The most effervescent TikTok star is undoubtedly Deanna Giulietti. Everyone’s favorite OOTD queen — the one and only CEO of the OO-TA-DAH — is continuing to make a name for herself on and off TikTok. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Deanna about her new limited version of Conair’s Jumbo and Super Jumbo Ceramic Hot Rollers, which are available as of October 1.
“It was my New Year’s resolution this year to be better with hair, like in general. I was like, I no longer want to spend the $80 on blowouts anymore. I’m done. I was doing blowouts whenever I had a musical theater audition. I would go and do an $80 blowout and I was like, this is crazy. I need to find a way to do that at home. I’m doing everything at home now. I found a way to do my nails at home. I’m doing my makeup at home. I talk to my friends at home. I can do this,” Deanna explained.
@deannagiulietti Part two it’s HAPPENING
She continued: “So everyone got the Dyson for Christmas, and I was like, I’m not going to drop this money on the Dyson. No one knows how to use it. Everyone’s getting their hair trapped in it. Let me just try out the hot rollers. On the very first try, I filmed it because I was like [it’s] also good content. I filmed it, and it came out a better blowout than I’ve had at so many different salons on the first try. And it went viral immediately. Everyone was like, oh, it’s easy to use. She’s using it first time out of the box, and it’s a blowout that I can have for $30. The Dyson’s like $500. I was like, I’ve hit the jackpot. I was like, guys, this is it. I have the secret to hair right here.”
Hot rollers have been a tried and true hair gift since rising in the beauty industry in the early ’80s. Deanna will admit upfront that “hair, in general, is hard.” However, she has one tip when using Conair hot roller that she never forgets.
“I will say the one thing I found is when you use their hot rollers and you go for the clip, you want to clip it top down. Does that make sense? And it will hold it high off your face because I was making that mistake beginning,” Deanna revealed. “I would just like put it on, but that hot roller’s hot. So if it rests on your face, it’s going to be hot on your skin. You’ll get a red mark. So the best tip I have is when you roll it, make sure when you’re clipping it, you go top down, it’s just going to secure it up.”
In addition to TikTok, Deanna has big acting aspirations. “I have always wanted to be on Broadway. That was it for me. I came out of the womb singing. That’s just it. I went to school for opera, and when I transitioned into the city, I was doing musical theater. I was doing operas, and that was kind of my life. Before I even touched social media I was doing Jersey Boys on Norwegian Cruise Lines. And then COVID shut down cruise ships, rightfully so.”
After the cruise ships were shut down, Deanna found herself at a standstill — until she found social media as an outlet. While balancing a social media career, Deanna has her eye on Broadway. “I went headfirst into social media from there and found a connection with people and fashion and hair and makeup because I’ve always had an affinity for it because of musical theater. It all ties back to people who started to love my large personality, but I got that from theater,” she told HollywoodLife. “That’s all a part of it. My dream role is to be in Chicago. I want to be Roxie Hart. I want to be in SIX the musical. I want to be Elphaba. My dream is to be on Broadway 100 percent.”
Deanna admitted that showing her audition process on TikTok is how her Conair partnership began. “I would get ready for my auditions, and I would do my Conair, and I would show everyone me getting ready to do my self-tapes,” she explained. “I started putting them on YouTube, what I can share on YouTube. You can’t really put the scenes of the actual show on YouTube. But I show my process just for aspiring actresses, actors, anyone out there who’s like, okay, what is it really like? And it’s like, oh, it’s hundreds and hundreds of auditions. That’s really what it’s like. So it’s finding the joy in the part you can control, which is getting ready, choosing the outfit, getting your makeup done, and then you just keep putting yourself out there.”
As Deanna’s amassed over 1 million followers on TikTok, she’s become well aware of how the platform has made her more visible as an actress. Deanna revealed that before the pandemic, she was the top choice for Ariel in a musical theater production of Footloose.
“The casting directors took me out in the very finals and they said, ‘Hey, Deanna, you’re our number one choice for Ariel. But you’re not a name, so we can’t cast you. I need you to work this year on becoming a name.’ I remember being like, ‘What? I made it this far. I’m all the way here. Now I need to be a name.’ This was 2018, so before I had even touched social media. As soon as COVID hit and that was the only thing I could do, I remembered him saying that and I was like, I’m going to take to social media. I’m going to put myself out there. I’m not going to wait for people to cast me anymore. You can only wait for so long until you have to start advocating for yourself and putting yourself out there,” she revealed.
Deanna recently attended New York Fashion Week, which she called a “phenomenal” experience. “Honestly, I think the best part of Fashion Week is everyone just in the city. I met so many people in line for shows,” Deanna said. “My favorite Instagrammers, my favorite TikTokers, my favorite designers, I met them waiting in line for Rebecca Minkoff’s show, and then we got to enjoy the show together. And then just photographers on the street. I was outside Alice & Olivia’s event, and there was a photographer on the street who was like, ‘Deanna, please, right here. I would love to take a picture of you in front of the brick.’ It’s just fun and collaborating with people who just want to work together and create content and pick each other’s brains, that’s definitely the most fun part of Fashion Week.”