Alexia Echevarria has made a big splash with her return to “The Real Housewives of Miami” on Peacock, sharing her life with viewers after the show’s eight-year hiatus. She recently married Todd Nepola and has been busy at work with her latest business venture Alexia + Frankie’s Beauty Bar in Surfside Beach.
We caught up with Alexia to learn more about the wedding, the business, the return to Real Housewives, and the group’s trip to Montauk this season.
Alexia and Todd tied the knot in December at the Eden Rock hotel in St. Barths, following a few canceled attempts. The wedding was first canceled because of Covid-19 shutdowns. Then sadly, her mom tragically died from Covid on what would have been the wedding day on August 25. A few months later Todd’s father suffered a stroke. So they decided to elope a few months later.
“We promised each other that we wanted to be married by the end of the year. We decided to elope and go to St. Barths,” she said.
She wore a Muse by Berta dress, paired with a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted Marielena headpiece, and walked down the aisle at sunset, meeting her groom. One of her favorite moments, “was when I closed my eyes, kissed and tossed my flower bouquet into the ocean while thinking of my mom and dad. They both loved flowers and the ocean. I could feel both of them right by my side.”
During the wedding, she said, “A beautiful tortoise came up, which is a very lucky sign.”
“We needed that moment, we had so many obstacles,” she continued. “It was a really tough year for us with a lot of loss and a lot of sadness. That’s why we wanted to just finish the year with something happy.”
This season, “RHOM” follows the cast to Montauk, when Larsa Pippen rented a house to launch her jewelry line. “We were excited to be there … I was happy that it was showcased because the Hamptons is beautiful,” she said.
“The first time I came to the Hamptons was for a wedding many, many years ago and I fell in love,” she continued, noting that she also came for a July 4th weekend one year with co-star Marysol Patton and spent time with New York Housewives Jill Zarin and Luann de Lesseps.
The show also chronicles Alexia’s beauty business. When the owner of a nail salon that she frequented was looking to sell, Alexia + Frankie’s Beauty Bar was born. She bought it as a business she could run with her son Frankie, who suffers from brain injury sustained in a car accident in 2011. The business started with nails, and now offers spray tans, blowouts, facials, massages, lashes — it’s an all service beauty bar.
She calls the spa her “little haven.” And while she has had a tough past few years, her secret, she said, is to, “Always be busy, mentally and physically… So I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself or get depressed. My life is really fulfilled and I love every part of it, even the lows.”
She wanted to create a self-care space for busy women on-the-go to feel gorgeous and confident. “Self care is super important,” she said. “I feel so strongly about it.”
When it comes to philanthropic endeavors, she shows support for organizations related to epilepsy, which her son Peter suffers from, and brain injury, including Holtz Children’s Hospital, which treated her son Frankie.
“We need to give back,” she said. “I’ve been so fortunate in my life.”
Alexia holds the pulse of Miami’s Latin culture and loves to spend time at her Miami Beach home.
A few of her top recommendations to go out in Miami include Seaspice, Carbone, Prime 112, Jaya at the Setai, Zuma, Novikov, and the Champagne Bar at Surf Club at the Four Seasons Surfside.
