I'm a Professional Mermaid: Woman Opens Up About Life in the Water, Including Dives in Her $6K Tail (Exclusive)

Over eight years, Brandee Anthony has built an aquatic empire around mermaiding

• Brandee Anthony decided to try mermaiding for content on her Periscope, never imagining it would change her life

• Over eight years, Anthony has built out several businesses around being a professional mermaid and teaching others about the practice

• Anthony tells PEOPLE how she helps others fall in love with what's part art, part diving technique
  

Brandee Anthony, also known as the Vero Beach Mermaid, got an "unconventional start" in the art of mermaiding.

Initially, she only got the idea as a stunt for her streaming channel on Periscope.

"I wanted to go live underwater because I'm a complete water child," she tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I thought I'll go live underwater as a mermaid — that way, the viewers have something interesting to watch. I did some research and found the mermaid tail, and I got a GoPro and that's literally how it started."

Not only did it work for her streaming idea, but Anthony found she "absolutely fell in love" with being a mermaid.

"It was such a simple little fabric tail, but the feeling of swimming in the tail in a monofin just totally fit for me, and I was hooked."

Inspired by her new talent, Anthony began the Vero Beach Mermaid brand "within a week." It's been eight years since then, and she's proud to have grown her "mermaid world" into "a number of businesses I do now."

"In the beginning, it was just fun. It was well received by my community here locally and I just had a lot of enjoyment from putting on the tail and being a mermaid — whether it was for myself or for others," she says.

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As a photographer and content creator, she was already familiar with the creative space, and she merged those skills with mermaiding.

"Next thing I know, I have a few more tails and now I'm putting other people in tails for photoshoots and mermaid experiences," Anthony says. "Then it started to really take flight for me — or swim or dive — when I decided to start teaching people how to be a mermaid underwater, which was essentially a form of diving."

Anthony teaches "PADI free diving," and mermaid certifications, which allows others to engage in mermaid free dives.

"We do a lot of it retreat style, so you can travel worldwide with us to beautiful locations. You can learn how to free dive with either a bi-fin or a monofin, and it's been a huge success. I've gone to the most beautiful places with PADI-certified people."

She continues, "From teaching kids to adults, courses in a pool to retreat out in the open ocean and exotic places, teaching safety, teaching conservation and how to care for the marine world is special. We're giving people that narrative of how to be a steward to the water, how to be safe in the water and just empower people."

In sharing her craft on TikTok, Anthony has gone viral for letting people into her world, including how she cares for her high-quality, expensive fins.

"People ask what the mermaid tails are made of. You have a few different fabrics — some scuba knit material, or a stretchy kind of swimsuit material. Most mermaid tails are swimmable, but some online are not safe to swim in. That's why our courses are of such importance to us — they teach people what monofins are and what tails are safe," she says.

"There are a lot of different types of monofins, whether they are fiberglass, carbon fiber, plastic silicone. And then you have some tails that are kind of a hybrid, where the body is neoprene. My full silicone tail, made by Finfolk Productions, is 35 lbs. of pure dragon skin silicone with a monofin built into the base so that you can have good propulsion underneath that silicone," she continues.

"They require a bit of care. A lot of times, if you don't properly dry out something like that, just like anything else, that humidity builds up in there. It might not last you as long, so making sure that it's both disinfected and properly dried is really important for maintaining a tail. That tail is a $6,000 tail, which drops jaws but it is wearable art. It's like putting an incredible one-of-a-kind painting on your wall, only you get to wear it on your body."

Anthony notes professional mermaids will "only own a couple of those in your career, so they're well worth the investment."

"They're incredible to dive in. They are so fluid. They have amazing propulsion. People ask if they're hard to swim in and the answer is actually no. As long as you can connect your body to the mono movement, silicone tails are incredibly fun and powerful to swim in. I can dive down up to 20 meters on one breath in a silicone tail with ease. When you're around kids, you really can help keep the magic alive with the tail of that caliber."

As a photographer, Anthony also explores mermaiding as an art form. "Both artistically and athletically, mermaiding is really hard when you go into the higher levels," she says.

"When you're diving on one breath or you're holding your breath longer or you're performing behind glass and you can't really see anything ... you have to have all these emotions and all these tricks and form. It truly is an athletic sport in its own right and an artistic expression. So it fills so many of my cups just in the way it is."

Despite her love for the water, Anthony faces criticism from people who think she's convinced herself she's actually a mermaid.

"I love to be and embody a mermaid. I love to dive as a mermaid. But I know that when you do something that's a bit different and whimsical, it comes with a lot of negativity. So whether it's online comments or people judging, it does happen," she acknowledges.

"It makes me laugh because anyone can have an inner mermaid. Of course, I know I'm not actually a mermaid. I don't think I can breathe or live underwater. I don't think I'm a fish. This is something I chose to do as a profession because it was a fire in my soul."

She continues, "It's incredibly fun and fulfilling on a personal level and on a professional level and it makes any comments you might receive online totally worth it. I think that no matter what you do in life, someone's going to have something to say, so you might as well make it something that you absolutely love."

Doing such creative work requires a bit of self care from Anthony, who says that she has to 'take a lot of time to myself to do this."

"Whether it's going out for fun dives, creating my own art, training at home or taking rest days, I listen to what my body and mind need. I do a lot between my different businesses and I give a lot of myself when I do these experiences. So when I need a break, I take a break," she says.

It's also important to Anthony to continue to reinvent her mermaid-related businesses to "challenge myself."

"Through my career, I'm always finding my own opportunities aside from my businesses. It's just to personally develop my own practice and keep it fresh. It allows me to have something that I can share and give back to others, through my ability to give back to myself."

Anthony also makes time for professional networking, explaining that there's a special bond she shares with other mermaids.

"This was my second year running the Mermaid Free Dive Summit. It's a three-day event that celebrates certified mermaids, specifically the PADI mermaid community," she says.

"The mermaid industry is quite niche, as you can imagine, but once you're in this world, it's really active. Getting to be with other people who are passionate and enthusiastic about such a niche thing as mermaiding is so much fun," Anthony notes.

"There's just so much good energy, good conversations during that summit. We aim to do a few things to help instructors and professionals sharpen their skills, especially with safety and training."

When the mermaids gather for the summit, "We do a performance-based competition, certify new mermaids and create fun content."

"We raised money for a local sea turtle non-profit at this last gala, and then they also hosted our beach cleanup on the third day of the event," Anthony says. "I think a big part of the summit is to do good for the environment and for yourself."

Anthony never imagined that a novel content idea would change the direction of her whole life, but says she finds mermaiding to be "that one major piece of me that I didn't know was missing, until the moment I put that tail on."

"People get to live out these imaginative experiences and let their inner child out. For some people, it's even a healing experience as well," she says.

"For kids, you're restoring magic that can get lost. As we get older, society can take a lot from us. This gives something back to people my age and beyond. It's helping someone continue to believe in magic. When I say magic, I mean the energy within ourselves and what we're able to create, and how we can connect our mind and our body in such a whimsical way."

Anthony is excited to see how mermaiding can grow and take her professional life to new depths.

"Whether I'm photographing them or teaching and training them or going on retreats, everything I do these days involves a mermaid. It's definitely interesting to share that online, knowing that 99 percent of people have no idea what it's all about," she says.

"What I've learned is not to try to explain myself, just to share what I love and hopefully invite other people to do so. It's also just great fitness. At the end of the day, it's about fun and self-exploration."

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