“Very demure, very mindful” that trendy phrase that’s all over social media is credited to TikTok content creator known as Jools Lebron online. It began when Lebron posted a TikTok earlier this month entitled “How to be demure at work”, which currently stands at 7.5 million views and her following has grown to almost 2 million. Since then the trend has taken off with big names like actress/singer Jennifer Lopez and even the White House participating.The transgender Puerto Rican content creator has been posting beauty-related content including makeup tutorials, “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos, and discussing being plus-size and a trans Latina before going viral. As a result of the massive success of “Demure”, the Chicago resident has been given her flowers including being invited as a guest in the late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week with guest host RuPaul where she exclaimed: “Demure-ity is my purity.”
“I grew up an influencer kid, like, I watched all YouTube and all kinds of stuff like that,” she told US Weekly. “Seeing them do the trend, and just welcome in someone that has loved them, and follow me back and show me my flowers has been everything.”
The key to the trend’s appeal is the light-hearted, playful way in which it pokes fun at the modesty and propriety that is often associated with women’s gender norms. Lebron shared with CBS Mornings what demure means to her: “We’re all like in this; we’re unified, like nothing has to be so serious. Nothing has to be so aggressive. Like everything could just be very cute. Where, you know, we don’t do too much. We only do a little bit. I’m not crazy with it. I’m very demure.”
On top of the exciting opportunities this poderosa has in store, the rising social media influencer revealed in a recent post that she is now able to pay for gender confirmatin surgery:
“One day, I was playing cashier and making videos on my break. And now, I’m flying across country to host events and I’m going to be able to finance the rest of my transition.” With the costs of care for one person often ranging between $25,000-$75,000—according to the Human Rights Campaign— this is a testament to just how popular this trend is allowing her earn enough through the video’s success.
Along with her online popularity, it is important to note the empowerment of a trans Afro-Latina being celebrated and credited for being authentic and true to herself as an online figure. She shared with CBS Mornings how her start on TikTok introduced to an entire community of other trans and plus size women like her: “When I did start making TikToks, I found more girls like me. I found girls who are plus size, who are trans, who are having the same experiences that come uniquely with that set of combinations.”
She’s now found a larger community and has since left her job at the grocery store to continue on the influencer path. She hopes the “demure, mindful” concept goes beyond just meme status, but that it sends a message of being considerate of others:
“We didn’t come to be messy and this applies to everything: your appearance, your mindset. Be mindful of what you think. Be mindful of your actions, and be demure, modest and reserved. That doesn’t mean a race, a color, an ethnicity, a finance. ‘Demurity’ is being the most thoughtful, mindful version of yourself,” she told US Weekly.