Stroke Recovery and Gratitude: A Tattoo Artist's Inspiring Comeback ft. Stevie Randallyn

In this episode of Chats and Tatts,  I had the privilege of interviewing Stevie Randallyn, a tattoo artist who overcame a life-altering stroke. Stevie shared her journey of experiencing a stroke at a young age and how it affected her ability to speak, taste, and even tattoo. Despite facing significant challenges, Stevie's determination and resilience shone through as she navigated the difficulties of relearning how to tattoo with one hand and overcoming the limitations caused by the stroke.

Stevie's story is one of redemption and inspiration, showcasing her unwavering passion for tattooing and her ability to adapt to new circumstances. She highlighted the importance of support from the tattoo community and the impact of her stroke on her personality and perspective on life. Through her experiences, Stevie emphasized the power of gratitude and the ability to find strength in the face of adversity.

Overall, Stevie's journey serves as a reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity to overcome challenges with determination and a positive mindset. Her story is a testament to the transformative power of perseverance and the ability to find beauty and gratitude in every moment.

Chat breakdown:

[00:02:33] Stevie's love for tattooing.

[00:04:51] Overcoming adversity.

[00:09:33] Stroke recovery and realization.

[00:12:53] Overcoming challenges for two daughters.

[00:16:49] Overcoming self-pity and finding inspiration.

[00:17:41] Tattoo community and support.

[00:29:31] Overcoming language challenges post-stroke.

[00:35:13] Life-changing effects of stroke.

[00:39:57] Lack of gratitude.

[00:42:09] Acupuncture and stroke recovery.

[00:47:00] Juggling motherhood and tattooing.

[00:51:19] Overcoming challenges in motorcycle riding.

[00:58:59] Embracing individuality in tattoo art.

[01:00:08] Drawing on iPad vs. paper.

[01:06:42] Tattooing and personal growth.

[01:11:59] The evolution of tattoo marketing.

[01:14:29] Tattooing traditions and inspiration.

Quotes:

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I woke up one morning, it was like 10 o'clock in the morning. I was
getting ready to go to breakfast with some friends and I
was getting my like clothes out of my suitcase
and I tried to say I was going to go take a shower and it came out
like, oh, like really, really weird.

(00:36):
Hello, friends, neighbors, beautiful
beings of light filled with creativity and love. It's
in there, man. It's still in there. Hey, if you don't feel that
way when I say that, I challenge you. Sit somewhere quietly
in a beautiful place and really ask yourself, because we're all
born with it. Shit happens. We lose

(00:59):
track of it. It gets covered up with layers of life and trauma, but
it's still there. I see it in you, and I know that you guys are
shining pretty brightly. Otherwise, you wouldn't even listen to this goddamn show. So, thank
you for tuning in once again to Chats and Tats, and as you all know,
I love stories of redemption. Stories of
People overcoming huge obstacles in life, you

(01:20):
know, a lot of people, it crushes them. They never are the same. They
will use that traumatic event as an
excuse for everything they can't accomplish or
can't do. Yet you'll meet others that have been through some pretty gnarly shit,
and they just get up, pull their pants up, and get on with life. And
the person I have on today is one of those people. She
went through what i think a lot of artists would consider like

(01:43):
the worst nightmare ever even though look let's be fair there's
probably worse things that can happen to humans i do and i
think she would agree there is but you know i have
been terrified of something like this happening
to me whether it be a motorcycle accident or something else and
i've been lucky enough to still maintain and not have any of those things

(02:04):
go down but she went through something and it really affected her life and it really affected
her career and uh it's been a few years now and she's back
on the horse So I'll let her kind of break that down for you guys.
And then we're going to get into a little bit about just her journey in tattooing. I
don't know if I mentioned she is a tattoo artist of
16 years, but I'll let her kind of get into all this stuff with her own words. So

(02:26):
with all that being said, please welcome my guest today, Stevie
Randlin. Hi. Hi. Welcome. I'm
glad you're here. Thanks for coming. You know, we out front, we're talking and it turns
out we have some friends obviously in tattooing. You currently
work out of your tattoo studio in Kingman, Arizona,
Blackwater Tattoo. You've had for 10 years, off and

(02:49):
on, because you went through some things that we're gonna talk about. I'm sure it couldn't be open consistently,
but it's been off and on for 10 years. You've been tattooing for 16 years,
but you also have a lot of connections in Las Vegas at a
few shops, with Bad Apple notably, Eddie, good friend of mine, DJ,
good friend of mine, great people. So it was fun that we recognized that we
know some folks in common. And you are born here

(03:12):
Well, I wasn't born here, but my parents moved me here. Like
Right. So this is sort of the original homeland. Yeah. Ocean
I loved it. I loved it. Then. Not so
It was all hippies and bikers. Yeah. Yeah. I remember I, I

(03:34):
was just, I lived in Ocean Beach when I first moved to San Diego, 27 years
ago, whatever. And, uh, I was pulling the punk rock look
and I didn't understand, you know, to me it was like, oh, this is where all the freaks
live. And, uh, and, uh, these like more biker
dudes, I had like green hair or some shit. They drove by
me. They were like, get the fuck out of O.B. fucking And

(03:55):
I was like, whoa, this is gnarly. They don't like punk
rock dudes. It was just, I don't know, just one little moment. But I
did have, I spent a lot of time in Ocean Beach and it's cool to
me too. I hate to even say it on air, but a lot of people who come to San Diego, they
No, it's it's kind of like a hidden little gem. It is. You have to like, no,
because it's like that one little tiny road going in. Yeah. And like, unless

