What Deena Cortese Did For A Living Before Jersey Shore Family Vacation

Words of wisdom typically stand the test of time throughout history. Like Shakespeare's quizzical phrase "To be, or not to be: that is the question," Friedrich Nietzsche's inspirational statement "That which does not kill us makes us stronger," and Deena Cortese's very thought-provoking question, "You like the boobs?" But aside from becoming this generation's next wordsmith, Deena made audiences across the globe laugh at her little meatball antics when she joined the cast of "Jersey Shore" in Season 3 in 2011.

Deena (who now goes by Deena Nicole Buckner after marrying Christopher Buckner in 2017) was originally supposed to join "Jersey Shore" in Season 1 but couldn't because of "personal reasons," according to The Things. Instead, she was introduced as Nicole "Snooki" LaValle's close friend from the shore in Season 3. Together they became the infamous "Team Meatball," causing hilarious chaos all across the boardwalk, one pickle shot at a time. But the endless party eventually had its last call, and Team Meatball grew older and wiser. They both finally decided to settle down and live their best lives as married hot mamas. They are still taking on the town together with the rest of the OG "Jersey Shore" crew on their hit tv show, "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," but this time with fewer hangovers.

But before her complete transformation from being a blast in a glass to a bottle-buying momma bear, we can't help but wonder: What did Deena do with her time before joining "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation?"

Instead of partying with people, Deena Buckner decided to play with puppies and became a bone-a-fied dog trainer! 

After "Jersey Shore" wrapped, Deena joined the regular workforce as a dog trainer at The Green Leaf Pet Resort in New Jersey, a luxury lodging for dogs where they specialize in boarding, grooming, swimming, daycare, and dog training. Deena looked incredibly content with her career change according to her numerous Instagram posts, where she can be seen holding and playing with some really paw-dorable puppies.

Working as the New Jersey dog whisperer wasn't the only job Deena held. She also was an influencer for those infamous detox tummy teas that claim to help people lose weight. Over time (in addition to working out and changing her diet), Deena lost a significant amount of weight and looks very different than she did in her previous days on the shore.

Aside from tummy teas and puppy love, Deena Buckner got hitched to her longtime lover, her husband Christopher Buckner, in 2017. The happy couple wrote about their love story on their wedding website and described how they both saw each other in a bar on the shore in 2011, after Season 4 of "Jersey Shore" wrapped up. Deena was so smitten with him, she decided to do some......light social stalking on him, planned a "coincidental" meet-cute by posting what bar she would be at on Facebook in hopes of running into him, and once she saw him walk in, the rest was history. The Buckners had their first child in January 2019 and welcomed their second child in May 2021.

Deena left her dog training job after getting married and eventually became a cast member on "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation." She let audiences across the globe back into her life to show that she is still a blast in a glass, albeit a glass filled with milk now. 

"We wouldn't have had this opportunity if it wasn't for all our devoted fans..Producers and a Network that believed in us enough to bring us back!" Deena wrote on Instagram. Honestly, letting the dogs out and letting us back into her life again might've been a loss for all the pups out there, but we are so happy we can watch the fist-pumping guidette do some family-friendly shenanigans on TV again.