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DDPro is a concierge hair, makeup and image consulting company led by Dee TrannyBear-Marino and Deja “The Lady Deja” Smith. DDPro’s aesthetic lies at the intersection of fashion, art, gender and performance; all of which continually influence this dynamic team. Their company perspective is driven by the co-founders trans, ethnic and national identities.
Deja is a descendant of American slavery and Dee is a recent American immigrant from Germany, working together to attain the great “American Dream.” DDPro combines all of their intersectional experiences to produce art that changes the narrative surrounding marginalized people, serves the queer community and shifts the beauty paradigm towards authentically inclusive and affirming media.
DDPro’s client roster is a mélange of unique tastemakers and ambassadors for change. They proudly work with actor/activist Laverne Cox, internationally acclaimed painter Kehinde Wiley, performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon and many other influential leaders across industries.
This is a transcript from our New Year, New You makeover interview during Trans Awareness Month. It has been edited and condensed for clarity by Solonje Burnett, Weed Auntie. Watch the teaser.
WA = Weed Auntie
DS = Deja Smith
DTB = Dee TrannyBear-Marino
WA: How did you get into hair, and what was your path to becoming a hairstylist?
DTB: It's so funny. Ever since I was a kid, I've always played in hair. My sister's dolls, I would change their hair. She would read me to filth. And then when I was in junior high, being that I was so different, I found refuge in hair.
Some of my closest friends were, like, the prettiest girls in the school, and I did all their hair. So hair was always in my life. And we lived in a really, really, small town. I went to school in the bigger city next to it. I found this salon and the owner said “oh, you give me the essence of a hairstylist. I can show you the ways.” And he gave me an apprenticeship, while I was going to school. And that's how it really clicked that I want to be a hairstylist. So I went to Berlin and did my education as a hairstylist.
WA: Oh, I love that, wait, Berlin?
DTB: I grew up in Germany in a very small town. So, it was really interesting being visibly different. In small towns, it's always stunts and shows. And that's why I knew I needed to leave and go somewhere – to a bigger city. I was always drawn to Berlin, because it is like the smaller version of New York. And there I definitely started finding myself. But when I came to NYC, it was a wrap.
WA: Why is it important to highlight + support our Trans siblings during Trans Awareness Month and every month?
DTB: I was gonna say, I'm like, it's important every month. But specifically when we have our holidays, it's really important simply because we are under attack. Celebrating us now is even more crucial than ever before and we deserve it.
If you think about it, we're always on the mood boards. We're never in front. That's why it's so crucial during this fascist administration to center and highlight our Trans siblings. You know what I mean? They try to erase us, but they can't. We have influenced the world since the beginning of time.
WA: As a hairstylist, who has inspired you?
DTB: Oh, wow. Oh, my God. Definitely a few. One of our friends, Oscar James, I've loved his work for so long. Then there’s Kim Kimble. JAWRA is a hairstylist right now that's really, like, killing it. There's so many hairstylists that I love. I'm not the gatekeeper kind of personality. I like to shout out a lot of folks because it's really incredible we’ve got to meet so many different artists. Also there's Carla Farmer and Tym Wallace – both really incredible hairstylists. Sometimes, in our industry, it can get so competitive that people don't like to necessarily acknowledge other folks. But to me, it's different. I really look up to so many hairstylists that do incredible work.
WA: That's perfect. Thank you so much. We love somebody who opens the door and holds it. Hell, yeah.
DTB: That's the way!
WA: Okay, who do you think is in desperate need of a makeover? Who would you looooooove to just sit down in a chair and fix up?
DTB: Aside from every conservative person in America. I mean, I would only touch her if she gives me millions of dollars, but Caitlyn Jenner is in desperate need of everything.
WA: I'm sorry, that is so true.
DTB: It is. It's a hot mess express, honey, okay? Even with all that money, you still lookin’ a nightmare, honey, okay.
WA: Last question, Dee, darling. Who is your dream client – could be living, dead, or currently on the roster?