(04:18):
And then it's attached to what I think is one of the most beautiful places
That was my favorite place to trick or treat when I was a kid, because you got
Because it's a bunch of mansions. Yeah. Yeah. Peninsula. Yeah. Well,
that's cool. So we have a lot of kind of common, you know, San
Diego, Southern California. I grew up in Boulder City, Nevada, just outside of

(04:40):
Las Vegas. Yeah. So I'm sure if we talked long enough, we'd probably find
about 50 more people we both know. We'll figure that out later. But
I don't want to put you, I just want to throw you in the deep end, but I do. Yeah.
Because one of the reasons I want to have you on is what I said in my introduction, which is
overcoming adversity. So why don't you tell us
this story? And I believe we're talking five years ago

(05:03):
It should be. Actually, April
15th will be my fifth year since the stroke. Oh, almost
What happened? So I. was down here
coincidentally visiting I woke up one morning it was like 10 o'clock
in the morning I was getting ready to go to breakfast with some
friends and I was

(05:27):
getting my like clothes out of my um suitcase and
I tried to say I was gonna go take a shower and it came out like
Like really, really weird. I don't even know how to like re-imitate it.
But I want to say that in the person that I was seeing back at this
time, he was like, Do you want to try that again? And I

(05:47):
panic and I was like, No, never mind. And that came
out normal. And I remember holding like I just held my mouth
and I was like, What? What was that? Yeah. And
he went to go get coffee. I go to sit on
Yeah. And like open my suitcase and I'm picking out my clothes
and I'm like leaning forward and I'm like and then all of a sudden I

(06:10):
just fell and I was like pinned in between a couch and a
bed. And, you know, my body was just dead weight
and I couldn't scream. I couldn't yell like nothing would
work. And I was like, what is what is this? But I wasn't scared.
I wasn't, I don't know. I just, I had no idea what was going on. And so
a couple of minutes later, he walks back in the room and I go, or

(06:31):
he asked me what I was doing. He was like, why, what, why, what are you doing? Why are you
on the floor? And I could whisper and I could still talk later
on. I lose the capability of speech, but I whispered and
I was like, I can't get up. Like, so he comes over, he
sits on the other side of me. We sit on the edge of the bed and he goes, uh,
let's go to the hospital. And I was like, I don't have insurance. So

(06:53):
no. And I was like, just wait, let's just wait 30 minutes and see
Yeah. I don't know,
I just panicked and I was like... No judgment. Also

(07:13):
because like, you know, when you're, I mean, up until
I learned everything that I learned, I was like, only old people have strokes. So I
Like I was just... So to be clear, everybody, she blew that one there, but
Yeah. And so my boyfriend at the time goes, you

(07:41):
OK. Yeah. So he puts me in the car and
we go to the hospital. Luckily, it was only 15 minutes away, which is
I had a hemorrhagic stroke. There's a hemorrhagic and ischemic hemorrhagic
Yes, it is the worst one. I should not have lived. If I would have been
there, like, you know, any longer, like later, I probably

(08:03):
wouldn't have made it. So good on him for making the executive decision
to ignore me. Yeah. So we got to the hospital and
everything was still functioning. But that was when I started to panic is when we
were in the hospital and then they skipped everybody else
in the ER. And we're just got to go in first. Yeah, they
took me in first, cut all my clothes off. And that's when I started to panic. And

(08:24):
I was just like, Okay, this is bad. And
that's like I was kind of like one of those things where like you, you
know, you're there. And so then you panic or
your panic kind of like subsides. And I just like relax
and was like, Okay, well, I'm here and they can take care of me now. And
so I don't know how long the first deal

(08:46):
was, but I probably was, you know, in and out for like a whole 24 hours.
And then my family said they thought that
I was like unconscious for five days, but I
would wake up in like the middle of the night and everybody else
would be sleeping and I'd be like, what's going on? Like, you know, but I couldn't
communicate and I couldn't talk like, and that didn't go away until like,

(09:08):
you know, a day or two into the hospital. Then all of a sudden
my speech went and then like, I couldn't
But you had been told at this point, you understood you had
Okay. Yeah. But everybody asked me if I panicked or was scared and
I wasn't. I was just like, okay, well this will be a six month vacation.

(09:33):
Yeah. I was just like, no, I'm young and I'll be fine. And whatever.
Yeah. So that's what I thought. And I mean, I
was pretty ignorant for, you know, still the first six months.
Like I was just like, I, it'll be, it'll come back. It'll come back. It'll
come back. And then it wasn't coming back. And I was just like,
So and just to clarify, you've been a tattoo artist at this point for

(09:55):
10-ish years, maybe a little longer. That's
your career. That's the love of your life. That's your dream since you were a 13-year-old girl.
Yeah. You did your first tattoo when you were 13. Yeah.
You bet your mom if you got a 4.0, she'd let you get tattooed. Yeah.
You told your art teacher. She was like, just draw tat art. That's your assignment.
She was apprenticed by an art teacher in high school. I don't know who you are

(10:17):
out there. Write me, I want to high five you, I want to meet you,
that's fucking awesome. So this is your, you
know, I'm just framing this up, but this is your dream. Yeah. And
you're right-handed. Yeah. And you're like, oh, it'll come
back, it'll come back, but I'm sure part of you is like, holy shit, like

(10:37):
Yeah, I panicked at first, and I have a friend who
actually he lives here in San Diego, and
he was just like, Oh, no, like you can. He's like he's
a practice and do something on me because I was here and I was also I
came down for a guest spot. So I had my tattoo stuff with me. Mm hmm.
And, you know, I was stuck down here for a year and did all my

(10:58):
recovery and everything here. And so, you
know, once I had gotten, I don't know, I would say it was like nine months,
I got impatient and bored and frustrated. And he was
just like, eh, screw it, like try and do something on my leg. Well, I
tried to tattoo him. And he'll
send me a picture of it every once in a while. And he's like, don't forget where you came from.

