We recently connected with Eric Milligan and have shared our conversation below.

Eric, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

If I could go back in time I would have started my mersona journey back in middle school/high school because that was the peak of when I was the most creative and always drawing. During that time I made so many drawings of random mermaids and made mini mermaid comics but I never had the idea to become a merman myself & create my own under water worlds like I am right now which I’m learning is very time consuming. So I feel like if I did start back then I would have most likely been further along in my Mermaid World Life as The Blixunami, because now with adult life & obstacles, it’s kinda hard to keep the faith I once had as a carefree kid/teen.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m The Blixunami! The world’s first rapping black merman doll in real life! I specialize in splashy fashion & fintastic sounds I like to call Merzic. I’m known for keeping it authentically me! I’m most proud of always making my wildest dreams come true, especially being the actual first black merman doll! What sets me apart from the others is that I’m a natural born super star mermie entertainer! I was born and raised in Charleston SC and grew up obsessed with all things mermaids since I could acknowledge what they were. Got my first tail in 2012, then started traveling to mermaid conventions around the states. I started speaking about injustice going on in the merpeople community on YouTube, which lead to interviews with Davy Wavey to Tosh.O. I’ve traveled all over the world spreading imagination & encouragement for everyone to believe in themselves and make their dreams come true no matter what anybody says! As the first rapping merperson, I’ve came out with songs called “Splish Splash On Em”, “Flippin My Fins”, and “Gimmie A Splash” all on every streaming platform! My love for mermaid dolls has now lead me to being the first black merman doll to be mass produced at a manufacturer, which everyone can follow that adventure on my BUYMEACOFFEE page! There’s so much i have coming for 2024 & beyond and I’m sooo excited to have my Seablingz and Suga Starz along the way! I wouldn’t change a thing! It has not been a smooth road because hello, I’m a black gay man in the USA so obstacles are around me every single day but I don’t let this crazy world we live in mess with me too much! Swimming through my toughest storms got me where I’m at today so regardless of all the obstacles, I keep it swimming! I’m learning to just float on stormy emotional waves and let it run its course! There’s always rainbows after a storm and usually at the end of them, it’s mermaids playing around in a lagoon!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a professional merm is when I get messages from people all over the world of all sorts of backgrounds telling me that they’ve seen me on TV or read about me and tell me how much I inspired them to get out of their shell and live their best life or become a merperson themselves. It feels really humbling every time because you just never know who your story is touching out there on this large planet we live on. So that is for me, the best part about what I do!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience on social media organically. I never bought followers, never had to because I never felt the need to do that. To be honest though I never really cared about social media numbers cuz it’s all an illusion and sometimes for people when they see they have a lot of followers,it makes their heads blow up and I don’t ever want to be that type of person over numbers. But for those who are just starting out I’ll say consistency is key, making your own hashtags to build your audience is also key and just being active on other people’s accounts as well is key because I feel like people like creators that are personable and creators that are active!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://buymeacoffee.com/theblixunami
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.blixunami?igsh=MTdlY2Q3dmFqNGt0cg==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/e7diNaT99A7rn8oQ/?mibextid=qi2Omg
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@theblixunami?si=qxlXnkfiZAlbw2xA
• Soundcloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/juku-suganova-merboii
• Other: https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-blixunami-emporium/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZBiMyvK3cORbaUBmuXtF7mBCwweKEzGYlyadsf0_nH6RvrRCaJBoO6pLg_aem_PSaxvH5wS-NYgtj2MVWyBQ

Image Credits

Both images are by Michael Merlin