How to Build a Mermaid Pod (The Jakarta Way!)

When you think of Jakarta, images of bustling streets and towering skylines might come to mind — but beneath the surface, there’s a thriving mermaid community quietly making waves. 🧜‍♀️✨

I recently had the joy of meeting Imela K. Soetman at the International Mermaid & Aquatic Arts Championship 2025 in Jakarta. Among the shimmer of tails and the hum of the expo, we connected — not just as fellow booth owners but as two people passionate about building stronger mermaid communities.

If you don’t know Imela yet, here’s the short splash: she’s a professional singer-songwriter, the lead vocalist of Ten2Five, a mother of three, and a seriously accomplished mermaid — an SSI Ocean Mermaid, Aquamermaid Swimming Instructor, and MFI Master Mermaid Instructor. 🧜‍♀️✨

Working alongside her is Liu Junaidi, a professional Chinese translator, SSI Ocean Mermaid, and ambassador for both Sea Maid and BRAVEER — truly a power pod if there ever was one!

Since that day at the expo, I had the chance to dive deeper (pun fully intended) into Imela’s world and hear how she and her partner are keeping their Jakarta pod thriving — and what it really takes to build a community of fins, friends, and endless inspiration.

🎉 What Their Gatherings Look Like

So what does a typical Jakarta pod meetup look like? Picture this:

• 🌊 Swim sessions to train and improve

• 📸 Social media content creation (because let’s be honest, tails + water = pure magic on camera)

• 🥗 Shared meals and casual chit-chat

• 🎁 Themed get-togethers during holidays like Christmas or Eid, complete with gift exchanges and laughter echoing off the pool tiles
  

And my favorite? The birthdays.

Imela laughed as she recalled their third birthday party at a stunning glass pool hotel — a perfect scene, until a sudden storm blew through and scattered all the carefully set tables.
"But no one left," she said. "Everyone just stayed, rearranged everything together, and kept celebrating."
A true pod moment — fins against the storm. 🐠💙

💬 Keeping the Pod Alive: More Than Just Swim Sessions

One of the most common challenges every community organizer faces is keeping the energy alive between meetups.
For Imela, it’s all about consistency and connection.

She and her co-organizer make it a point to keep their WhatsApp group active, sending simple "good morning" messages, celebrating birthdays, and sparking conversations — not just about mermaiding, but life in general.

"We agreed to always keep the WhatsApp group alive... even non-mermaid related chat helps. The group is active always."

It’s a reminder that community isn’t built just at events — it’s in the daily check-ins, the memes, the random life updates. It’s about making people feel seen, even when they aren’t in the pool.

🌍 Why MerMapp Can Make a Splash

If you’re dreaming of starting your own mermaid community, Imela’s journey offers some solid pearls of wisdom:

• Start small, stay steady — Magic grows over time, not overnight.

• Keep the waters calm — Stay neutral, have clear rules to prevent drama and invite your members check out the Anti-Drama Mermaid Course so that everyone know how to handle their and others' emotions

• Be consistent — Whether it's meetups or simple chats, show up regularly. And don't be shy to use tools that are already out there like MerMapp to make your life a heck of a lot easier!

• Celebrate the small stuff — Birthdays, holidays, random swim days.
  

Include everyone — Even the quiet mers. Every tail matters.

🧜‍♂️ Tips for Future Pod Leaders

Imela’s journey started like many great ones do — with a simple idea: gather people who share the same passion for mermaiding and create a space to swim, train, and dream together.

What began as a small meetup in local pools quickly turned into something magical, called Mutiara Mermaid

"It turned out to be a magical place for us to be together, sharing knowledge about everything mermaid-y in Indonesia and abroad," she told me. 🐚

It wasn’t just about swimming — it became about building a home, a safe space for creativity, friendship, and those dreamlike moments only mers understand.