(11:19):
And it is a absolutely horrible
So let me get this straight. You're here recovering. You're six months here recovering. You
have a friend who's like, come on, I'll let you. Yeah. So you go lefty on this dude for
Yes. Lefty in one hand. And I had no idea what I
was. It was it's horrible and it's supposed to be. So he He
rides motorcycles and he likes to do a lot of really dumb shit.

(11:43):
And he put a recliner on the back of
his motorcycle and he became quite known everywhere
for riding around on a motorcycle with
a recliner. Did you ever hear this in SoCal? Yes, you've seen it. Yeah, I
So I tattooed what was supposed to

(12:06):
be a recliner on him, but it
looks like two hot dogs and a piece of cheese. It
was it's a mess but he is on his high like
upper thigh and he'll send me pictures of it and it's just
like remember where you came from and then it probably took
me like another two months before I like decided to get really

(12:29):
serious with it and then I tried to tattoo my I basically
I'm sure at this time you're trying to draw things with your Yeah. Left,
Yeah, which I was, cause I, you know, for the longest time I
was like, how am I going to make money? So I was trying to draw drawings and then
make prints and t-shirts and just sell that in between.
Cause I, there was a year where I wasn't tattooing, wasn't making any money and I

(12:53):
And I didn't mention this, but you've got two daughters. Yeah. You're
a single mom. Yeah. So that's, you know, adds a little pressure to the situation.
It's not like you're like, oh, my husband, he's an executive at a first
I'll just retire. Yeah. So I panicked and
You know, in a weird way, I have to cut in, though. Imagine if that would have been the case. You

(13:13):
had the husband that worked at First Nations Bank and you didn't have to ever work again. That would
Yeah. No, I love tattooing too much. And if I couldn't, like, that
was my biggest thing. I was like, if I couldn't, if I can create art like I
You know what I mean, though? Like, it's amazing to me what humans can get
done when there's no way out. Yeah, we're all way more

(13:35):
capable. Yeah, then we give ourselves credit for we just don't like
being uncomfortable Yeah, and so if you don't have to do something and
it gets uncomfortable enough A lot of us me too.
I'm no navy seal of life Yeah, I've probably sat
back on the couch when I could have given it more. But yeah, you were definitely in
a situation I get what you're saying. Your passion for tattooing is

(13:56):
deep rooted. Yes, and you'd have done it anyway Yeah, but you had another layer
Yeah, I went through the poor, like, poor me, like, you know,
I did the kind of depressed, like. Mad at
God? Yeah, mad at God. Are you religious? No, I'm actually
not. You couldn't even be mad at God then? Yeah, I was just mad at life.

(14:16):
Mad at whatever. whatever
Yeah. And so I did the whole
pity me, poor me, sadness, I'm gonna...
How long did that last, do you think? A couple months. It
Let me examine that for a minute, because I... By the way, who wouldn't do
that? Yeah. Actually, I think you need to do that. Yeah. You got to cry

(14:39):
about something for a while before you can begin healing. So you were
doing that. Was there an event or a moment where you just dried
Honestly, what it was is the people like Cliff, like my friends, where
they were just like Stevie. Fuck around like
you tattoo me like and that's like what it took is so then I

(15:01):
got mad sat down on the floor in my bedroom Decided
to take it a little more seriously and was just like I'm gonna try to tattoo myself
So I sat crisscross applesauce and tattooed my ankle and
was just like if this comes out decent maybe I'll just do you know, I
wouldn't say tiny tattoos because I still tattoo traditionally, but
I I was like, well, maybe I'll just be doing, you know, little tattoos for

(15:22):
the rest of my life. And I won't do them that often. But, you
know, I can make somewhat of an income. And honestly, tattooing
isn't even the hardest part. I was just like, how how
am I going to be professional and like hygienic? And how the hell am
All we're going to ask is how do you stretch? Yeah, that part. A lot of people don't tattoo,
don't realize it ain't the hand you're tattooing where the work's happening.

(15:44):
It's the other hand that's stretching the skin around the tattoo that's where
Which even is like, OK, so you could tell the difference between when
I tattoo like a shin or when I tattoo, you know,
Yeah, and it's just like, wow, our lines are so straight still.
It's the stretching that is the harder. Yeah, and I'm like, okay, well,
if it's that or if I have like the help or somebody does stretch or

(16:12):
I will if they know what they're doing, and you know, they can not
get in the way as well. So you can tell the difference between an
area of the body and but then there's also the fact of like, I
don't really ever take on like first time tattooers, like people
that can't sit still can't, you know, anything like that, because you
you have to be able to sit still you have to not move like, I'm

(16:33):
really critical with like people being on their phones people doing
what I'm doing right now and talking with their hands Um all those things
Your clients need you got to create a teamwork relationship. Yeah, like
Yeah. So but it really just was my
friends and people inspiring because I

(16:56):
posted that tattoo on my ankle and everyone was like,
me, I'm down. Like, let's go. And it just lit a
fire under my ass. And it was just like, OK, I'm done being
That was it was. so it
happened in April that was in January so maybe a

