Jools Lebron is an American

TikToker TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. Her August 2024 videos about being "demure" at the workplace went viral and acquired several million views, with multiple celebrities, companies, agencies, and brands using the phrase in their online marketing and social media posts. She attracted further coverage after appearing on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' and after unrelated parties tried to trademark phrases related to the phrase. "Demure", popularized by Lebron, became Dictionary.com's word of the year in 2024.

Career

Lebron worked as a cashier at Mariano's in Illinois. She posted make-up tutorial videos and posted content of her

Bratz Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment, which debuted in 2001. The four original 10-inch (25 cm) dolls were released on May 21, 2001 — Yasmin (Latina), ...

doll collection to TikTok. In May 2023, she partnered with Patrick Starrr on a beauty campaign. On August 2, 2024, Lebron uploaded a 17-second video titled "How to be Demure at Work" to TikTok, which went viral on the platform. A further video, featuring Lebron giving tips on how to behave that way at work, also went viral; by August 20, the two videos had amassed over 7,000,000 and 34,000,000 views respectively. Celebrities including

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She began her career as a child, appearing in commercials and the direct-to-video film '' An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success'' (2015). She rose ...

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

Joe Jonas Joseph Adam Jonas (born August 15, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the pop rock band the Jonas Brothers, alongside his brothers Kevin Jonas, Kevin and Nick Jonas, Nick. The group released their ...

and

Penn Badgley Penn Dayton Badgley (born November 1, 1986) is an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Dan Humphrey in The CW teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012) and Joe Goldberg in the Netflix psychological thriller series ''Y ...

have made social media videos using the audio bits from Lebron's original videos. Companies, agencies, and brands including

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

have also used the phrase in their online marketing and social media posts. By August 25, 2024, her following had grown to two million people. In a subsequent TikTok, she announced that she was able to pay for her

gender transition Gender transition is the process of affirming and expressing one's internal sense of gender, rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. It is a recommended course of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, providing impro ...

due to the success of her videos. On August 19, 2024, Lebron made an appearance as a guest on ''

''.

"Very demure, very mindful"

In August 2024, Lebron's catchphrase "very demure, very mindful" became widespread on TikTok. The verbal trend based on the satirical phrase is believed to mock "influencer trends like the 'clean girl' aesthetic", according to ''The Independent'', and involved participation from beauty brands.

TMZ ''TMZ'' is an American entertainment-focused tabloid news organization owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested ...

reported that a man from

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

filed to trademark Lebron's catchphrase with the intention to use it for marketing, promotion, and advertising. Following this incident, and several other separate incidents where individuals unrelated to Lebron attempted to file trademarks related to the word 'demure', she filed for two herself.

Personal life

Lebron is a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

of Puerto Rican heritage. She stated in 2024 that watching online content made by transgender social media influencers

Gigi Gorgeous Gigi Loren Lazzarato Getty, known professionally as Gigi Gorgeous, is a Canadian YouTuber, socialite, actress, and model. In 2008, Lazzarato began uploading video blogs onto streaming platform YouTube. Her videos achieved popularity and establi ...

, La Demi, and

Nikita Dragun Nikita Nguyen (born January 31, 1996), known professionally as Nikita Dragun, is an American internet personality, YouTuber, make-up artist, and model. Early life and education Nguyen was born on January 31, 1996 in Belgium and raised in Sprin ...

helped her

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lebron, Jools Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American women American people of Puerto Rican descent American TikTokers American transgender entertainers American transgender women Hispanic and Latino American entertainers Internet memes introduced in 2024 LGBTQ people from Illinois LGBTQ TikTokers Mass media people from Chicago Puerto Rican transgender people Retail clerks Transgender women entertainers Viral videos United States trademark law Hispanic and Latino American mass media people