We were lucky to catch up with Una The Mermaid recently and have shared our conversation below.

Una , appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I do not earn a full time living off being a professional mermaid. However, since the start of the pandemic I would say my creative work now makes up 50% of my yearly earnings. I started mermaiding as a hobby back in 2011. Over-time this hobby has evolved into one of my professional businesses. I first started mermaiding to cultivate a deeper relational bonding with my young daughter at that time. As a trauma survivor of family abuse, I struggled with knowing how to connect and play with my own child. I found that mermaiding was a healthy activity that fostered creativity and connection for both of us. Mermaiding began transitioning from a personal hobby to public entertainment after I was given an opportunity to set-up a mermaid cove at a local pirate festival. Eventing allowed me to meet other merfolk with a shared interest in the hobby. By the following year of the pirate festival, I opened my mermaid space up to others, and formed the Traveling Fanta-Sea Cove. For several years I and my mer-pod would travel and entertain at various community and charity events. We had some really great and mermazing times! After seven years of running the cove, I became tired and weary of group dynamics and the conflicts that often emerge in such settings. I found that instead of enjoying what I loved to do most, the majority of my time was now managing people, conflicts and event logistics. I wanted to get back to doing what I loved most, being a mermaid!

It had been a dream of mine to own a traveling mermaid tank, and in 2019 that dream became a reality for me. I came across an add one day for an old 900-gallon fiberglass dunk tank. I took what little savings I had and purchased it. At the time I didn’t even have a place to store it, and I knew nothing about fiber glass repair. However, I did I know, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I knew that between my creativity and my husband’s building skills we could make it work. I really wanted to invest in this project for my own health and well-being. I felt this would be something uniquely mine. I did not think of it as a business investment at that time, I really just wanted something to call my own that could help get me back to doing what I most enjoyed. I still wanted to keep the cove going, but decided to shift its focus put in policies and expectations to help make the experience less emotionally draining. This was a huge milestone for me, because for the longest time I battled feelings of internal guilt for wanting to do something just for me to preserve my own inner peace. For years I had put others and community first, but had neglected my own needs. I was finally taking steps to fulfil my own dreams. Looking back, I am not sure there would be anything I could do to “speed-up” the process. We are all on our own journey and we have to meet ourselves where we are at. If anything, I would say I have learned that pursuing one’s dreams requires being less focused on the opinions of others and moving forward in the face of uncertainty.

Una , 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?

Hi my name is Una and I am a professional mermaid. I was born in Honolulu Hawaii, and in my first ten years of life I grew up on the island of Oahu. I have always had a strong connection to the Ocean and have resonated deeply with mermaids. I own a 900-gallon traveling mermaid tank which is aesthetically inspired to look like an old circus wagon from the late 1800’s- early 1900’s which my husband and I built together. I travel to various private and community events around the Pacific NW providing live mermaid encounters for event guests and patrons. I have been mermaiding since 2011, but began to mermaid professionally in 2016. As mentioned previously, I first started mermaiding as a way to help heal myself from a traumatic childhood and also cultivate positive relational bonding with my young daughter at the time. I would later meet and connect with other mermaid enthusiasts and we would begin performing and entertaining as a group known as the Traveling Fanta-Sea Cove. Membership in the cove has changed and evolved over the years and as active with many new members now. The cove is now less focused on performing at events and are now engaged in social meet-ups, and community activities.

I am also the owner and producer of the annual Portlandia Mermaid Parade and Festival a 3-day shellabration of all-things water and merfolk. The festival always takes place the last weekend of July and is comprised of a series of activities such as the Sirens Ball, the Portlandia Mermaid Parade, and the PNW Mermaid Confluence (an all-day mermaid convention with swimming, panels, workshops, vendors and more)! 2025 will be the parade’s 10th year and the convention’s inaugural year. I initially started the Portlandia Mermaid Parade as a way for other local merfolk enthusiasts to meet and have fun together. I had no idea just how many people would resonate with mermaiding! The event draws hundreds of people each year and some come from out of state! The Portlandia Mermaid Parade and Festival is intended to be an opportunity for fun, fantasy expression and cosplay, as well as an opportunity to educate others on the industry of professional mermaiding and environmental stewardship.

Although I personally live a couple hours away from the coast, my home town is a port-town surrounded by water. Oregon is known for its breathtaking coastlines and beaches, but we are also are home to numerous wonderous rivers, lakes, tributaries, estuaries and wetlands. Water is one of the most important resources for all life on Earth. I believe mermaiding can serve a unique purpose in helping to educate others on the importance of water protection and preservation. Additionally, mermaiding in the PNW presents unique challenges compared to regions with warmer climates or states which have larger, more established aquatic entertainment opportunities. The PNW Mermaid Convention is also intended to help provide other merfolk enthusiasts and professionals, network opportunities and to explore important topics such as industry safety, equitable compensation, inclusion, and more.

What I think sets me apart from others is my unique educational and practitioner background. I hold a Master’s degree in conflict resolution and a PhD in psychology, and I am currently in the process of completing my QMHP certification so I can provide direct therapeutic services to clients. I have spent years working as prison educator in Oregon State prisons, and also currently work as a college instructor and professional consultant in the areas of restorative justice and organizational/systems change. I am also very active in social justice work.  While the world of mermaiding and the world of justice may seem very opposite, nothing could be further from the truth. What goes on in smaller communities is often a reflection of the larger collective. I integrate my knowledge of psychology and justice to inform my mermaiding business and community engagement activities. I also apply principles of transformative play to help to other parents and children find emotional and physical healing in water. As a mermaid oracle, I also practice sea-shell divination and work with archetypal psychology to teach about self-transformation and trauma recovery. 

