We recently connected with Jacy Peck and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jacy, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
Optimism is a choice you make everyday. After being being in ICU for weeks, after being told to make plans for my children because I was not going to leave the hospital alive, after fighting for my life; I learned how to live. Being positive has made me a better mother, wife, and friend. Positivity can be lacking in most situations and others seem genuinely surprised when you greet them with a warm smile and care.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Mermaiding, which is what we call diving in a mermaid tail and monofin, came crashing into my life in 2017. I was a freedive enthusiast and I used those theories for their physical and mental health benefits and when I saw people freediving in a mermaid tail I knew that had to be me. December of 2019 I had weight loss surgery but due to other complications I remained in the hospital on oxygen and my stats were crashing. I was drowning as my lungs filled with fluid and I could not breathe on my own. I remember grabbing a nurse’s arm as they rushed me for emergency surgery saying “I can’t die here, I have children who need me, Help me”. I battled through that and with help from all the freedive breath work I had learned, I recovered on my own. When I was well enough I took up mermaiding as a full time hobby in march of 2020 and published my first children’s book -There’s a Mermaid in my Bathtub, in 2021 I became one of the first mermaid instructors in Canada, in 2022 I was one of two mermaids with Mermaids Make Waves to dive for the first time in a Canadian aquarium with fish, in 2023 I was the first Canadian to perform at the Wreck bar in Fort Lauderdale Florida, I was one of two to work with Trident tails entertainment and be asked by management to return as ren faire mermaid performers, I Won the Arts Acclaimed award in my city for my contributions to the mermaiding arts, I became to secretary for Freedive Toronto and the first mermaid instructor for the HyperCubeh20 SSI Dive shop in Ontario, in 2024 I won platinum live entertainer and children’s performer with Community Votes and Best author with Monarch international. 2025 is just beginning and I already have big plans for more books and more trail blazing performances, collaborations, and policy writing. For the 4th year in a row I will be a guest at Earth Day Erin in Ontario Canada where the citizens all get together and gather trash from around the roads, parks, and the water side. Here in 2025 I see myself as an ‘in demand’ professional mermaid performer and I’m very proud of the work I’ve done to be here.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The most impactful skills to my success have been my theatre background in improv and stage performance, freediving certification, and my early childhood education in teaching nature to young children. The quality of having an amazing imagination and flare for the dramatic, as my mother would call it, is a huge asset in the business of make believe. Starting small and having strong crowd connection skills is a must for this line of work. There are many pathways for a mermaid but rarely do we get hired to ‘sit and look pretty’ most of our work is children, birthdays, library reads, and other face to face crowd work. Getting involved in your local community theatre group, being library volunteer, reading to the elders, and making sure you have a thorough police background check when working or volunteering with the vulnerable sector, are all the starting pathways I took.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
Many years and many dollars went spend on my theatre training growing up. My parents were always in the front row and supported every performance. When I lost my scholarship, due to a vocal injury and was no longer able to perform on the opera stage, my mother cried along with me as my whole future changed. Being told I could not do it anymore did not hold me back for long, and I changed my stage. I switch education careers and went into early children education and used my theatre skills to entertain and teach children. Using live theatre to teach young children was successful and a great joy to me. Now to teach in a tail and the underwater is my stage. The most impactful thing my parents ever did was teach me resilience and nurture my, at times, over active imagination.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/MermaidJacy
- Instagram: mermaid_jacy
- Other: tiktok: Mermaidjacy
Image Credits
Photos by Acronis Photography
and
Andrew Corter
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
