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It’s hard not to feel TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney‘s joy when you’re around her. It’s infectious. You probably know her from her “Days of Being a Girl” series that took off on TikTok and earned her more than four million loyal followers. That’s why TikTok tapped Mulvaney as one of their 2022 LGBTQ+ Trailblazers. She joins Austin Cho, Chrissy Chlapecka, Danny Freeman, DeAndre Brown, Zaya Perysian and more LGBTQIA+ voices paving the way.
Last weekend, the Trailblazers hit up LA’s Pride in the Park event and rode the TikTok float during the LA Pride Parade. It was a whirlwind weekend for Mulvaney, who has only been on TikTok since the beginning of the pandemic. Now her lift consists of 5 a.m. makeup call times and interviewing Christina Aguilera. STYLECASTER sat down with Mulvaney to find out what she’s learned “being a girl” and what being a trailblazer really means in 2022.
What She’s Learned in (Almost) 100 Days of ‘Being a Girl’
“I’ve learned the most about humility and being willing to not get everything right. There was this pressure right when I started to like, know everything there was to know. And now I have this beautiful sense of like, ‘Oh, gosh, on probably day 1,000, I still won’t know everything.’ And I think the coolest part is the women, even cis women in my DMs in, in my comments, telling me little tips or you know, cheering me on and that’s where I’m like, Oh, it’s not about like the end result for me. It’s this like journey that I’ve taken everyone on now.”
How She Deals With Online Negativity
“It still really bothers some people that I call myself a girl. They think that it’s that’s reserved for children. I’m still scared to call myself a woman. But the reality is, now that I am a girl, I am a woman, I have the right to call myself a girl. And I think there is that you know, there are those patrollers online. I’m such a sort of a soft person. I’m a very non-confrontational person. And so that is the part of TikTok that I’m like, oh, you know, I don’t ever want to upset anyone. I try to make everyone feel seen in some ways.”
Meeting Fans IRL
“The most exciting part is when I do get to meet someone in real life because the internet can be so isolating. And sometimes those numbers, that 4.3 million people, I can’t picture that amount of people at all. But when I’m walking on the street and someone runs up to me and asks me what day it is, that is like, Oh, these are real human beings that are amazing and complex, and ultimately, they signed up for the Dylan train. It’s still just a little crazy to me.”
Finding the Joy in Difficult Convos
“I was so scared about when I first came out that I did not look womanly enough. I have my facial hair. I haven’t had the surgery yet. I try to approach all of these even sensitive subjects with comedy and joy. People don’t go on TikTok for a negative experience. We’re usually scrolling in bed at the end of the day. Have a laugh or just a smile. That’s what I want to do.”
What Being a ‘Trailblazer’ Means to Her
“I would have never called myself a trailblazer before this experience. The trailblazers are the trans women before me. And there are some amazing trans creators online and specifically on TikTok. I still think I am a trailblazer in the way of what I’m doing on TikTok. But in my transness, I still feel like the baby. I still feel like the one who’s sort of looking up to these people, even Zaya. I mean, look at her. She’s 20 years old and she’s just this amazing woman. I want to be that euphoric. I think I have made leaps and bounds already. So I think we’re all kind of waiting to see, you know, who Dylan is on day 1,000. But ultimately, I can’t believe that people are still watching.”
How She Chooses Her Creative Outfits
“My favorite way to pick out clothing is by thinking of a character that I love. So Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. Charlotte York on Sex and the City, Penny Lane in Almost Famous. There are different kinds of characters. What character do I want to be today? I’m graduating from like the toddler style to now, a little bit of Euphoria and early 2000s. I do eventually want to become sort of that Audrey Hepburn old Hollywood glamour.”
Her Current Makeup Faves
“I have always been a little boujee in the way that I like the good stuff. I’ve used the same concealer from Make Up Forever for five years. I follow trends, but once I like something, I stick with it. Milk has a great primer. The color correcting and the brows and the waxing, it’s just a lot of the time.”
How She Deals with the Pressure of Trans Women to ‘Pass’
“What I’m trying to do is still show myself in moments of androgyny or, you know, with the facial hair because there’s such a pressure on trans women to pass and to be instantly this doll. I love being that, I mean, it’s so much fun. But I also can’t let myself only live in that space because it’s exhausting. Sometimes you want to go outside without makeup or you don’t want to shave.”
Who She Wants to Inspire With Her Content
What I am trying to do with my content is for those parents that maybe do have trans kids that they don’t know how to navigate. I would love to be someone, specifically a non-passing trans person, living successfully finding love, finding work, and finding happiness. Because I think for even my parents specifically, their greatest fear was that I might not be able to support myself or that my safety would be in jeopardy. And I would love to be an example of how good life can be for a trans person. Because my life just in these past 92 days, all my dreams have started coming true.”
“I look at myself in such a different way and in a much more positive, better way. And it’s as if the universe was just waiting for me to find this girl. Because now all the things are clicking. I’m not upset about the years that I spent as a boy because that’s how it was supposed to go. But I am now thrilled that everything’s being confirmed by what’s happening in my life.”
Source: Stylecaster.com
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