Some of my recent accomplishments include the completion of my SSI certification, which allows me to serve as an official swim instructor. I was also a part of a six-year filming project for an artistic, docu-fiction film entitled Sirens Call by German award-winning film makers, Miri Gossing and Lina Sieckmann. The film is to be released sometime in 2025. However, I am most proud of my continued expansion of the Portlandia Mermaid Parade and Festival. In 2023 I began the official Mer-Ambassador program which is geared towards sponsoring and supporting youth between the ages of 8-19 who are interested in getting into mermaiding.

About the Industry:
Professional mermaiding (also referred to as artistic mermaiding, mermaidry, or artistic mermaid performance) is the practice of wearing, and often swimming in a costume or prosthetic mermaid tail and has historical roots in aqua ballet. One of the first mermaids to greatly influence the aquatic performance and mermaid industry in the United States (and arguably the world) was the Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville star, film actress, and writer, Annette Kellerman.

Mermaiding is recognized as an athletic sport and there are mermaid schools and even competitions all over the world. Mermaiding is both a profession and a hobby. Professional mermaids will often swim in live, filmed, or photographed productions or shows and can be hired for special events. Nonprofessional enthusiasts swim in tails at their local pools if the pool allows it, lakes, rivers, and seashores, or take part in mermaid-themed photo shoots, birthday parties, or mermaid meetings with other merfolk. Mermaiding is popular with all ages and genders, and tail making companies are multimillion dollar industry.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are many changes I think need to happen to help support creatives and artists. Firstly, performing artists should be able to unionize or at the very least establish a nationally recognized industry standard for safety and pay within their unique industry. Furthermore, this effort should be done collaboratively with others who share in the industry rather than controlled by outsiders or a few gatekeepers. Despite what others might think, professional mermaiding (especially when it involves free diving, and swimming) comes with many health and safety risks. Performers should be provided affordable access to quality training and have appropriate compensation.

Secondly, self-employed individuals, such as artists and performers should be able to qualify for financial assistance or unemployment services during ‘gig gaps’ or when there are sudden changes in the industry which cause a loss of work opportunities, especially for newer business owners who are less financially established! I also believe there should be more affordable and accessible resources such as free/reduced cost legal aid, copywrite and trademark services, and business management training, and financial services.

Thirdly, the healthcare marketplace should provide reduced or sliding scale coverage costs (but not reduced quality) for healthcare for self-employed individuals within a certain income bracket. Furthermore, the poverty standard needs to be re-evaluated and adjusted to reflect the realities of most starving artists.

Fourthly, we need to create more professional liability insurance options for artists and performers, especially those engaging in higher risk activities.

Fifth, while competition can help drive innovation and creativity, it can also become toxic and stagnate growth and cultivate scarcity culture. Communities should cultivate collaborative and healthy networks to support each other while maintaining the spirit of healthy competition.

Sixth, there should be more grant opportunities for artists and performers who engage in activities or services that benefit the community or address a community concern in some way. These grants should be offered on county, state and federal levels and not necessarily require a 5013(c) status as a qualifying standard, as this often becomes a major barrier for many grassroots or newly starting out businesses. The grants would fund special projects, host events etc. There should also be more opportunity grants for marginalized populations and industries, and these opportunity grants should be increased in regions with creative deserts.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

There are two large lessons I had to unlearn to get where I am today. First, growing up I was always conditioned to believe it was necessary for me to pick one dream, or one career, or one life goal. So much so, that all of my developmental coaching and even academic guidance was centered around the idea that we as human beings are destined for only ‘one great thing’, (if you are even fortunate enough to achieve it). This is false. We are not destined for just one great thing; we can choose as many great things we would like to achieve. It is indeed possible to have multiple careers and succeed at them even though I was told this was impossible, including by members of my own family. However, in the words of Alice, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”. Once I realized I no longer had to choose between my passions, I found my own personal liberation. I was finally able to grant myself permission to pursue what I wanted; not what others thought I should pursue.

Second, I was also conditioned to believe that being a performer or artist was not a “real” job. I have found that our society tends to equate professions that are creative as being less valuable or less lucrative. It is beyond the purpose of this interview to unpack why I think this is, but I will say I believe this mindset is directly connected to value systems around economics, and individualism. It is my experience that in our society, we have equated concepts such as creativity, joy, imagination, and playfulness as being less ‘mature’ or ‘childish’. This naturally suggests that being ‘mature’ or an ‘adult’ is being devoid of these things. Furthermore, activities centered around ‘fun’ and ‘play’ are considered only as leisure pursuits needing to be earned.  This couldn’t be further from the truth, and this belief system stems very much a Western cultural attitude. Contrary to what may in our society may believe, it is the spark of imagination, creativity, and play that allows us to dream up innovation, solve complex social problems, and invent entirely new realities. A culture devoid of this becomes stagnate and irrelevant. As I grew older and pursued my degree in psychology, I came to understand not only how wrong this initial conditioning was, but also how harmful it was to my own well-being, and the well-being of others. I had to start liberating my self from these cultural assumptions and take a stand for creativity and imagination. The most radical act for liberation any one can do for themselves, is to live as authentically as possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: 
  • Una the Mermaid: https://www.unathemermaid.com
  • Portlandia Mermaid Parade: www.portlandiamermaidparade.com
• Social Media:
  • Instagram: una_the_mermaid
  • Facebook: Una the Mermaid
  • TikTok: unathemermaid1