(17:17):
little yeah a little longer and then it took I
don't know about another six months and I actually went
to Hawaii to visit a friend during the pandemic and
was just I couldn't stay like in a house anymore so I went to my best friend's
and she lived there and then she's also married to a tattoo artist and he's like

(17:37):
Okay. I went- Isn't the tattoo community rad when it comes to needing support?
Yes. I just love the tattoo community in
general. It is just so inspiring. Nobody ever
lets you give up. Like it's, it's, I don't know. I love it. So
I went there, tattooed him and her, and I actually,
that was, I don't use them. I don't like the little like

(17:59):
pens. I don't, I don't do cartridges. I don't- Oh,
I was going to get into that with you. Yeah. I don't do any of that. That's, it's too complicated
Well, with one hand. Oh. You know what I mean? I have to worry about, it
would be easier for me to prick myself, you know, or accidentally like
when I'm trying to get the stupid cartridge off versus like a

(18:25):
And adjust everything. Totally makes sense. And you can have a machine for each
That makes sense. Yeah. I never thought about, yeah, getting the cartridge. That's a two handed operation.
Yeah. So he tried to be like, oh, this is going to be perfect. And I was like,
nope. And then especially to like, you need that. You need that extra
hand for the extra stretching. Like, I mean, I because like what

(18:48):
I do is I place like my hand down and then I pull and
then and then I tattoo and I kind of like pull. I so I used
You're pulling with the hand, you're pulling the skin tight with the hand you tattoo
Yes. Okay. So I ended up learning, obviously I
was like, these machines are not for me. I can't. It felt like

(19:09):
the needle was bogging down too much. It was catching. I just couldn't
do it. So those first two tattoos were horrible. They
were absolutely blown out and just not good. But,
you know, all of that set all kinds of inspiration more.
And then I came home and Ed at Bad
Apple was just like, no, you're coming back. And he was like,

(19:31):
so then I started doing a couple of weekends where
I would just come to the shop and I would do tattoos. And I I did live
out there for a while and I worked there full time. So I had clientele out
there and I started doing, you know, small pieces on everybody. And
after that, I was just like, OK, it's back. So but
it took me, I think, eight months to solve the

(19:51):
because the hardest part for me, it was the glove. It
took me eight months in between like those two, like
the me tattooing myself and then going and tattooing some friends.
It took me eight months in between to figure out how I was going
to be in a shop and like I could be hygienic and actually
be allowed to tattoo because I went through like, OK, well, what do I

(20:12):
do? I don't want to have an apprentice like. But also, like, what
do I do? Do I hire someone just to put my glove on and take it off in
between every tattoo? And I'm like, how do you decide what to
pay that person? And I just went through a million different
things. And somebody ended up sending me a
tattooer that I wasn't following already. He goes by Southpaw Tattoos.

(20:34):
and he had been in a car accident and his
right arm got severed off and he was a right-handed tattoo artist
as well and so he had to take to learn how to tattoo with his
other hand and tattoo with one hand and
so when he had quite a few followers I was like I messaged
him and was like either gonna hear back or you know whatever

(20:55):
and but i'll try and so i did try and obviously
it took i think probably two months for a response but
i finally got a response and he was like of course i'll help you and i was like how
are you getting gloves gloves on like do you do is somebody putting
them on for you you know, this, that and the other. And
he was like, there is this like 360 rotating hook

(21:17):
up at Home Depot or Lowe's or wherever. And he
was like, I just slipped the glove on that and
it rotates. So it's like one. I flip it one way and
I slide my hand in. And then when I'm done
tattooing, I flip it the other way and I pulled the glove off and it just
it flips it inside out and then I grab it and throw it away like. No

(21:37):
problem. Wow. So I ended up
learning that from him. And once I learned that from him, I
did eight tattoos in one day and I was just like, I'm back. We're
So that's awesome. I was the whole time like,
how's she going to solve this glove thing? Oh, I was thinking you asked the client
I did. Okay. So I did that for a couple of, a

(21:59):
couple of tries, but then I was like, once it's like somebody like complete stranger.
And then like, I got to the point to where like, I started doing walk-ins again. And I was
like, I'm going to ask the random walk-in like, Hey, you want
to put my glove on for me? and then I went through like you
know those I don't know if you know what it looks like but it's like meant
for older people who end up like having an issue to like get

(22:19):
a sock on and you put the sock on this like device okay
but it's really big and I tried to use one of those and
it would just rip the gloves because it was too wide because it's meant for a
foot and I just like tried all these different things and
it didn't work. And then so then I ended up getting that 360 hook finally. And
then I wrap like a little bit of cohesive bandage on the edge

(22:40):
of it just so that it doesn't ever tear through the gloves. But I
Funny, because as I'm thinking about your whole challenges you had ahead of
you, didn't even think about the biggest one would be the getting your glove
And like when I set up, so Saran Wrap for me is

(23:03):
Yeah. So I don't use Saran Wrap anymore. Now I, you
know, I set up my whole station with, I use dental bibs. I
tape everything down instead. I have like one of those like old
school, like really weighted tape dispensers. And
so then I just pull all my tape out of one of those with my
station and I use a mayo tray and I have that hook and

(23:25):
I use bottle bags. I don't use so I just don't use saran
like I just have new ways of figuring everything out.
And now that I have like my ways of how I do it, I just stick with
Has anybody ever reached out to you since this has happened to you that are in the same situation
A lot. So what was crazy, honestly, well,

(23:45):
because, you know, Mike Pike ended up passing. Oh,
My memory is not the best ever since my stroke. My memory isn't working
Yes. He ended up passing away and
it was because of a stroke. And I didn't even know that. Another
tattoo ended up telling me it. And it happened like right about in the same exact

(24:07):
time. So a lot of people had reached out to me because of that. And then
I had quite a few tattooers that had actually had
strokes that had had them already. And then they reached out
to me and then I had other
people that had had them after and then people obviously share my story, share
my page, tell me to reach out to them, which I will and I do.