DTB: No, I mean, for me, it's like, it would be a dream to work with Beyonce. Full stop. Even if I just color a wig for her, girl, give me one of your pieces and I'll do that. That would be a dream.
WA: I just wanna see that hair blowing in the wind.
DTB: Okay, period, absolutely.
WA: Alright, darling Deja. Deja, darling, what drew you to becoming a makeup artist?
DS: Wow, I was always an artist, and makeup was the thing that I snuck around and did when I was a child prior to transition. As an AMAB individual, I was raised very religious. Anything effeminate was highly disregarded and dangerous, not only in my household, but also in my community.
So my mother actually worked for Fashion Fair, and then she transitioned to becoming a police officer. When she was away doing 12-hour shifts, I would be in her makeup, playing and creating for myself these images. I don't know what made me think that I could do that or I should do that, but I wanted to apply cosmetics to myself. So as a child, I often got caught and reprimanded for doing so, but it was something I needed to do.
As I got older, being kind of a shy, reserved child and then teenager, I spent a lot of time in the library. Always in the creative arts section. One day I found Kevyn Aucoin's book ‘Making Faces” and that changed everything for me. The fact that you could transform who you are into somebody else, it's amazing.
WA: Hair and makeup is so relevant in queer culture, particularly for Trans people and drag queens. Can you just speak to the importance of makeup and being able to be yourself?
DS: For sure. Earlier on in my career when I was working, makeup was my armor. I would put on a lot. Maybe I didn't put it on or apply in such a beautiful way, but it was really my statement to the world that I wasn't scared and this is who I was and you were gonna respect me as the person that I was showing you as. Even though I didn't really have the nerve, the courage to maybe say that, my image was the statement that I was making, my assertion that I was who I said I was.
But now, having been Trans for quite a while at this point, navigating both trans spaces and cishet spaces, and maybe passing at some points, maybe not at others, having attempted to be stealth at times and not, I realized that makeup is a tool that I can utilize for defense, but it's also a tool that I can utilize to express who I am inside and also help other people express who they are with visual markers that other human beings might understand and may not. It is a gift to be able to give somebody the ability to fully express who they are and I love it for that reason.
WA: Thank you. She’s emotional over here. Why is highlighting and supporting our Trans siblings so critically important this month and every month?
DS: Definitely every month, this month because, this month during this unfortunate political regime, it's more important than ever to stand 10 toes down on the business of being fully authentic to who we are and being fully present in every space. It's beyond valuable to allow the world to see that we are real human beings with complex emotions and lives like everyone else and you need to be aware that we exist or else you will be easily swayed into eradicating us and that's not gonna happen. We're not going anywhere.
WA: Sounding like my favorite pageant queen. Just kidding.
DS: Where's my crown?
WA: I'm trying not to cry, so I'm just gonna laugh a little bit. Give her her tiara.
DS: Right? It's been so long. You already know.
WA: Next question is who inspires you most as a makeup artist or who are your favorite makeup artists in the space?
Yes, I would begin with Kevyn Aucoin because he was one of the first celebrity makeup artists that I knew of. Sam Fine, because he highlighted black women so beautifully and expressed our cultural relevance in beauty and grooming in such a gorgeous way that it really changed the culture.
Some of the lesser known artists who I really admire, and it's hard for me to say I admire anyone anymore, but I highly admire Fran Cooper who shifted the makeup world in the 70s and continues to work well into the 90s and 2000s. Also a major impact in the beauty world as well as my drag mother, Kelexis Davenport, who gave me the skillset to develop a craft for myself. So, mama, look at me now.
WA: Second to last question, who would you like to give a makeover? Who is looking just messy?
DS: Oh, God, that's a really hard question. I don't want to give anybody a makeover. The only people who need makeovers are people I would never touch. You know.
WA: That is a statement. Deja stayed Switzerland while Dee went off!
DTB: Yeah, someone has to do it. That bitch needs to be dragged.
WA: I love it. Last but not least, who is your dream client, if you could only choose one, and they can be living, dead, or currently on your roster?
DS: You know, at first I was gonna say I don't have a dream client. I do, but all of my current clients, all the talented people that I work with are already my dream clients.
