Okay… but why "Mermaid"?
Fair question. Short answer: the mermaid part is real. Long answer: keep reading.
Look closer at MermaidSoundcAVe and you'll find my initials hiding in the cave — A.V., Amie Vreeken. They also stand for AudioVisual, ArtistVocalist, and VoiceActor, which is convenient, because I'm all of those. The mermaid part, though — that one's earned.
I sing as a live mermaid — charity balls, corporate events, kids' parties — in a full silicone tail that feels convincingly, delightfully fishy. And yes, I sing above water. That's the entire reason mermaids surface.
Who I AmWhen I'm not in the booth (or the tail), I sculpt seashells into flowers. My Mermaid Garden is a memoir written in the language of flowers — each bloom built from ethically sourced shells, each meaning drawn from the traditional American floriography, each one telling a true piece of my story. It's the quietest voice work I do.
*cough *cough Mer-MAN! In 2020, I had a professional photo taken of our family's new chapter: one turquoise-haired mermaid, three mer-kids, and one pirate…he refused to be a mermaid, all smiling like the ocean owed us money.
That photo became my phone's lock screen. Then I lost the phone — playing mermaid at the beach, naturally. The surf took it.
Seventy-seven days later, a stranger messaged me: his neighbor had found a phone. I didn't believe him — until he sent a picture of the lock screen, and there we were. The mermaid family, smiling back from 77 days at sea.
I called the news. It became a national story. My aunt Sharon in Utah was watching TV and did an actual double-take: "Wait… is that my niece?"
Yup. 🧜♀️