The couple met on Love Island USA Season 6, became officially boyfriend and girlfriend after leaving the villa and later moved into a home together in California.
What does Leah Kateb do for Skylar?
Kateb serves as Skylar’s Chief Creative Officer and “Re-Founder.” Her work includes fragrance development, packaging, campaigns and broader creative direction. Her projects with the company include Double Dates and Pomegranate Princess.
What is Leah Kateb’s net worth?
Her exact net worth has not been publicly verified. Forbes estimated $7.1 million in creator earnings for its 2026 Top Creators ranking, but that figure represents estimated earnings rather than her total personal wealth.