I am very, very blessed and lucky to work with such an esteemed group of people, mostly femmes, non-binary people, even the men, but mostly the femmes really just do it for me.
I'm always inspired by how brilliant they are. They're change makers, they're risk takers, and that's something that just drives me forward. But if I could have my wish, I have two dream clients. Number one is Josephine Baker, my patron saint. And living, my forever first lady, Michelle Obama. I would love to work with you. Anytime. Just gloss? Sure, I got you.
WA: Okay. Just apply that gloss.
DS: Anything you want. Yes. I got you.
DTB: And you know, we got so close to doing them because Kehinde was supposed to do a family portrait of them. I remember. He said he would've used us to do their glam for it.
DS: I was so sad when that didn't happen. I was like, we gotta have Obamas.
WA: You never know, I still believe you might just get them.
WA: How did DDPro come to be? Tell us your story.
DS: Through our friend and amazing drag queen Harmonica Sunbeam. She brought us together to do her hair and makeup for her birthday show for her world-famous Sunday Tea Dance at Nueva Escolita, back in the day before it closed. It was an iconic nightclub in New York City and we were both nightclub girlies.
DTB: Young little kittens, honey.
WA: How long ago was that?
DTB: That was in 2010.
WA: And y'all just like met there? What broke the ice?
DTB: Well, Deja actually noticed me at the tea dance
DS: Correct!
DTB: Because I had just moved to New York two years before and I just kind of started dabbling into like queer nightlife. I was trying to find myself and she kind of noticed me right away just sticking out. (Laughs)
DS: For sure. I've always looked for charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent. And at the end of Harmonica's Tea Dance, she would always do a walk-off like a runway battle and Dee was this one obvious standout in that Black and Latinx nightclub.
Every week without fail there would be one unique person with a mohawk, white lipstick, glasses, black high-heeled Mary Jane shoes that would, with a very long ponytail in the back that would pump back and forth. And I'm just like, who the hell is this person? And it turned out to be Dee TrannyBear. Yes, God.
DTB: And it was so funny because when we did Harmonica together, we just, honestly, we worked so well together and it just made sense. Then we were like, oh, well we should give this a try.
DS: Yeah. I think Dee might've called me in
DTB: For a gig. Exactly. Yeah.
DS: And then I called Dee in for a job and then we like, okay, this is our flow really-
DTB: And then a really big gig happened and that's when it really became official.
DS: Yes, official. For sure.
WA: Who was the really big gig?
DS: Kehinde Wiley.
DTB: Correct!
DS: Yeah. Our first big gig in the nightclub because of Dee TrannyBear.
DTB: That's right. Because at this amazing little DL club, he came up to me and was like, what's going on here? And that's how we met.
WA: That's incredible. Because I remember back in the day when the Obama portraits came out y'all were there.
DS: We were.
WA: I literally was like, wait, who, how are they? Okay, Kehinde.
DTB: Yeah, we did his first women's exhibition, which was called Economy of Grace. And we got to do other models' hair and makeup. That was really a once in a lifetime kind of experience, especially for Trans and non-binary folks to do this. It was really, really special.
DS: And we were so early in our career.
DTB: Yes.
DS: Like we, there was no fear. We didn't know enough to be scared or have any parameters on what we could do. And he gave us free range to kind of express and create with him in tandem and with a world famous fashion designer as well.
DTB: But I really think that he loved that. He loved that we were living art in a way. You know what I mean? We just stood true to ourselves. And that's what I believe he appreciated the most. That's why he was like, oh no, I definitely want to work with y'all.
WA: I love that. Honestly, y'all are living art.
(Both DTB & DS laugh)
WA: Can you list some of your most iconic, well-known celebrity clients? Name, drop, honey. Go off!
DTB: Well, we started with Kehinde.
DS: Obviously Laverne Cox.
DTB: Correct. Our girl.
DS: Yes. Queen Latifah, Michelle Buteau, Angelica Ross, Billy Porter.
DTB: Sonny Houstin I've worked with. Oh God, I'm kind of blanking.
