00:02When I'm swimming, when I tell my face, literally, I'm like the sun.
00:08I glow.
00:10I'm happy it's there.
00:12I feel beautiful.
00:15Hi, I'm Cookie de Jesus, the Harlem Mermaid.
00:20I grew up very lonely.
00:23I had no friends.
00:26I was an abused child.
00:29When I first saw the movie, Mr. Peabody the Mermaid, I fell in love with the mermaid.
00:34He says, I'm going to be a mermaid.
00:37I'm going to swim free in the ocean where nobody could ever hurt me again.
00:50We've lived here for 16 years now.
00:52The first five years, I did not leave the house at all.
00:56And then when my son introduced me to the internet, that was it.
00:59He told me, Mom, you could buy mermaids on the computer.
01:03I'm like, other people want to be mermaids too?
01:05No way.
01:06And these were actually real people dressed as mermaids.
01:09So, of course, I flipped out and I was ecstatic.
01:11My first mermaid that I actually interacted with was Mermaid Cario.
01:15And she is what I envisioned mermaids to be.
01:19And she was the kindest and sweetest.
01:22She let me use her photos of her and her tails to Photoshop myself in.
01:27And that's how my Photoshopping began.
01:29Yeah.
01:30That's my face and her body.
01:32That was one of the first ones I did.
01:34When I do Photoshopping, I take myself from one place to the next without ever leaving my seat.
01:41I look at it and I'm happy.
01:45I knew in my heart that my soulmate was out there that was going to come to save me from
01:51all of it.
01:51And he did.
01:52His name is Ralph de Jesus.
01:54And he's my mer-wrangler.
01:58He made me my first tail.
02:03All my tails, most of them made by my mer-creator husband.
02:06With his help, he made me believe that I could still be a mermaid.
02:11All she needed was a tail.
02:13I didn't know anything about cutting out patterns or measurements or nothing like that.
02:17I found it on YouTube.
02:18I found the video.
02:19She explained it to me so easy.
02:24So I sat there for two nights and I sewed it by hand.
02:28That's what she wanted to do.
02:29She wanted to be a mermaid.
02:31Mer-wrangler is a very important part of a mermaid life, at least to me.
02:36He's my everything.
02:37My soulmate.
02:38The right one.
02:51I don't get tired of showing up at our wedding.
02:53Pictures, our wedding, articles.
02:56This is our pride and joy.
02:58Of course, this is our favorite.
03:00That's the ah moment.
03:02Pronouncing mermaid and mer-wrangler.
03:04That's pretty cool.
03:06That's just, oh gosh, she's a beast.
03:08She's, today she's gonna be extra heavy.
03:13Nice hair.
03:15Welcome.
03:22Between the mermaiding itself and the mermaid community, welcoming and embracing me and telling
03:28me, yes, yes, you could do this.
03:31I actually feel more motivated, healthier.
03:34More than anything, I feel beautiful.
03:41It doesn't matter what size, shape, how old, what gender you are, become what you want.
03:46And I will not let no one stop.
03:50Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the video.
03:52Click here to see another video that I've done.
03:55Click here to subscribe to Refinery29.
03:57And click here to see another playlist.
04:00Stay cool.
04:01Stay cool.
04:02Alright.
04:05This is harder than it looks.
04:07I will be there.
04:10Woo!
04:11Alright.
04:12You're flipping.
04:13Alright.
04:14Bye.
04:14Bye.
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