(24:27):
And then, you know, everybody that has I don't
know if all of them are back to tattooing or, you know, figured it
out or anything like that. But I have tried to be like, OK, well, this is what I did. This
is what I do. You know, this is how I set up, you
know, A, B, C, D. This is how I stretch. And
I try to post as many. I don't post enough of them because it's also really

(24:48):
difficult for me to make videos and do things of
myself as well as, you know, the work. But I have tried to
You know what you should do? I'm getting some tomorrow. OK.
So I just had a client in here. He's an executive at Facebook and
his project that he's one of the head, you know, commanders

(25:09):
of. Yeah. I use the word commander because I
think Facebook's a military organization. If he's listening,
he knows I'm joking him. Nicest guy ever. Yeah. But he
Oh, the ones that you can like wear and then they videotape. I actually got to try
some on because I had a girlfriend buy some recently. You got to get

(25:29):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you just say, I think you say meta is the command. So
you can say meta film. You could be tattooing while you say it,
and now you're just filming. Or Metta, take a picture, and
Yeah, she just showed them to me, and then she was showing, like her kid put them on,
and they were like doing something, and she showed me the quality of the video, and
Oh, they're sick. Yeah. I don't think I would get them if I wasn't a tattooer. I

(25:52):
can't wait to have those on my face, and then Be able
to just like, you know, when you're tattooing, you're like, this is a really cool. Yeah, this looks
cool right now. Yeah. Just tell it to go. And now I've got a clip of that.
Yeah. Without degloving, getting my phone. Yeah. I won't do all
Yeah. They're almost like Ray-Ban. Yeah. Yeah. You

(26:14):
Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Cause I asked her, I was like, well, how much are these? And she's
I'm getting some tomorrow. I can't wait to get these things. Have you ever done any speaking,
uh, at places where people have gone through stroke who aren't tattooers, but
just to be an inspiration to them? Like, Hey, I know you're struggling right now. You're
worried about how to eat food and how to do basic household things. Look

(26:37):
I haven't done any like crazy, like, like in front of
a lot of people, everybody with strokes, it kind of like affects people
differently where, you know, some people it takes their speech away.
Some people it takes their vision away. Some people it takes their
mobility with like myself, some people it kind of gives an all
costs aboard and hits everything. Like there's some people that they

(27:00):
There's some people that wake up in an enlightened state of mind. Yeah. You've seen
I'm going to screw this up. But there is a neuro. Scientist,
I think she had a stroke and it goes through how when she
Yeah. And so I read her story. Oh, you have heard of that one.

(27:22):
Yeah, I had. Not about the part with her being a Buddha, but like, you
Well, her brain now, like when they do brain scans of
somebody in deep meditation, the beta waves are at a certain place and
stuff. They scan her brain now. Her brain operates in
that. Like if we were in deep meditation, that's how her brain is
all day. Okay. So she, you know, of course, says it's the greatest thing

(27:44):
ever happened to her kind of thing. Yeah. But then again, she didn't lose the ability to walk and
speak and things like that. Yeah, all that. She almost basically got a gift out
Yeah. Well, that was my whole thing is I
realized. So this is just my
personal story and input, but because

(28:06):
Yeah. So the way that I was explaining everything, like in the hospital
afterwards, everything like that is I would, it would be like Pictionary. So
I couldn't remember things and I couldn't remember certain words. Like when I woke up,
they told me, what year is it? And I was like, it's 1969. I'm
not even born yet. You know what I mean? Right. So I

(28:26):
Then they they used... Well, you kind of dress and look like you're from
1969. I didn't mean that you look old. You're riding old
choppers. You got traditional tattoos. I think that's just your year.
Take me back then. Yes, I would love that. And then they showed
me flashcards and they were like, OK, if you can't tell us what these are,
then you fail. And The

(28:49):
flashcards that they showed me was a hammock and a cactus.
And I was like, I got this. And I
looked at the cactus and I was like, I'm from there. I live there. And they
were like, what is it? And I was like, fuck you. Like I was so pissed. Like
the only words that that were like super stuck were curse
words. And so I just got so frustrated and was

(29:09):
so mad that I failed and everything like that. And so afterwards,
after after all of this had happened, I couldn't remember certain
words. And it was like my brain was just kind of like. So
when I finally got to eat, it was like five days in and they
had done like a food test on me to make sure that like this half of my mouth was
working and that I could swallow. And, you know, I wasn't going to choke to

(29:30):
death. So when I could finally have food, I was like, I wanted a
grilled cheese because I love grilled cheeses and my mom
knows that and I hate hospital food so I was like I need to like
I need to go to the cafeteria but I couldn't stop saying orange juice so
I don't know if I was just like cheese orange right you know it
was going through all these things but I kept messing it up and
saying all these other words than what I was trying to get so I

(29:54):
started playing Pictionary, which I ended up learning later on. I watched
a meme or saw a meme and it was it
said people that have like, you know, strokes. It was a picture of
a hummingbird. And it was like that. Oh, that flying, vibrating midget,
midget bird. And I was like. You know, what
do you think of when you when you hear that? Oh, it's a hummingbird. And so.