DS: Name it, claim it, honey.
DTB: Okay. Lord.
DS: A lot of people.
(WA laughs)
DS: Sheryl Lee Ralph. Jenifer Lewis.
WA: Yes, Queens!
DTB: Divas, honey. Okay.
DS: Divas.
DTB: Deja brought me in for Jenifer Lewis.
DS: Oh, that's right! Jenifer Lewis at Carnegie Hall.
DTB: So many, especially queer celebs like Michaela J Rodriguez, Joslyn DeFreece, Peppermint. Oh my God. Like there's so many. It's just a blessing to work with special folks for real.
WA: When did you start this New Year, New You campaign and why is it important to you?
DS: We started the New Year, New You campaign during the pandemic. It was an interesting time for us. First of all, I don't think either of us has stopped moving from the time we knew each other till then. Just trying to hustle. We live in New York City and we're artists and creatives in a place that is full of creative people in our same career path. So if you stop, you die. We definitely were also in survival mode.
DTB: Yeah.
DS: So to have this moment where the world is literally surviving and we are all kind of trapped at home together. I think many people, especially I can speak for myself, forgot about who I was. The concept of a New year, New you is for all of us to just remember that we can continue developing who we are. We don't have to be stagnant in where we were, you know, the year before, the day before, an hour before – you can always decide in the moment to change, to grow and to be a better version of yourself.
WA: Dee, is there anything you want to add?
DTB: The whole purpose of New Year, New You is really just to keep celebrating who you are and refresh that, right?
WA: The evolution of you.
DTB: Period. We never stopped growing. Don't ever forget that.
WA: What will the giveaway winner win?
DTB: Well, you get a makeover with us.
DS: Yes. And we call that the DDPro Experience.
DTB: Period.
DS: It's a very unique time just to kind of download who you are and allow us to kind of upload what we hear from you into the hair and makeup that we help you to create to take yourself into your next new year.
DTB: Exactly, enhancing what you already have, but making you feel even more proud of yourself and your beauty.
DS: Number one is to be you, because you are the best part of this whole makeover experience.
DTB: Oh, yeah. There's a gift bag!
DS: Yes. We love a goodie bag. So it'll always be a bunch of high end products from hair and makeup, as well as our friends at SASS will be donating some very delicious sumptuous treats for you.
DTB: Just a little something, you know.
Alexandra Jamieson is an artivist (artist + activist), creator of Fascism Tarot, Abortion Trading Cards, The Grift Deck and five books.
Follow her: Instagram | website
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity by Solonje Burnett, Weed Auntie. Watch the teaser.
WA = Weed Auntie
AJ = Alex Jamieson
WA: Can you tell us your name, preferred pronouns, and what you do for work/passion.
AJ: I'm Alex Jamison. I am she/her, and I am an artist of all stripes. Can't stop me from making things.
WA: Where did you grow up and how did your upbringing inform your thoughts around plant medicine and cannabis usage?
AJ: I grew up outside of Portland, Oregon on an old organic farm. My mom had an organic gardening radio show so I grew up knowing how to grow things in the ground. My mom was a hippie slash artist slash activist so I got all of that from her. We just always grew plants and used plants to help us with colds, coughs, compresses, all kinds of things. My whole life, I've always known that plants are medicine. So I never had any other belief than that cannabis was a plant that could be used for a variety of healing purposes.
WA: Has anyone ever judged you or labeled you for consuming weed whether in your family or professionally?
AJ: I've never received any judgment one way or the other for cannabis or weed. I'm very lucky, I mean, I grew up hippie central. So no, no judgment.
WA: You built a big portion of your life around being vegan. Writing multiple books on the subject and co-creating the film Super Size Me. Can you share a bit about the shift from veganism? How did it affect your identity?
AJ: You know, I actually became vegan because of health issues, and then I had to start eating animal products again because of health issues. The food and the plants that worked for me when I was 25 no longer worked for me when I was 35.
