My Journey

It all started back when my sister got her first tattoo. She got a Disney castle with lettering spelling out, “A wish is a dream your heart makes” on her ankle. My family at the time was not too into getting tattoos and had reservations about certain tattoos. However one day I drew a picture of a jellyfish on a napkin and my dad saw this jellyfish and decided he wanted it tattooed on his ankle where he had once been stung by a jellyfish. Slowly but surely my family was leaning more into the tattoo world and I was leaning more and more into designing tattoos. 

I started drawing on my friends in high school and later they would get those drawings tattooed on themselves. I then went on to design my sister’s next few tattoos and realized I really enjoyed designing tattoos. I then designed some more tattoos for my mother and father as well as myself. 

In college I stopped drawing so much and grew distant from my relationship with art and design. I was studying jazz and was diving deeper into that lifestyle. However after graduating UCLA with a degree in Global Jazz Studies I realized it was incredibly difficult to find work. I decided to rekindle my relationship with art, and was going to pursue tattooing as a career as well as fine art. I bought a tattoo machine and all the necessary equipment and put all my energy towards learning to tattoo. I took an online program to guide me towards tattooing myself for the first time and then eventually a few friends. 

After tattooing some friends out of my apartment I realized I needed someone to guide me to push my art further and push me to perfect my craft. This led me to pursue an apprenticeship. I called place after place and was rejected call after call. No, we aren't doing apprenticeships here. No, no one is here interested in taking on an apprentice. I was apprehensive about the type of apprenticeships as well. There are several apprenticeships that will wait to teach you anything until a year or more into your apprenticeship. So the whole thing was a tricky situation and I had no idea how to navigate it. 

Upon further research I happened to find Speakeasy Tattoo in Los Angeles California. After some initial emails I met with Scott Glazier at Speakeasy Tattoo. 

I believe that life is about finding the right people and through my apprenticeship so far I feel that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.