In 2018, I took it upon myself to quit my side hustle job, teach myself everything I know about tattooing, and begin a deeply transformational and integrative personal development journey in order to heal myself as a person, artist, and woman.

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My journey as a creative started in 2013. After getting my BFA in printmaking, dark room photography, and ceramics, I began life as an entrepreneur running my business as a working artist.

Between 2013 - 2018, I took on any project that fit into my wheel house — from murals to wedding photography, illustration projects to gallery shows, I was dedicated to making my career as an artist stick. And I was doing all this while working side jobs to pay the bills. I waited tables, worked in a kitchen, and landed a job at an art consulting firm. 

In the process, I nurtured hopes and dreams, grew a clientele, learned a ton, and slowly cultivated a hustle mentality — “grind, grind grind, LFG, juggle everything, gotta make it work” was my vibe. Within the hustle, I was visited by limiting beliefs and fears...

• “Will I ever make enough money as an artist?”
• “Will I always need to hustle and have a second job?”
• “Is my work good enough?”
• “I need to sweat and grind for this to work.”

In the light of my misalignment, fear, and pain, the universe began to nudge me in a new direction. I got hired to do the illustrations for a book on witchcraft, shared those designs, and from there, I began to get commissions for tattoo designs that my ___ would take to a tattooer willing to tattoo my art.

I was deeply touched that people were wanting to get my art tattooed on them and slowly started to consider the possibility of myself as a tattooer. The desire to connect with my clients and hold a mindful space within the industry pushed me to begin seeking an apprenticeship.

I was met with a lot of closed doors and my own imposter syndrome:

• “Will I ever make enough money as an artist or will I always need to have a second job?"
• "Am I even cool enough, good enough, talented enough to pursue this career?" 
• "I need to sweat, grind, and hustle for this to work.”
• “Can I actually do this?”

The magical part of this timing is that right as I began to build my career as a tattoo artist, despite being met with resistance and rejection, I attended my first women’s retreat and began the deeply profound, completely life changing personal development journey that I still find myself on to this day.