🧜‍♀️ How It All Began: One Pod, One Dream

Hearing her talk about the struggles of keeping a local pod active, I couldn’t help but think about how MerMapp was built exactly for this.

Imela mentioned how keeping their pod alive often comes down to staying active on their WhatsApp group — but as any group admin knows, WhatsApp has its limits.
New members can't see what happened before they joined, and important info like event updates or frequently asked questions gets buried in an endless scroll of chat bubbles. 🫧

That’s where MerMapp steps in — and here’s how we’re working to make life easier for community builders like Imela:

1. Coming Soon:
   🌊 Pod-dedicated chat groups inside MerMapp — with searchable threads and organized topics, so new members can dive right in without missing a beat.
   No more repetitive questions or lost event announcements. Everything stays easy to find — and easy to manage.

2. Already Live:

   MerMapp Pods: You can create groups on MerMapp for your local pod, just like Imela's group (you can find it under 'Mutiara Mermaid Indonesia' on MerMapp's pod list)! With that people can easily find you - whether close by and becoming regular pod members or travelers there to pay you a visit and explore your local mermaid vibes.

3. Already Live:
   🧜‍♀️ MerMapp Discord Community — a vibrant, active space with organized channels and threads.
   Whether you’re looking for gear advice, travel tips, or event info, you can connect with mers worldwide — and get real answers, fast. Also - each pod created on MerMapp gets a private pod channel to easily communicate and stay connected - already a big upgrade in comparison to Whatsapp or Facebook groups!
   
   

And the best part?
In the future, we’ll integrate this community hub directly into the MerMapp app — no extra downloads, no extra fuss. Just pure, streamlined mermaid magic at your fingertips. 🐚✨

"Mermapp will lead you to the right place and right merpeople," she said with a smile.
And that’s the vision — a global map of connected mers, where finding friends (and answers to all your MerInquiries) is as easy as finding the nearest beach.

We also chatted about MerMapp’s weekly ocean and mer-life challenges — little nudges to keep communities active and inspired between meetups.
"We do similar things ourselves to keep meetups less boring — having Mermapp help with ideas would be great!"
And honestly, isn’t that what every busy organizer deserves? A little help keeping the pod vibrant without burning out.

🌟 Dreams for the Future

So what’s next for Imela and her Jakarta pod?
Big dreams, bigger waves.

"We want to see it grow bigger and stronger, and give back to people," she told me.
They envision a future with shows that create jobs, workshops for creatives, social initiatives, and ocean conservation education for kids. 🐠🌍

“I hope my partner and I can manage it till our last bubble kisses.” 💞

Well, we hope so, too, and will be there with features on MerMapp like our event calendar, service section (to post and find these talents), weekly challenges, pod groups and more!

Community isn’t just built in the pools or on the beaches — it’s built in every message, every smile, every shared dream.

What Imela and her Jakarta pod have created is more than a group of mers — it’s proof that even in a fast-paced world, you can carve out a space where magic thrives. 💙

And with tools like MerMapp’s global map, community forums, and our Discord already buzzing with ideas (plus pod chats and searchable threads coming soon), staying connected is about to get even easier — no matter where in the world your fins take you.

The future of mermaid pods looks brighter (and saltier) than ever — and we’re just getting started. 🐚🌍✨

🌊 Final Splash

🚧 The Challenges Below the Surface

Of course, it’s not always smooth swimming.

Consistency can be a double-edged sword.
Some members stay quiet or drop off, and long commutes make in-person gatherings tricky in a city as vast as Jakarta.

"The passive ones can be so quiet and hardly join... but I don't intend to kick them out of the group because it will start something," Imela shared.
Patience, understanding, and a drama-free approach are her guiding stars.

Her advice to anyone starting a pod?
Start small, stay consistent, be neutral, and make clear rules.
(And yes — reduce drama wherever possible. Wise words for mer-life and beyond, which is exactly what our Anti-Drama Mermaid Course was made for in case you haven't tried it out yet.)