NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS
NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS
NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS
NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS
NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS
NEWSLETTER FOR EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS
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.
MAKING SPACE TO CREATE A MINDFUL LIFE
Tara Rook grew up immersed in Tibetan Buddhist practice, surrounded by teachings that emphasized compassion, awareness, and the art of being present. Over the years, she has continued to learn from a wide range of teachers, traditions, and life experiences. She began sharing her practice through leading guided mediations, hosting & participating community wellness events & retreats around the world, creating immersive visual art and ambient music as engaging tools for your meditative journeys.
Love Land, Tara’s virtual mediation studio, was born from her wish to create a space where all of that wisdom could meet—a sanctuary not tied to any single religion or philosophy, but open to everyone. A place where mindfulness, creativity, and community come together to nurture peace, alignment, and connection. Love Land is both personal and collective: it’s the sanctuary Tara longed for on her own journey, and now it’s here for you too.
This is a full transcript from a live interview for The Sweet Spot. It has been edited and condensed for clarity by interviewer + community healer, HIERO. Watch a part of our interview.
H = HIERO
T = Tara Rook
H: Tell us your name, preferred pronouns, and what your calling is.
T: My name is Tara Rook, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. My calling in life is to help as many people as possible, whether that's through meditation or the arts, different types of forms of healing like body work, energy work, and to help people be in the present moment. I hope to guide them out of their daily suffering. Whatever that means in their life, to bring them to a moment of peace and calm and presence.
My meditation studio, Love Land, is a place to create a mindful life. My music, Just Milk, is an electronic music project where I produce and compose electronic music. I sing over both ambient and experimental beats. I curate DJ sets and curate gatherings as well.
And then finally, I have my artwork, which I either use for the different elements I have, like the meditation studio, meditation offerings, designing things to help my mission. And I also sell art prints and have commission-based work.
Tara at COMMUNE, where she hosts a monthly Meditation Club
H: What were your family’s views on healing practices outside of the Western context and specifically plant medicines?
T: That's such a good question. This is something I've been thinking about a lot in terms of healing. I wasn't raised to think of meditation as healing. I was raised to think of it as a practical tool in your daily life; as practical as brushing your teeth or drinking water. It’s something that you just do–every day. However, there are definitely healing benefits to meditating and different styles of meditating. But growing up was never seen as a healing element.
As for my family, we didn't really practice a lot of alternative medicine growing up. I would say we had a lot of very nourishing food in my home. We weren't really allowed to drink a lot of soda or eat really unhealthy foods. I had a diet of vegetarianism, which was my own calling as well. Influenced by my two older sisters, I started at age nine. But I would say just being exposed to alternative modalities of, maybe it's healing, or practical practices like meditation already just naturally expanded me. Growing up Tibetan Buddhist, I was always around it.
It's really hard to even think of any sort of difference that my life would have been if I hadn't. It just exposed me to this different world in general, this different alternate reality than we have in Western society. That it's really hard to even see a separation sometimes of how body and mind work together.
H: What advice do you give to people who say they “can’t meditate”?
T: When someone says they “can't” or “don't” meditate. Yeah, I feel like I “can't” is more of the word that I hear. I really try to encourage them to practice for like two to three minutes because a lot of times meditation is not what people think it is. It's not even what you might think it is after doing it a couple of times.
The act of meditating is the time you choose to sit and train your mind to be present. Sometimes you get these moments of clarity or bodhicitta, an enlightened mind, which is essentially a flash of stillness or a flash of being completely awake. You might start to enter the state of samadhi, or bliss, but the actual meditation is the time you spend training your mind to be present in whatever way you choose to train that in. Whether it's focusing on the breath or focusing on a part of the body while doing a body scan or focusing on a sound.
So if you can just sit for two minutes and focus on your breath, even if you have a thought that comes up during those two minutes, that's okay. Just come back, focus on the breath. There, you meditated.
H: Why do you think so many people feel that meditation is inaccessible to them?
T: I think a lot of people are just scared to sit with themselves.
I think a lot of people are used to being distracted. You know, this isn't something that's new. It's not because we have more technology now. No, this is why meditation has been around for thousands of years, because humans have always been distracted by something. This isn't like a new phenomenon. This is a practical tool for any state of where our society is, whether we have phones to distract us or not. But I think ultimately, we are really scared of being able to sit with ourselves, to sit with the thoughts that come up, the feelings, to not react to things. Even an itch on your body, to choose to sit through that and sit through the discomfort is such a big challenge that people don't want to face.
Why would we face that? Because ultimately, when you are able to sit through the pain and suffering, you can cultivate a life of more joy. You can cultivate a life of more love and kindness, which are not things that don't magically appear. They're always there. You just have to get through the gunk to let them shine out.
H: Although oftentimes, our biggest inspirations and realizations come from a place of boredom, how do you engage people enough to get them to see the value in sitting through a 30-minute meditation session?
