We were lucky to catch up with Carrie Wata recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carrie, thanks for joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

The idea of Afro Mermaid came to me at a Mermaid store in Key West where I was picking up a bunch of cool little things when I all of a sudden realized that none of them looked like me. I made a comment to my husband about having an inclusive Mermaid brand that represented black swimmers. A few days passed and he kept telling me that it was a great idea and I should act on it. So I started drawing out logos and trying to think of what the name should be. Once we came up with Afro Mermaid and had an idea for the logo we got someone to digitize it for us and slapped it on a crop top!
After that, we gathered friends to take pics in our product and marketing began!
Afro Mermaid was born!

Carrie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Carrie Wata, founder of Afro Mermaid Corp. I started the business on a whim back in 2019 because I felt there was a need for black representation in the Mermaid community after a trip to a mermaid store in Key West. Fast forward to 2023 we now have seasonal pod swims where we get local members and non-members together for networking and fun. We have an annual mermaid convention where Mermaids from all over the country come together for fun, fins, and festivities right here in Miami, FL. every Summer. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come since we started off with just one crop top, and earlier this year we were featured on Netflix’s docu-series “Merpeople” and we had a chance to witness Halle Bailey play a black mermaid on the big screen for Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Definitely a proud moment for me.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Oh man, this one is challenging and I think we STILL haven’t figured it out. We always aim for at least 1,000 followers a year, this year we did 3,000 followers with the help from the Merpeople docuseries and The Little Mermaid movie. We are still not where we want to be because I’ve heard of brands doing 1,000 followers a month! It would be nice but we are also focused on making sure we get relevant followers that engage with posts and will be potential pod members.

HOW we built the following is pretty much through finding people through hashtags and in the comment sections of other Mermaids’ posts. Aside from that, definitely running ADs on Instagram and Facebook,

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Interacting with them as much as possible through instagram weather it’s reposting their posts that represent our brand or just liking/commenting under their regular every day posts to let them know we see them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AfroMermaid.co
• Instagram: @AfroMermaid.co
• Facebook: @AfroMermaid.co
• Other: Email – [email protected]

Image Credits
Submerge Underwater Photography & JLaw Photography