Along with that physical evolution, sadly, a lot of judgment came from the vegan community when I started eating meat again. I was ostracized. I was, I'll say, canceled. I was the subject of a lot of podcasts and articles saying what a terrible person I was. I got death threat emails when I started eating meat again because I was seen as a traitor, a murderer, et cetera. It was a really intense experience.
WA: How did you handle your removal from that community?
AJ: I had two good things going for me when I kind of came out as no longer vegan. One is that my family never judged me when I became vegan. They were just curious and supportive and when I started eating meat again they were curious and supportive. So incredible family AND I always had non-vegan friends. I had friends who were like, great, we don't care. And, you know, it's part, when anyone leaves a high demand group, I will say an intense religion or a cult or other high demand groups, it's really important to have people outside of that community who will support you.
WA: What's your favorite thing to cook or consume right now?
AJ: I mean, I love carbs. I love carbs so much. I was a vegan chef for several years and the first professional job that I got out of culinary school was as a vegan pastry chef so I've always loved baked goods. I love making pastries and cakes and it's just my favorite. I've never stopped loving making a good cupcake, a good brownie. I love dessert so much!
WA: I love that you are pastry or were a pastry chef specifically. Have you ever made infused treats?
AJ: Yes, I used to make myself batches of vegan cannabis butter. With Earth Balance, I think that's what that stuff is called. So it was basically margarine or butter with a bunch of chopped up cannabis, slowly heated on the stove. And I just kept it in the freezer. And when I needed to chill out, I would just make myself some toast, spread on some vegan cannabis butter, jam. Delightful.
WA: You’ve had a colorful career from holistic health counselor, gourmet natural foods and pastry chef, multibook author, watercolor and multimedia artist to activist – your evolution to me mirrors that of womanhood. How are you working with life's transitions?
AJ: Yeah, you could definitely see the undiagnosed Gen X ADHD creative just raw-dogging it through life! With that creative, supportive family came the confidence to try new things. But it has been very difficult to be a perimenopausal woman in this current reality. I’m very stressed out. My nervous system is shot. Dealing with serious hormonal issues, chronic migraines, a decade of insomnia. I do not use the word blessed lightly. But to have friends in cannabis has been a freaking goddess send at this time because I'm needing all the medicine to get through this.
WA: How did your relationship with your family and cannabis evolve?
AJ: My hippy mom was such a lightweight her entire life. Any substance had to be minuscule. She told this story about being an art student in fascist Spain in the 60s. And she accidentally ate a bunch of hash brownies because she didn't know they were filled with hash. She woke up two days later and so her only warning to me was be careful because you don't want to consume too much. And then when she was battling cancer in the last year of her life, I just brought her every tool I could find. My friend who made sauerkraut brought her sauerkraut. My friend who had organic weed brought that. So her fridge was filled with any kind of natural healing we could think of, including all her medicines.
WA: How was your relationship to cannabis and/or plant medicine shifted or evolved? What are your go to’s for relief and relaxation now?
AJ: I first started enjoying cannabis at the end of high school, and in college it was just pure party funsies with friends. And then I think I didn't have any for like a decade in the middle there. But these days I prefer gummies or tinctures because I can really control the dosage. I've become very sensitive in my later years. So I need just the right amount of the exact right formulation. So it's just, it's very, very demure.
I mainly enjoy a very, very low THC, high CBD gummy before bed. And loving a bath bomb with THC in it before bed to calm my body and anxiety before sleep which is so horrific that I have anxiety about going to sleep in case I have a bad night.
WA: I remember awhile back I intro’d you to the folks at Atmos to talk about the intersections of Cannabis and teenagers’ usage. How did you manage that relationship with your son? Any advice for other parents?
AJ: Yeah, I smelled my son consuming cannabis in his room at a very young age, you know, 14, 15 and discovered gummies in his room. I felt a lot of contradiction within myself, but he was very, very young. And the gummies I found were an insanely high dose. I was like, dude, this would put me in a coma. I've tried to be just very honest about the ‘here's the reality of these substances. And here's the reality of our family, our mental health history. And I want you to have all the knowledge, all the information. This is not a bad thing and you are not a bad person. And you need to be aware of how these substances affect different people. So let's do these things responsibly and let's keep communication open about it.’
