Jools Lebron: The Trans Latina Diva who Made ‘Demure’ the Word of 2024

“One day you might be working as a cashier, and one day you might be in the New Year living your dreams, living your best life. Be very demure. Don’t give up on yourself,” says TikTok sensation Jools Lebron.

Thanks to Jools Lebron, the Puerto Rican content creator, whose “very demure, very mindful” videos went viral this summer, “demure” was made the word of the year. LatiNation’s Andrew Tamarkin sat down with her to learn more about her rise to social media stardom (what was demure about it and what wasn’t), and what we can expect from her next.

Andrew Tamarkin Can you tell me who you are, where you’re from, and where your family is from?

Jools Lebron: I’m Jools Lebron. I’m from Chicago, Illinois, born and raised in Humboldt Park. My family is 100% Puerto Rican. They’re from Sidra, Puerto Rico, and my dad’s family is from Caguas, Puerto Rico. I’m, you know, a social media queen. I’ve been doing social media for 11 years now. Only in the past two years is really when I started doing anything fancy. I’m the middle child. I’m a glam diva. I always grew up being a fierce queen, playing with my Bratz dolls, playing with my Barbies. So, I was always destined to be the diva.

AT I love that. Oh, my God. Bratz dolls. That really takes me back. So, when did you start making content?

JL I started making content in 2013 as a makeup journal and Monster High doll review channel. And I was doing that for years. Eventually…around the beauty guru era on YouTube, I started making more beauty content. You know, my grandma owned a salon, so I always grew up wanting to do hair, and I had gone to cosmetology school, so it felt very natural to me to do make-up. That’s what I’ve been focusing on since 2015 now. [It’s been] almost ten years.

AT Do you feel like this year was the year things really blew up, or have you been blowing up for a long time?

JL Well, I had a million followers when ‘demure’ happened, so I already had some notoriety on social media, but never in this way. It blew up in a way that was so, like, crazy and unexpected.

AT I mean, it really did. Like everyone that I know was saying ‘so demure, so mindful’. Like, me too!

JL It was crazy. Even like today, I saw some girl making a video and she’s like, “We’re going to do some demure Christmas cookies.” I’m like, it’s four months later. And that’s so crazy.

AT It’s sticking around. It was made the word of the year, Jools. It’s because of you!

JL It’s crazy. As someone who does trends on TikTok, or participates in them I should say, it feels like it was my take on it, but often I forget like, girl, you were the one who started it. You were the demure queen.

AT Okay. Question. When did you first hear the word demure?

JL It had to be between watching Paris is Burning, watching a Trixie Mattel video, or … I fell into a deep dive with vintage Barbies this summer. It was something about [being] modest, demure, you know, like shy, and … I was like, oh my God, Barbie, imagine my big chunky Bratz ass selling Barbie, trying to be demure. I said it as a joke, but it kind of became a [thing] and I just kept saying it.

AT Was there a celebrity in particular that used your trend that made you feel like, this is a huge deal for you?

JL For me, it was definitely Lindsay Lohan. They were on the set of Freaky Friday 2. I love the original Freaky Friday, and I was like, omg, this is everything. Like Lindsay was my diva when I was a kid, so that was one of my favorite moments, period.

AT Did Lindsay reach out to you at all afterward, or did you guys talk?

JL You know what? Even if she did, like, at one point I stopped checking my DMs because I got scared. I was so overwhelmed. I was like, is this real? Maybe she did. I should check.

AT Wow. So, when you think back on your year of 2024, what was demure and what was not demure?

JL Honestly, the first seven months of this 2024: not demure, sorrow, depression, anger, poor, upset, in debt, bad skin, bad wigs, bad clothes, bad outfits, car breaking down, working as a cashier. Simultaneously, my life started getting better at the exact same time [demure went viral]. And then this happened, and it made my life so much better, too. So, yeah, very demure: the last four months of 2024. The first seven: evil, tainted, dark-sided, so scared of it.

AT It’s kind of like there was an Act I (not demure), but then we came out victorious in Act II.

JL Yeah, it was very Wicked. We didn’t come out on top at first, but in the end we defied gravity. We really defied gravity.

AT I think Wicked was pretty demure.

JL It was very demure. And mindful.

AT So, 2025: how can we be more demure looking into this new year?

JL You have to just be more open to every single thing that comes to you in the new year. Take opportunities. Take risks. Don’t give up on yourself. Always believe in yourself. No one else is going to believe in you [the way] you’re going to believe in yourself. You know, one day you might be working as a cashier, and one day you might be in the New Year living your dreams, living your best life. Be very demure. Don’t give up on yourself.

AT Between the beginning of this year and the end of this year, it went from ‘not demure’ to ‘very demure’. How do you find that belief in yourself?

JL I had to start believing in myself in less of an imaginary way and more [in] a realistic way. Like, if I want content to be my dreams, [if] I want to be influencer, I have to upload the content. I can’t just dream about it. Like, dreams are only dreams unless you take action.

AT What makes influencing a dream of yours?

JL It might not even necessarily be influencing. I think it’s just more so being someone in the public space. Because, like, anyone can sell you a face wash, you know what I mean, but being someone that someone sees themselves in, someone that might need that for themselves to follow their own dreams is very important, you know?

AT Do you feel like your audience is getting something different because it’s you who is making the content?

JL I mean, yeah. Realistically, there’s only one me, you know? A lot of my comments [will] be like, they wish that they knew someone like me, or they were friends with someone like me. I’m not such a cookie-cutter person, and I think some of the opportunities I’ve gotten aren’t typically given to people who look like me. So, I think that that makes people feel like, okay, if she can do it, I can do it.

AT Because you bring that diva. You bring that queen energy.

JL Yeah! Always believe in yourself. You don’t have to change your diva standards just because you’re not in the right place. Fight for what you want, you know what I mean? The real diva fights for what she wants.

AT It’s kind of funny. The things that we hide from, the things that we have to make peace with: those are the things that make us successful. Like, the gayer I get, the more opportunities I get.

JL I feel that. I feel like when I think about it too much, I mess up my own karma. I feel like when I just do what I know best and trust my intuition, that’s when things come to me. That’s why whenever I force things, it never works.

AT It’s true. What goals do you have moving forward? You made this huge jump into the public eye. Will there be a post-demure demure girl?

JL Well, of course. I think people are excited to see what comes. Going into 2025, I think that people are going to be very happy to see me doing a lot of different things that might not necessarily be just on their phone—on different types of medias, different types of formats. There’s a lot of good things coming for me, but like, it might not be what people are expecting. And I think that that’s going to be great.

AT You’re going to surprise us.

JL Oh, definitely.