Exclusive Interview with Mermaid Flamingo

From: Savannah Georgia and representing Tybee Island

This Month's Mermaid Spotlight is Mermaid Flamingo! She has become one of my closest friends. I'm so happy that I finally got to meet her when I vendored at Mermagic Con. She's been an amazing supporter to me since my first few months of starting this business. Her constant positive comments on Instagram meant the world to me, especially because she was the first real mermaid to notice me! Now that she has a couple of my crowns, I'm so thankful to her for all the mermaids she's sent my way!

From the bottom of my heart, I find her truly inspirational. She's dedicated to making the world a brighter place with her kindness and mermaid magic. Going out to dinner with her dressed as mermaids, I got to see her in action just so effortlessly captivate everyone around us and make them smile. After reading this interview, I know you'll see just how extremely special she is!!

Me: What inspired you to become a mermaid?

Flamingo: Working with special needs students, I noticed that not all of them knew how to swim. So I started teaching swim lessons and have since formed a special needs swim team. It's now grown to 10 to 15 kids. They believed in me and called me Little Mermaid all the time. After a year of teaching, a few of my students got together and ordered me a tail off Amazon. That first tail is what started all of this and it's really blossomed from there. It's so sweet how much they follow my mermaiding and they love getting to see my photoshoots and each time I get new mermaid looks! My first tail that they bought me, I've now given to a long-term student, Shelby, and we swim together. She has high functioning autism and down syndrome. I taught her how to swim and now she can do a full lap around the pool now in her tail! She's come so far!

Me: What do you love about mermaids?

Flamingo: I love the magic of it all and that special connection I have with the ocean. The ocean is a magical place. I love how much it relaxes me and makes me feel better. I've always wanted to be a mermaid since I was little. My Grandma, from Australia, is really big on mermaids and the ocean. What brought her to Tybee is meeting my Grandpa and moving there onto a military base. So since a young age, I've always spent tons of time in the water.

Me: Tell me a dream of yours.

It would be to be an underwater mermaid performer and get to perform at aquariums.

I would also love my own clothing and makeup line.

It would also be really amazing to have a special needs mermaid swim team nationwide of different mermaid instructors.

Me: Wow those are a lot of big dreams!

Flamingo: "They say dream big, I dream bigger."

Me: Okay now for a fun question, if you had your own Disney sidekick, doesn't have to be an existing one, what would it be and what would be its name?

Flamingo: A Flamingo named Fabby

Me: Very cute. Let's see, now tell me about some of the events you have done profit/non-profit?

Flamingo:

Savannah Carnival

KeyWest Mermaid Festival

Tybee Island Mermaid Festival

And then non-profit I've done SDL (Service Dog Low Country) and I do monthly events for SEG like our Special Needs Spring Splash.

Me: Wow those are some big events! If you could pick just one mermaid accessory what would it be?

Flamingo: Crown, of course!

Me: What makes someone a mermaid or what's the most important part to being a mermaid?

Flamingo: Bringing joy and magic to the world, especially kids.

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I definitely believe in Mermaid Flamingo just like her special needs students do. She's infectiously joyful and hardworking, always encouraging and puts others first. She really is a real mermaid and as real as it gets! The more you spend time with her, the more her spirit just lifts you.

Book Mermaid Flamingo:

Email: mermaidflamingo@gmail.com

Virtual bookings available as well.

If I haven't said before, Mermaid Flamingo inspires. Her aesthetic inspires me artistically but also to see if there's something I can do to help make a dream come true and make the world a better place like she does. Now it's not exactly a clothing or makeup line, like she said in the interview, but I figured she would enjoy having her own limited edition line of Mermaidazzle kids crowns!

Now this is something I've decided to continue every month to make a mermaid feel special!

See below and use this link to find available crowns in shop! (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Mermaidazzle?section_id=28436255)

Be sure to use promo code mermaidflamingo to receive 10% off your order!

I used lots of flamingo pinks, shiny shell sequins, tropical foliage and even built-in pink wig hair to capture her mersona!