Next on our list of “cool” is known around Vero Beach as the Vero Beach Mermaid, Brandee Anthony. She hails from Boca Raton originally, spent 19 years in Wisconsin, and has been making colorful and beautiful mermaid waves here in Vero Beach for the last 4 years. Brandee is the owner of a social media agency where she offers content creation for brands and individuals, social media consulting and training, and does portrait photography. She even takes great joy in turning others (of all ages) into mermaids for photoshoots.
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“I feel I bring happiness and imagination to Vero Beach,” Anthony boasted. “I hold a lot of different public events to bring entrepreneurs together as well as kiddos.”
Her passion for being a “real-life mermaid” all began when she had the desire to take live streaming to another level – underwater.
“So, I bought a GoPro and a (mermaid) tail, hooked up an underwater broadcast and it took off from there!” she exclaimed. That underwater broadcast on Periscope advanced to 200K followers and over 10M video views over the course of 3 years.
The “human” form of cool girl Brandee enjoys Acro yoga and traveling all over the country with her (mer)man, Zeke, in their van, which is custom-built for travel and relaxation. The couple stays in the van while on the road. When not traveling nor working, Anthony can be found walking the beach or at home, cooking and binging movies with her cats and her sweetheart.
While she has no family here in Florida, her family owns a house on A1A that she finds serenity in when she stays there. She calls it a “true slice of paradise.” Her family has owned the property for 16 years. She credits her parents with being extraordinary influences in her life.
“So much of who I am is because of them and the freedom they gave me,” Anthony explained. “I’m so lucky my parents never wanted to push anything on me, if I wanted to do something, I always had their full support.”
Another woman who Anthony has been influenced by is a woman by the name of Ocean Ramsey, who she says is “the real mermaid.” Ramsey dedicates efforts to conservation of sharks and the ocean.
Brandee stressed that she’s moved by how much local cultivation there is in the Vero Beach community.
“This really is a small town, but on top of that, I never imagined I’d be surrounded by so many creative entrepreneurs,” Anthony said. “Almost every one of my friends has their own business and I find that so inspiring. Vero loves supporting local, and when I moved here, I felt right at home with my business. This town has been so supportive of my social media and photography business and my identity as the Vero Beach Mermaid.”
She expressed how thankful she is for those in the community keeping her dream alive, and gratitude for being able to help others achieve their own dreams.
“I have no fear of depths, and a great fear of shallow living.” – Anais Nin
Brandee Anthony can be reached on social media @brandeeanthonymedia, @brandee_anthony, or @verobeachmermaid.
Check out her site here: https://www.brandeeanthony.com/
I earned my bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Central Florida, and my bachelor's in nursing from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA. I certainly embrace my experience as a nurse (and have experience as a firefighter and EMT as well), however my passion has always been in the field of journalism. I thoroughly enjoy writing and making words come to life.
When I'm not behind a computer screen typing or in front of a canvas painting, you can usually find me somewhere near the water with my two kids and my husky, Skye (who also blogs and has her own YouTube).
I think small businesses that are locally-owned and operated are far under appreciated so I support and recommend them whenever I can.
Oh, and I am fueled by sunshine, coffee, and pixie dust.
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