SILVA AND GOLD

Camille Albrecht, who teaches synchronized swimming at the New Tampa YMCA, embraces her former student Juliana Silva.

When Juliana Silva’s family first moved to New Tampa, she didn’t speak a word of English; all she understood was her love of the water. 

“I’ve been in a pool since I was four,” says Juliana, now 17 and a former student at Benito Middle School and both Wharton and Wiregrass Ranch high schools.

Currently, Juliana lives in Moraga, CA, just outside of San Francisco, where she trains full-time with the U.S. Junior National Synchronized Swim Team.

After nine years on the Tampa YMCA Stingrays (TYS) competitive “synchro” team at the New Tampa facility, Juliana has her sights set on the ultimate prize: a 2024 Olympic gold medal.

“Juliana came to the Stingrays as an eager-to-learn, naturally athletic eight-year-old,” says TYS Head Coach Camille Albrecht, 30, who has sent several students to the national team. 

Since Juliana didn’t understand English at the time, Albrecht would use hand motions to demonstrate the correct techniques. 

“She picked up all the synchro words and English very quickly,” said Albrecht, who described Juliana as a “joy to coach, always cheering everyone else on.” 

Although Juliana was born in Indianapolis, IN, her family (mother Susana Barrios, father Rafael Silva and brother Leo Silva) moved to Venezuela and Colombia shortly after, returning to the U.S. in 2011. 

“I’d always heard that Tampa was a great city,” says Susana. “Before we moved here, I visited friends who lived right across the street from Hunter’s Green, and I totally fell in love with the area.” 

Athleticism comes naturally to Juliana. Her brother, now 19, started soccer at five, and their father was a former amateur champion and professional tennis player.

All Juliana wanted to do at first was stay home, so her mother decided to get her out of the house by signing Juliana up for swim classes at the Y. 

“She looked at me on the way to that first class and said, ‘Okay Mom, I’m going to try this once, but if I don’t like it, I’m not going to do it,’” Susana says. 

A month later, Juliana  began training with Albrecht, kickstarting her dreams of Olympic gold. 

Building A Track Record Of Excellence

At age 14, Silva placed sixth in her very first Regional “zone” meet, qualifying her for the National meet. It took three attempts to make the junior national team, which she did by placing 16th in the nation. 

“Before that, I was hard on myself,” Juliana says. “I told myself I’d never make it, that this was just for fun. But making it to Nationals was an eye-opener.” 

Susana says she began saving money for the pricey gear required for her daughter’s national competitions, including single swimsuits that could cost $200 apiece. She served her daughter meals and did her laundry while Juliana powered through a grueling training schedule, before and after school and on weekends. 

“My mom supports me to the max,” Juliana says. “She’s the one who’s always pushed me to do this — the reason I joined synchro in the first place is because she was tired of me being in bed, watching Netflix and getting fat!” 

In California, Juliana trains from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. every day except Sunday and spends four hours each evening online for academic classes. 

“It’s like a robot routine,” admits Juliana, who lives with two other teammates and a host family in California. “You wake up, eat breakfast, train, shower, do homework, eat dinner and repeat. If I lay in bed in the morning and think about it too much, I won’t get up.” 

Juliana also says that if she hadn’t struggled to qualify for Nationals at first, she would never have made it this far. 

“My numbers, and knowing I could do better, motivated me,” she says. “Just wanting this won’t get you anywhere. You have to put in the action.” 

Juliana’s team will begin its Olympic training after the Junior World Championships in August, as the team members aim for Paris 2024. 

Susana, who graduated law school at 22, encouraged her daughter to pursue her Olympic dreams and return to college later, reasoning that Juliana will still be plenty young when she “retires” from competitive swimming. 

“I don’t want synchro to be my whole life, because when I retire, I want a career to back me up so I have somewhere to go,” says Juliana, a high school junior who’s interested in forensic science. 

She says she misses everything about Tampa, especially her family and friends, her own bed, and the “heat and humid air,” which she says is easier on her eczema, a skin condition that she says is aggravated by swimming in chlorinated water. 

“My kids are truly Floridians, and we all think of Tampa as home,” Susana says. “Everyone here was so supportive and friendly when we moved in; my kids were invited to sleepovers a week later.” 

Susana says that she will always be grateful for the New Tampa community and particularly the New Tampa YMCA, which twice assisted Juliana via the Y’s Open Doors sliding scale program, without which lessons would have been unaffordable for the family. 

When a spot on the national team opened up, Juliana’s family had one week to decide if she would take it. 

“I told her it was her decision, and she told me, ‘Mom, I’m ready, I’m going,’” says Susana. “When I realized she’d be in a big city without me, I struggled, and of course, I miss her. We’re very close, she’s my baby. But I’m happy.” 

Truly One Of Our Own!

Juliana says she is very excited about the possibility of one day representing New Tampa in the Olympics. 

“When I got here it was unreal; it took me a while to realize that I’m actually here, that I made it, that this is my spot,” she says. “It feels amazing to know that you have a lot of people supporting you and even looking up to you.” 

Susana says she remembers watching, along with Juliana and her grandmother, Michael Phelps’ family celebrate his victory in the 2016 Olympic Games. 

“Juliana turned to her grandmother and asked her if she was ready, and my mother asked, ‘Ready for what?’ And Juliana said, ‘That’s gonna be you, I’m gonna take you to the Olympics!’” 

“If my daughter says she’s going to the Olympics,” Susana continued, “she will be there.” 

For more information about the Tampa YMCA Stingrays, visit TampaYMCA.org or call Camille Albrecht at (813) 785-7092. 

