We recently connected with Arielle Funk and have shared our conversation below.
Arielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.
Hello- it’s me… I’m the weird kid! The one who wore a frilly yellow princess dress to school in the second grade. The one who always made her legs into a mermaid tail using beach sand in middle school. The one who still loved Barbies in high school and proudly displayed all the Disney Princess ones she had on a shelf in her room.
My parents never once tried to shut it down. They always let me be authentically me. They encouraged me to be true to myself and to ignore what ever kid was picking on me that week. They took pictures and made home videos of all of my shenanigans (even sitting through a full length puppet show style production of “Aladdin” where I played all the characters using dolls… only I didn’t have Jafar so I made one of my Ken dolls a mask out of a coloring page and taped it to his head.)
It is because they encouraged my off the wall creativity and love for the whimsical that I am such a successful content creator and professional mermaid today. I write my own skits, film and edit my own pictures and videos, and perform at live events as a mermaid because nobody ever told me “that’s too childish” or forced me to “grow up”.
As an adult, I’m able to thrive in this creative space because my mom and dad were always there cheering me on (and to be honest they still are- often joining me for photoshoots at the beach or watching my kids so I can attend an event.) Cheers to all the amazing moms and dads out there who let their kids be who God created them to be- even if it means they’re swimming against the current of our culture.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Shello!!!
I’m Queen Arielle of the Realm, a party princess, professional mermaid and paid content creator on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram!
I have always loved the ocean, and spent hours as a young child exploring the rock pools behind my grandparents’ home on the coast of Southern Maine. I would collect periwinkles, a type of snail, and hum to them until they came out and danced for me- something my Grampy taught me to do. I would gather seashells and search for starfish- and of course stare out into the crashing blue surf hoping I’d see a mermaid.
I know it’s totally cliché but when I saw “The Little Mermaid” as an 8 year old and realized we share a name (well- sort of… mine is pronounced like Sebastian says it!) I knew I was hooked for life! I was always playing mermaids in the pool (weren’t we all!?) and singing “Part of Your World” into my tape recorder so I could replay my voice and see if I sounded like Jodi Benson.
Fast forward to adulthood- I was working as a 3rd grade teacher and my assistant principal asked me if I’d like to be The Little Mermaid at her daughter’s birthday party. Of course the answer was a million times YES, so I bought a wig and modified a prom dress to look more like a sea princess’s ballgown and did my first gig. The kids had a blast doing “princess lessons” with me, where I taught them to pose and curtsy. We read a mermaid story, colored a mermaid picture together, and they helped me identify some “human things” I’d found. It was delightful!
After that word got out, and I did parties for my coworkers’ and friends’ kids, adding the Snow Queen, Beauty, and Rapunzel to my costume line up. Then I met my friend Haley and began to do princess events at her boutique.
Shortly after that, I came across a mermaid and cosplay creator on TikTok named “Mermaid Zelda” and saw her swimming in a fabric mermaid tail in her pool. I immediately bought my first mermaid tail and I fell in love- it was the most fun I’d had swimming in our pool!
Since I had already been doing events as a party princess, it just made sense to add “mermaid” to my repertoire. I watched countless Courtney Mermaid videos on YouTube and learned proper tail care and how to do tricks underwater- the actual swimming-in-a-tail part came very naturally for me, but the tricks took some practice!
I grew my tail collection, adding tails by Finfun, The Mertailor, Finfolk, Vancouver Mermaid, Jurassic Merman and The Mermaid’s Tail UK. I sewed 1,145 mythic scales on a Finfolk Discovery tail to give it that realistic mermaid shimmer. I saved every penny I earned from YouTube and bought a MerNation silicone tail so I would have a more realistic and durable one for mermaid pool parties.
Aside from doing in person mermaid and princess events, I also create personalized videos for kids whose parents don’t want to spend as much hiring a character for their child’s birthday, but still want to make it special. Parents can choose from a long or short video for their child where they are greeted by name (and for longer videos, read an ocean inspired story). Families are given a link to the video so they can watch it as much as they like, anytime!
This whole ride has been so wonderful and wild and not something I expected to do or even knew was a job, but boy do I love it! Making core memories with kids is truly a joyful profession and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
How did you build your audience on social media?
Honestly building a social media following is kindof random! I’ve had videos that went viral but when I made a similar one it flopped. I would say the best advice I can give is to genuinely be yourself, and if you can, make funny/behind the scenes content. People love seeing how things work- not just the perfect Instagram picture!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Networking is amazing! Most of my Princess or Mermaid gigs have come from a friend or a previous client recommending me. Mostly my good friend and fellow Mermaid Haley! She runs a preschool program in our town so parents often ask her for recommendations for their children’s birthday parties and she sends them my way!
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