Very demure, very mindful': how Jools Lebron went viral and her life fell apart

"Jools Lebron was in her car, taking a break from her job in a supermarket, when she posted the TikTok video that would change her life. You see how I do my makeup for work? she told her followers that day in August 2024. Very demure, very mindful A lot of you girls go to the interview looking like Marge Simpson and go to the job looking like Patty and Selma. Not demure."

"At first, it was like any other video, she says, on a video call from her home in Chicago. A few likes, a couple of comments. But then I started noticing the numbers moving faster than usual faster than anything I had seen before. I remember refreshing my phone and just staring at it like: Wait what is happening?' Within days, she was a meme."

"“You see how Earth looks in space?” Nasa wrote on X. It’s very demure, very mindful. Joe Biden’s White House X account posted: Cancelling the student debt of nearly 5 million Americans through various actions. Very mindful. Very demure. Khloe Kardashian repeated the phrase for TikTok while getting her own makeup done: Do you see how I’m sitting here, very ladylike, very mindful, very demure."

"This wasn’t Lebron’s first glimpse of fame. Then 30, she had previously had some success as a YouTube makeup artist, after transitioning in her early 20s and going online in search of a new community. A fan of the trans makeup artist Nikita Dragun, she had decided to make her own videos. I felt like I’d never seen a trans woman that looked like me, that was a bigger woman, that even came from my background, she recalls."

A makeup video posted from a car during a break at a supermarket quickly gained attention after initial likes and comments. View counts began rising faster than before, leading to widespread meme status. The phrase “very demure, very mindful” spread beyond the creator, appearing in posts from major public accounts and celebrities. The creator had earlier built an audience as a YouTube makeup artist after transitioning and searching for community online. She made videos that reflected her experiences, including personal stories about dating, coming out, and identity. Sharing those stories alongside makeup helped drive growing engagement and recognition.

Read at www.theguardian.com