(30:16):
You could hear the description of something, you get connected to the
Yeah. And if I can view it and I can do pictures, then I could, you
know, so that's how it was. And so I remember I like
one time I was super frustrated with my mom and I was like, mom, what is
the thing that you put the food in? Like you put the food, you keep the food,
like you have a million of them in your house. What is it?
And she was like, my mom was just like, I don't know, my brother's like, you mean Tupperware?

(30:39):
And I was like, yes. And so I would always play Pictionary with people and I'd
be like, I would explain like, this is what it is, what it
looks like, this color, everything like that. And I was like, I need you to guess what
it is so that I can remember what the word is. And then once
That one's done. Just like how Cactus is like now I just have this memory

(31:00):
of like that stupid flashcard is where it
live and everything like that. I have that memory and I hold that and use that
Yeah. Did you notice any changes in just your
personality or your views? Yeah. I want to hear a bit about that.
Like you like different things now, you see philosophically things

(31:23):
So I can go two ways with that. One has made
me very kind of reminds me of like, you know, you're
like, man, I wonder what made this old person turn into the senile, snappy
person. Well, having as you age,
you know, your brain kind of deteriorates as you get older. Well,
I feel like when I had my stroke that it jumped me up to

(31:44):
that because it was just like my patience was just
mmm. And I would be a lot more snappy, a
lot more emotional, a lot more just I can't do
this. No, I have no patience. Yeah. Well, I
wouldn't say it was negative. It's just like, you know, how old people are like, I'm not
dealing with traffic. no no and it's just

(32:05):
like tolerance is down yes it's absolutely patience is
low so it jumped me to that like immediately and
then for the first 10 months i
lost my everything tasted like
pancake batter everything, steak,
fruit, cheese, everything. I hated food. Didn't

(32:28):
want to eat it. Everything tasted disgusting. It had
changed everything entirely. And I was a very I mean, I still kind
of am picky, but I was a very, very picky person before.
And I would like to think that my stroke kind of
like. I started thinking like other things smelled
good all of a sudden or like, you know, I would something that

(32:49):
I wouldn't eat. I'd be like, I want to try that. You know, it
changed like those kinds of things. And I was like, this is crazy. This has to be
because of my stroke. So, and then I
had these crazy headaches after I had my second kid. So
she's 11. Had the time ago, this is five years ago. So I'd
had them for quite a few years, like seven, seven years. And I

(33:10):
had the headache so much that it was three quarters of every month. where
I it would it would I would be tattooing and then all
of a sudden I'd start to get dizzy and I wouldn't be
able to see straight and I'd be like I don't feel good and I'd run to the bathroom and then
I'd throw up and then I'd be like like I'd have to get to the
lines done and be like I'm so sorry but we're gonna have to split this up

(33:30):
into sessions and like it was killing me and I was like I don't know I
tried went to the doctor I got my thyroid tested I
got tested for diabetes they did everything but test me but
for my brain and then after I had the stroke they
stopped happening and then it turns out so I talked I ended up talking to the
the doctor because I had a like an aneurysm and they

(33:51):
were like oh you can have symptoms of an aneurysm for years before it
actually explodes because my I had a blood vessel below in my head and
my brain my blood leaked outside of my brain and then
whatever it touches it kills forever which is why my arm doesn't work because
like the mobility section is like right here in your brain and that's where
my stroke was. And so I am brain

(34:13):
That's all right. You're just, you're, you know, really explaining how you
had to re you, you had symptoms basically of stroke years
And then, yeah, the headaches. OK, when I went in and I was talking to
him, I was like, could this be symptoms of it? Was this like what what it
was the entire time? And he was like, well, there's no way for
us to know because we weren't able to test your headache right before the stroke. They were like,

(34:35):
but if the headaches are completely gone because I haven't had one since.
And I mean, it was to the point where like I I called them my episodes
to my kids because like I couldn't I had to be in a solid black room.
I tried my migraine medicine. I tried everything I
tried. you know, I tried changing my diet, exercising,
like I tried like meal prepping and like,

(34:57):
you know, because tattooers are terrible about, you know, we have
we eat once a day, like tattooers are terrible about that. So then I tried making
sure I was eating breakfast and then lunch and then dinner and nothing was
changing the headache issue. And then after I
I mean, you'll never know. But I mean, come on. Yeah. Yeah. I
think I'd bet that I would. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

(35:21):
So there's a gift. Yeah. I mean, you have to deal with
what happened, but a life of those headaches would have been probably worse.
Considering it made me throw up in the middle of like work and like just
completely was destroying like me having a normal work
schedule. That's one thing that I'm just like, oh, I could never think

(35:46):
I can be. It's not it's it's gone down. It's gotten
like as I get years into it, like I've gotten better
at react like instant reaction. So in
the hospital, I told the doctors, I was like, what
it is is. So if you had a boiling pot of water on when
it boils over, I was like, that's how I feel right now. And

(36:08):
I was like, and I need you to leave me alone, like turn the fire off and walk away.
Don't try to talk to me. I need a moment. And I was like, that's
what having a stroke and this feels like.
And they were like, wow, we've never heard explanations like
that. And I was like, I'm assuming it's because of like my artistic side and I'm trying
to explain to you via pictures. And they

(36:29):
said that nobody's tried to explain it like that before. So
but I have gotten more control of it. But there is like
if I get like really, really upset and I get to the point of crying, I kind
of like lose the ability of speech. And I
have to just be like, OK, I need a moment. Like, I
need to calm down and. You know, and

(36:50):
I will get frustrated with myself because, you know, that's not how I
was or like, and I couldn't, I can't control it and I
can't do anything about it, but all I can do is just like, okay, I'm
Well, in a way you can control it. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's happening, but
you have, you have the ability to decide what to do about it and

(37:10):
you're getting better at deciding. Yeah. That's a skill anyone
could probably use, right? Just because you're having an
emotion doesn't mean you have to react to that emotion. You
can just stand back and look at it and decide what to do with it.
Is me cussing out someone right now helping me,
helping them, helping the situation? Usually, no.