T: It's really important to guide someone through things like how to sit correctly, and how to land into their body. Having that somatic relationship is so important. Integrating things like more mindful-based practices like walking, meditation, or yoga, or movement, or even a little bit of dance can help. It's a huge somatic bridge to get someone to settle their body into meditation. Art is like a key because there is a lot of visceral and somatic reaction to artwork and music. Whether you're super tapped into that or not, it's already there. And I think healing modalities like Thai body work or energy work are really on that bridge.
Having a guide or a teacher is so important in that sense of being able to remind people you can stay here, you got this, you can settle your body right now. Accessibility is one of the things that I hope to grow in the space with my virtual studio. I know that the people who show up regularly to practice don't have that community around them where they are. You don't even need a computer. You can use a phone and, like, put on the meditation and settle in.
H: What is your relationship with cannabis? Has it evolved?
T: I've gone through phases in my life where I use it more, whether it's for specific intentional purposes or just consuming it more for fun or leisure. And I've used it topically a lot as well, especially for like physical ailments. I have found that as I get older, I tend to lean away from cannabis in my day-to-day.
Other plant medicines are something that I'm exploring more and more every day. Like right now, I'm cutting caffeine out. I love using what I already know with plant medicine and my relationship with it in the past, which is learning from trying different plants that something might energize me more.
A lot of it is understanding where I'm at in my life and if I know it's going to help or hurt whatever my situation is. So yeah, I would say my relationship with plant medicines is always developing and always growing where I can integrate them more into my life for different purposes. With cannabis, it's the same.
H: Does consuming cannabis hurt or aid in your meditation practice?
T: I find that, not that it hurts, but that it's not necessary. I think that this also goes back to my childhood roots with meditation where I was taught to not combine any substances with meditation. So for a very long time, for I guess it would be like 16 years of my life before I first started using cannabis, that my meditation practice never incorporated that. Since that time I was starting to use cannabis socially as a younger person into my adulthood and also not getting the best quality of cannabis at that time, maybe not really knowing much about what I was using. It just never was something that I weaved together.
However, I have found there have been times where I've used cannabis and have gone into amazing, deep relaxation states that have been so transformative. While that's not like a sitting meditation practice, it is a time where I have found really, really transformative experiences by using cannabis, being still, focusing on my breath, doing body scans, and just going really deep.
H: What other plant medicines do you reach for to go deep? What is your favorite way to consume plant medicines for daily practical use?
Similarly to cannabis, with mushrooms, whether that's psychedelic or not psychedelic, I’ve had experiences that do really help me to drop in. I've explored tea ceremonies or like cacao ceremonies where you're really able to sit with the plants and feel that shift. Plants can help with that bridge and that integration as well.
But, yeah, I love brewed stuff like cacao, tea… Oh, capsules and tinctures I like a lot too.
H: Who would be in your dream elevated meditation sesh? People who are living, deceased, whoever.
T: Georgia O'Keeffe, David Lynch, Jeff Buckley, Bjork, David Bowie, Frank Ocean. Mm-hmm. Honestly, my family, I would love them, like my parents and my sisters. Debussy would be cool too, like Claude Debussy, like what's his mind like? You know, being able to sit with someone like that.
H: So you’re an ambient sound DJ, a meditation guide, a visual artist, a community leader, and so much more! What is the thread that you believe ties all of these paths together?
T: The thread is connection. Let me just say, if I could only do one thing, it would be to teach meditation. So, that is the thread. Helping people to connect to themselves, to let go, to be present, to grow, to expand.
H: What are some challenges you’ve faced in bringing your offerings to life? What are some ways that you've circumvented this to be able to sustainably and consistently give to your community, as you do?
T: Some obstacles and challenges, definitely financial. Money, that's always a big, big challenge in community work. It’s kind of getting out of that trapped mindset of I don't have enough money to do that. There's money out there and it's there for you. You just have to be open to receiving it and trusting that you're going to use it for something that's good and to make an impact. Another thing is focus. Holding a vision for what you want is super important and to be able to come back to that, but knowing as well that you can rest in between it and you don't always have to go, go, go.
I love flyering and in-person networking and physical marketing tactics. I have a whole list of community boards all around New York. Doing pop-ups is also really great. Obviously you can make sales there too but you're also networking and marketing yourself and building brand awareness which has helped a lot is overcoming the obstacles that i mentioned.
H: What’s next for Love Land and your personal offerings through Tara Rook Studios? Is there anything else you would like to emphasize?
T: Next for Love Land is continuing to develop this virtual platform where meditation can feel really accessible and you can connect in community and with the teachers. Something that I would love to really start building is more of the arts element, like building a music program for meditation music and ambient music that is directly aligned with Love Land. Then, eventually, finding a brick and mortar place to be able to fold everything together in a physical realm. So hopefully that's in a couple years, location TBD. Right now, I'm really pushing for more like pop-up sanctuaries, which I'm calling them where people can come listen to ambient music and be in connection. So those are things, and just continuing to keep building in my mission of Love Land being a place to create a mindful life.
Stay in touch: Follow Tara on Instagram | Join Love Land | Explore Upcoming Events