Like not reverting to punishment, but instead like conversation. Though I’m sure the conversations with him felt like a punishment! However, he's doing great. He's a young adult now. And we do continue to have these conversations.
WA: Tell us a bit about what inspires your work today both online and in the physical form? Do you ever use plants to elevate your practice?
AJ: So much of the work I do now is anti-fascist activist art. It is pro-abortion. It is Antifa. Let's be real. Call me out.
Here I am! Where's the meeting? I'll bring vegan cookies!
I paint very angry headlines that I post on IG and Bluesky and apparently they make other people angry too. I encourage people to stand up and speak their voice and get in the street and also be activists. Like, that's most of why I do the art that I do online. I'm trying to encourage people to also stand up and not be afraid or be afraid and do it anyway.
And physically, I make a lot of art card decks. I made the Abortion Trading Cards, which actually includes a lot of plants and abortifacient herbs, some of which I grow on my roof. It’s a way to talk about the history of abortion, the facts of abortion.
My Fascism Tarot is about the warning signs of fascism, and the Grift Deck is about cult tactics and con artists in American society. I love making these series of cards using paint and found materials and collage. These decks give me a chance to kind of bring out a little bit of my gallows humor into my art.
I don't use any cannabis or plants when I'm making art. It's more of a soothing thing for me. It's not a creative thing for me. I know it is for a lot of people, but it's not that way for me. Seriously, I’ve tried it, but I'll just start 10 things and not finish anything.
WA: Speaking of popping edibles and getting NASA, who would be in your dream sweet sesh? Queer icons, people who are living, deceased, whoever.
AJ: Yes! I'm glad you didn't say one person because it can't just be one. So, it's a whole tea party. Jinx Monsoon, Bob the Drag Queen, Monet X Change, and Dolly Parton. Wouldn't that just be the best? That'd be so fun.
WA: That's such a key, oh my god, of course Dolly's in there. I mean. You gotta bring Dolly in.
AJ: Yes. Dolly is an inspiration for us all. All. Everybody. Everybody.
WA: Yes. That was a list, I love it. You came prepared.
AJ: That was the one question that I could remember. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I know exactly.
I know the answer to this. So good.
WA: What’s your favorite thing to do high?
AJ: I love to clean! I love to clean my house. I'm so good at it. I'm so good at cleaning when I'm high.
WA: Going back to your activism, gathering community and inspiring them, are there any groups or individuals who you think are doing the work that we should follow?
AJ: I'm gonna have to shout out Brigid Alliance, which is the organization that sales of the Abortion Trading Cards helps to fund.
They help people travel to get abortion care if they live in a ban state, and they do incredible work. They help so many people. What they do is not only important, but it's very tricky. I'm just so impressed with the work that they do.
WA: Can you tell us a bit more about the Brigid Alliance? Are they national? How does that work?
AJ: Brigid Alliance is a national organization named after Saint Brigid, an Irish saint whose miracle was an abortion. She waved her magic wand over a pregnant lady and boop, it went away.
WA: Oh, wow.
AJ: Most Irish people don't know that!
WA: No way.
AJ: Yes.
WA: No way.
AJ: Yeah.
WA: I have to look that up immediately.
AJ: Look her up.
WA: That's crazy.
AJ: I know, right?
WA: Okay, give it up for Brigid.
AJ: Give it up for Brigid.
WA: So do you have anything coming up that you want to share with community, any workshops or events? And if not, what are ways folks support you?
AJ: I am currently working on my next deck of cards, hopefully to be out by the end of the year, called Propaganda Poker, which teaches media literacy in the age of all this nonsense. But really, people can check out the Abortion Trading Cards or check out my other artwork support at my website, alexandrajameson.art, or following me at deliciousalex on Instagram. Get yourself some abortion trading cards. I give 10% of profits to help fund the Bridget Alliance. And it's a very cool, very weird, very Gen X, very goth girl deck of art cards.
WA: Thank you so much Alex!
