DOING IT SCARED…

Since I was very small, I’ve had an undeniable love for tattoos.

I love the art. I love to touch my art. I love the aesthetic. I love the self-expression and personal storytelling. I love the rebel spirit.

But tattoos were the last thing that anyone in my life wanted me loving, God forbid pursuing a career in. My parents, bless their hearts, tried their best to sway me towards reliable, traditional, financially secure job paths, but my heart was set on art and art alone.

As I pursued art throughout my childhood and into college, I searched for my people. The creative, open-minded, accepting, supportive, odd-balls of the art world that I longed to surround myself with. But by the time I was in college, I found myself frustrated and disappointed by the wildly exclusive and judgmental culture around fine arts.

I was a multi-disciplinary, multi-faceted artist, but even other creatives told me that what I wanted to do wasn’t possible or that my art wasn’t “good enough” to be shown publicly, unless I adhered to industry norms. This was not the world of art I wanted to be apart of. I wanted human connection. I wanted collaboration. I wanted to touch my art and have my art live to be touched and enjoyed for years to come. I tried to make my collegiate art practice fit into all the boxes, but every time, I found myself feeling empty and unfulfilled.

With my graphic design and fine arts focus, I ventured into the world of marketing and entrepreneurship after graduation; as well as began my tattoo journey. You see, I was literally forbidden by my parents to get any tattoos until after graduation, so of course, within my first month back in San Diego, I was on the bench getting my first piece.

Over the years I continued to build small my ink collection, falling deeper and deeper in love with tattoos as an art form, but also as a practice. I met my mentor while networking with like-minded, female entrepreneurs, but she became my tattoo artist first. We had multiple sessions and shared so many hours of deep conversations. One day, as we were dreaming up our creative futures, she mentioned wanting to take on an apprentice and a light bulb switched on.

I realized that tattoos had always been the art form that my heart desired. So many aspects of art and the human connection I was craving could be found in this practice and I was stopped dead in my tracks. This felt huge! It felt like an opportunity that I had always wanted, but was too scared to asked for and in that moment, I made my decision.

Scared or not, I was doing this and NOTHING and NO ONE was going to stand in my way.

There have been good days and bad days along this beautiful journey so far. Uncertainty and doubt still creep in, but the little girl in me…the one that stayed true to her heart and chased art no matter what…she deserves to see her dream realized! So here’s to showing up for ourselves and doing it scared, no matter who doubts our vision, questions our path, or calls us crazy.

Thank you for being here with me! I will do my best to share what I learn and create opportunities for other creatives along the way and I hope you’ll stick around to see it all come to life!