Odd jobs

We're fascinated by women who've stepped outside the nine-to-five to earn a living.

- CHARIS TORRANCE

I often wonder what my life would have been like had I chosen a completely different career - one with less time spent tapping away at a keyboard and more thrills and adventure. But I love my job, so if I were ever to step into someone else's work shoes, it would have to be doing something that has always intrigued me, or a job that I didn't even know existed. We chatted to seven women who are doing just that.

Nadia Walker and Izelle Nair, the mermaid coaches

AS a child, Izelle loved swimming and mermaids she watched The Little Mermaid at least a hundred times. I'm blonde, but I dye my hair red, and I'm sure it can be traced back to wanting to be Ariel growing up!' she says. Her childhood dream has essentially come true: Izelle teaches mermaiding: how to swim just as gracefully as the majestic mythical creatures she grew up admiring. 'It's for fitness, it's for fun, it's for fantasy, it's therapy - but most of all, mermaiding is a sport,' Izelle says.

Mermaiding was classified as a sport in Europe in 2019. Izelle first saw a mermaid coach on TV in 2019, and during 2020, when the pool next door to her yoga studio in Kyalami shut down during lockdown, she spotted an opportunity and opened her mermaid school, Merschool.

Izelle and Nadia, a synchronised swimmer, offer swimming lessons and mermaid courses, as well as mermaiding parties.

There are 10 basic mermaiding moves you need to master in the pool, including the backflip, glide and dolphin kick. And although these women make it look easy, it's anything but. 'Mermaid swimming builds your core, Izelle says. "The huge fitness advantage is that it uses every single part of your body. Because you're swimming with a weight around your legs, your strength increases quite quickly.'