(37:31):
So why did I just do that? Yeah, we could all use
more of that. I mean, you've probably really heightened your ability to
Yeah. Although I will say, like, thank goodness I have
the career that I do because I'm just like, I don't even like
I'll say that. I always tell everybody this because I actually I

(37:53):
tattooed in L.A. and I actually tattooed a
mother and a daughter and strokes run in their family and they
came and got tattooed by me specifically for the her stroke and the
grant well actually all of them had had strokes but the grandmother
can't talk anymore and then the mother got most of her stuff back And
so they're sharing all their stories with me. And they're like, yeah, the only words that

(38:15):
she can say are curse words. And I was like, that's
funny, because when I went to so I went to a
stroke, like you go there to work out, but it's just stroke stroke
people here in La Mesa. And when
I went there, you know, while we're working out, like there,
there are some of the people are like working out and the only

(38:36):
words that they could say are curse words. And I'm like, and my family would
always get mad at me and be like, Stevie, you're just being, you know, and I'm like, I'm not
doing it on purpose. Like I, I, I can't remember the
words that I'm trying to go forward. So the only ones that are going are just the ones
that are like super ingrained. Right. So then I would I would curse. And
so, you know, I when I was trying to figure out

(38:56):
everything before tattooing worked out, I like looked
at my mom and I was like, I am never going to get hired anyway because my
mouth. And I was like, but also I've been a tattooer for
this long. I haven't had to like. watch
myself or like worry about like those talking about
certain things or... If you were a manager of Nordstrom's, it'd be a

(39:17):
little more problematic. Yeah. So I was just like, ah, like,
Yeah, my grandfather on my mother's
side had a stroke, he lost most of his ability to
talk, and I remember as a little boy he would just repeat the word shit.
And now I didn't know, you were helping me to understand that. Now

(39:39):
I see it differently, like I thought he was Pissed off.
He's trying to say I like the oatmeal today Yeah, and
Yeah, or he's trying to get that word out and because he can't get that word out He's like
That's interesting. Yeah, that's interesting. What? Well, I would

(40:00):
assume your answer to this is going to be yes, but I don't know
I feel like we all suffer from a disease as human
beings of lack of gratitude It's you know, you look
around every day. You can just immediately see a
thousand things that are going right Yeah, the littlest shit. There's
oxygen to breathe. You know, you just take that for granted your feet work all this

(40:20):
stuff, you know, so here you are walking through a reality where
most things are going right, but then of course we find a
little couple things that isn't going right. So what I'm building towards is this
lack of gratitude for the beautiful ability to
be alive, you know? I would assume you're, you've
Yeah. I have so much gratitude because there is a lot of people like

(40:41):
I've, I've, I've gone to that rehab center a lot.
And there were people like mothers and fathers outside
in the parking lot. And when they were like, how did you figure it out? How did you
get it back? Like, how do I give this back to my kid? Because
there were other kids like young that were even younger than me
that in their entire life was, you know, altered and

(41:03):
going to change forever. And I was like, well, this is what I did. I was like, and
hopefully like you can, you know, work through these and these
steps and hopefully it works. And but I can't guarantee any of
it because every stroke's different. But that was one thing that I
was just so thankful for. And I had all the gratitude in
So do you feel like you experience more joy in your life after

(41:26):
Um, yes and no. Like there's,
there is a lot more that I have appreciation for,
but then there's times where like, you know, my kids play softball and
now I can't catch a ball with my kid. Like, so there's, there's, there's,
there's times where I'm like super thankful. And then there's times where I'm like,
A little bit of both. Yeah. And you

(41:49):
mentioned earlier too, before the show started, some of the things you did to
help with your recovery. Equestrian therapy, hyperbolic
chamber therapy, acupuncture. I'm
missing a couple, but I found it interesting, and I'll let you
talk about all of them. And you tell us, because it was interesting what
I don't know specifically the

(42:12):
acupuncture is probably the one that I know for sure was
the most because it gave me most of my like facial movements back.
I jeweled on myself like crazy. I couldn't drink anything unless
it was through a straw because everything would just fall out of my mouth because I
couldn't close my mouth. I'm not super into like lip injections or
all of that kind of stuff, but I did get lip injections because of,

(42:35):
um, And all my drinks kept falling out of my mouth. And I was frustrated.
So then I did all my research on the Internet. Do people ever do this
or get this or have this after a stroke? And does it help? And, you
know, A, B, C, D. And there was like a
couple. I couldn't find a lot, but there was a couple of people on the Internet that
were like, OK, yes, I've done it. and it did help and
so I did it and it did help and I would say the acupuncture was

(42:59):
the most help because you know my face droops
my like you if if somebody took a picture
of me with a flash like one eye would be like and the other one
would close It's like my muscle structure was just gone
on this side of my face. But so I would say that helps
the most. But the hyperbolic oxygen chamber therapy, you

(43:20):
know, because like people do like welding and,
you know, scuba diving and bubbles go to their head and, you know,
stuff with your brain and stuff like that. That's how they recover
from it is in one of those. And so, you know, I had
this theory that that was gonna help
me i don't know if it did i i think i did about 40 sessions

(43:43):
um in total i'd like to think that
it's just like a collectively all of it just a little bit of
everything yeah and then the the equestrian therapy you
know I had to figure out how to get on a horse and like so
if I was standing up I could show you but my leg
I can't lift this leg like very well and

(44:04):
I can't swing it like over and I can't run
I can't do any of those kinds of things but Doing
those things, I had to like, you know, force my muscles to
do things again. And so by like having to hike this
leg over the horse, you know, I built just a little
bit of muscle to where I could like start to kind of get something back.

