The Little Pill and Deanna’s Big Story to Tell

You know the TV commercial…

And it probably annoys the heck out of you because after you hear it, the tune plays in your head on endless repeat. I bet you could sing it in your sleep. That’s the power of a good jingle.

Whenever the Jardiance ad aired, I looked away. If I couldn’t mute the TV, I stuck my fingers in my ears and said “nanananana.” I asked my husband “Look at her! Who IS this crazy woman and why is she so freaking happy?” (watch it here on YouTube)

Yet, I really, really wanted to know who she was and whether her maniacal enthusiasm was genuine. Nobody puts their heart and soul into dancing and singing for a diabetes drug, unless… what? Something about her intrigued me.

After I learned who she was, I went from disser to supporter.

Bomb Chica!

It turns out enthusiasm is indeed her strong point. Deanna “DellaCioppa” Colón is no stranger to the stage or camera, having developed the cooking skills in her family’s Italian restaurant in Massachusetts to land her a spot on Gordon Ramsey’s MasterChef. She’s a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where she won her first national jingles. She made it to quarter-finals on America’s Got Talent. She sang for Diana Ross and Patti LaBelle. She’s acted in other commercials. Her soundtrack and music department credits include “Sex and the City,” “The Hills,” “The League,” and “Legally Blondes.” She hopes her big voice makes it to Broadway one day.

Deanna is 50.

She auditioned for the Jardiance ad from her bedroom in Las Vegas bedroom over Zoom. Once hired, she woke at 4 a.m. in the Orlando Universal studio to dance and sing about lowering your A1C for nearly 15 hours straight for about a week to nail down the choreography. She does the actual singing. Did I mention she’s 50?!

Deanna and the Jardiance ad director

To me, that shows dedication to your art and full belief in your talents. Who doesn’t need a little of that? Actually, to get through life, we need a lot. I’m impressed.

Rescue dogs are her jam

She records personalized videos for around $25 a pop on Cameo. The proceeds help pay for the care of her seven rescue dogs. Deanna believes how you treat a dog on Earth is how you’re going to be judged. She strives to be a voice for the voiceless in empowering children and animals. Her advocacy stems from being bullied all her life. Ironically she’s now being trolled for this commercial.

“You really get how hated and despised overweight people are if you check out the comments under my Jardiance video” on YouTube. “Nobody happy with their lives is saying the things they say to me online.”

Yet, her mission is to inspire others “who look like me.” She started a body-positivity clothing line called Bomb Chica Apparel, and trademarked the phrase, “I am a masterpiece,” for apparel. She closes each installment of her TikTok cooking show, “Go Fork Ya Self,” for her 300,000+ followers with “I am a masterpiece. You are a masterpiece.”

Coincidentally, after I learned about Deanna, The Washington Post featured her. They write that Deanna’s mouth would make a nun blush and that she has “the conversational energy of a pinball machine in a hurricane, each topic breathlessly but delightfully crashing to the next.”

Why does this not surprise me? Oh yeah. It’s her enthusiasm. It shows. When I reached out on Twitter (aka X) to congratulate her on the WaPo feature, she immediately tweeted back a generous thank you full of hearts. That’s the kind of person she is.

On Positivity

“We’re focused on how people look instead of how people make other people feel. And that bothers me.”

On being a masterpiece

So, I look at the commercial differently now, watching a woman who gives it her all, over and over, twirling enough to make me dizzy, making nice with everyone. Actually, Deanna is the star, not the little pill. She is the story. I see her big smile. I hear her strong voice. And I like it. She looks like any one of us, finding joy in owning her story. What’s not to like about that?

She’s got my respect. Well done, Bomb Chica. Call out the haters and trolls. You got this.

Find Deanna on TikTok and Twitter (aka X)

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Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist:
Multi-finalist award winning novel: In the Context of Love,
Picture book: Gordy and the Ghost Crab,
Poetry chapbook: Sleepwalker,

Linda’s social media links: LinkTree