Creative Permanent Makeup By Pam: Worry-Free Eyebrows & More

Pam Edmonson has a warm, welcoming personality that sparkles. You might say she lights up the room. Her passion really shines through when she talks about helping and serving people, especially through her career.

Pam is an experienced permanent makeup artist who owns Serenity Salon & Spa Suites, located off S.R. 54 in the Brookfield Professional Park, about a half-mile west of Morris Bridge Rd./Eiland Blvd. in Wesley Chapel. At the salon, she provides permanent makeup for eyebrows, eyelids and lips.

“It’s such a blessing to know that I’m really being helpful to people,” she says, “especially when you see that end result that makes them feel better about themselves.”

One area of specialty for Pam is helping people who have had cancer. Some come to her after they’ve lost all of their hair from chemotherapy. Others find her before they lose their hair. Pam can help to create their eyebrows in permanent makeup, following the natural hairline that already exists.

Pam says her career in permanent makeup started after many years of running a business in the manufactured housing industry. In 2009, Pam says she wanted to do something different, so she went to school to become a hair stylist.

While she enjoyed hair, Pam says she soon discovered something that interested her even more.

“I love detail,” Pam says. “As a detail person, eyebrows are what first drew me into the permanent makeup field.”

She studied permanent makeup at the Boca Ta-2 School for Permanent Makeup in Williston, FL, in 2010 and began providing permanent makeup services in Zephyrhills in 2011. She is licensed in Florida as both a cosmetologist and as a tattoo artist. 

Pam offers permanent makeup for eyebrows and lips, along with permanent eyeliner. Many of her clients who want permanent eyebrows choose a technique called microblading.

“Brows are always my favorite because of the drastic way they change how someone looks,” Pam says. “Our eyes are meant to be framed, and brows definitely complete the face. Some women look so much younger when they have them done.”

With microblading, Pam uses a small blade and ink to create individual stroke lines. She uses a pencil to draw an outline, then uses the microblade to draw each individual hair, adding a more natural look to the eyebrow.

Pam strongly recommends that anyone considering microblading “should do their homework,” explaining that some people who offer the service may only have taken a three-day class in the technique before they start working on clients. The person who will do your eyebrows should sit down with you and show you before-and-after pictures of their own work, Pam says.

Pam was trained in microblading in 2014, when the process was new. Since then, she says she has done hundreds of sets of eyebrows.

“It’s been close to 10 years since I first went to school,” says Pam. “I’ve learned so much over the years about different ways of doing things, using certain inks, learning from experience, and how everyone’s skin is so different.”

She requires a free, in-person, no-obligation consultation for all clients. Even for someone who is sure they want permanent makeup, Pam still requires a consultation, to look at each individual and their unique skin, and to help them decide which technique is right for them.

Johella Liguori is a client of Pam’s who just recently had microblading done on her eyebrows and permanent eyeliner both above and below her eyes.

“It was great,” she says. “She was very welcoming, super friendly. She’s awesome.”

Johella says she was looking for a way to simplify her daily routine, and not having to worry about eye makeup would make life easier for her.

When figuring out where to have those services done, she did her research, including spending time on Pam’s website at CreativePermanentMakeupByPam.com.

“What caught my eye is that she has tons of years of experience,” says Johella, adding that, “Pam told me from the get-go that I would have to come back for a touch up and fills. I actually came in a third time because my skin is very oily, so she wasn’t satisfied with the result. She had me come again and she didn’t charge me extra for either of the follow-ups.”

But, Johella says she has been thrilled with her results.

“I’m a dentist,” explains Johella, “and everyone notices. I’ve gotten tons of compliments from my patients and co-workers.”

She says many people ask her how much it hurts. For Johella, it wasn’t painful at all. She says Pam kept her numb so she didn’t feel anything, and she appreciated how Pam made her comfortable and ensured that she was never in pain.

Johella says her procedures were all done on Saturdays, and she was able to go right back to work two days later (on Monday). In fact, after her touch-ups, she was out that afternoon, even attending a Christmas party on the same day. She says she had no pain, no discomfort, and no redness or puffiness that would keep her from participating in normal activities.

“Let me tell you,” Johella says. “This lady, she knows her stuff. Eyebrows are her deal.”

There are many women who come to Pam wanting permanent makeup and, like Johella, leave with it, but Pam says there also are many other women who — for one reason or another — don’t.

“You always get a completely honest opinion from me,” says Pam. “It might not be what you want to hear, but I’ll tell you the truth. If somebody isn’t a good candidate, I’ll tell them.”

That might be because of issues with their skin or previous scar tissue. (In fact, Pam says some women are told they should get yearly touch-ups, but Pam recommends asking her for a more personalized recommendation, since yearly touch-ups can cause scarring, and most women don’t need touch-ups that often.)

Sometimes, Pam says she has turned some women away who already had beautiful brows and didn’t need the procedure.

“There are a lot of times that people come in for a consult and they walk out with brow powder,” laughs Pam.

Johella says that anyone considering having microblading or permanent makeup should consider Pam. 

“She’s amazing and I’m grateful,” she says. “With Pam, you really bond and she takes you in as part of her family. She’s really passionate about what she does.”

Creative Permanent Makeup by Pam is located at Serenity Salon & Spa Suites at 33913 S.R. 54, Suite 101, in Wesley Chapel. For a free consultation or more information about Pam’s permanent makeup services, visit CreativePermanentMakeupbyPam.com or call or text Pam at (813) 997-6302.