(44:27):
And then so I did that and then I did CrossFit and
I was building my muscles that way. And then I had the
physical therapy and occupational therapy. that
I was doing through the hospital, and then I got enrolled in
like a stroke gym here in La Mesa. And
so I was doing like double time of both of them. So I was doing one

(44:47):
with the hospital and I was doing one on my own. And
I just think that there it was a group effort with
Yeah. I would say more than anything, Eastern
medicine is Western medicine has

(45:07):
Western medicine is good for acute trauma, right? But for long-term
healing, my wife and I own together a
health spa. We do a lot of alternative
therapies there. And yeah, I couldn't agree more. That's
cool. And then, well, I wanted
to ask you about your journey in tattooing as a female and the challenges it

(45:29):
presented. I have a feeling you're gonna be like, no big deal because
you've got this other huge challenge in your career. Is
Yeah. Yeah. No, it honestly is. So my.
I mean, when I got in, almost 100% men. Yes.
It was. And it was still it was still like a very like

(45:53):
a lot of the girls that did get in, it was like you had to be worried that,
you know, other male tattooers were just trying to use you
for sex. or, you know, you had to you were
taken advantage of. And I am very fortunate that I've
never had to go down that road or was
ever taken advantage of like that in my career. But, you know, those

(46:15):
were all a concern. And then at the time, like because
I think I was only maybe a two,
two and a half years into my career when I had my first
baby. And I was just like, what am I going to do? Like
now I have a kid and I'm trying to be a tattooer and
this schedule just does not line up. And my

(46:37):
kid's father at the time or well, he still is, but we're not
together. He is also a tattooer. So I was just like. If
you get to do this, I get to do this. Like, this is
not fair. And so I think I did six months at home and
I was like, either you figure out how I get to go back to tattooing or
And... He's still alive, right? Yes. Yeah. Just making sure.

(47:00):
So what we did and we both worked in the same shop is I
took my baby to the tattoo shop, you know, and for me,
like I tattooed up until the day before I had my
child. And because obviously we don't have paid time off. And
when I finally I think I was home for eight
weeks and I was like, I can't do this. I need to go back to work.

(47:22):
So I took the kid. with me to the tattoo shop,
we had a back like space where I could be with her
like and if I was working and like we just kind of like took
shifts in between tattooing and like checking on her. But
then also like my booth, like I could put the car seat
like under where the booth was. And at the time, like

(47:43):
this is when everything worked, worked normally. But I would rock
the car seat. With one foot. With one foot and tattoo. And
People would sit and watch and they'd be like, how are you doing this?
Yeah, because people, I'll have women write me all the time

(48:04):
and be like, I'm about to have a baby. How did you do it? How are you tattooing? How do
you still like have this life? And I'm like, my kids have just my
kids have eat, slept and breathed tattoo shops,
like to the point where they hate Don't they're like, I have to
go to the tattoo shop. This sucks because both me
and their father, we own tattoo shops and they both live in them basically

(48:26):
24 seven with us. So they're they're more than they
know way too much their whole entire lives because of it. But,
you know, I I'm the one that had to figure it out because I'm I'm
Yeah. The challenges you women go under. Yeah.
With all of it. My heart goes out to you. Yeah. It took
me years to realize how privileged I was. I thought

(48:49):
I was just so good at everything. I'm like, well, I also didn't have to
have babies. I didn't have to do this. I didn't have to worry about some
male tattooer shoving me into a corner of a room and trying to
grab my boob. You know, none of that was, you know, it's not even on my mind.
Yeah. But I mean, obviously the tattoo industry,
I mean, gosh, I think half my shop is female at this point. I love

(49:10):
it. I love having women around. They bring a whole different energy to
the table. Obviously they're just as creative as the men
and they bring a different style to tattooing. And I'm just stoked to
see so many women in tattooing now. I think it's awesome. Yeah. Well,
that's that's cool. And, you know, another thing I noticed on your Instagram, did
a little little peeping on your Instagram. I think you ride around on

(49:32):
I used to. Oh, I wish. Or OK,
I never saw you on. I just saw the pictures. I'm like, oh, this girl rides.
I do. I used to ride my own. And that
part is very depressing because I can't figure that out.
I wish I could. I would do anything to be able to ride

(49:56):
Yeah, because before the stroke, I rode my own. I
said, well, back to Cliff. Two months after I got out of
the hospital, he still had it. It's not the recliner
isn't on the bike anymore. He didn't make it that long. It's
been too long. But that was the first motorcycle that
I got on because there's a recliner. It doesn't you don't have

(50:16):
to try to stay on. It holds you in. Right. So
that was the first motorcycle ride that I went on afterwards. And
then most of my friends would always be
like, do you want to get on? Like, you know, and so I inched my way
back into it. And my boyfriend now also rides
motorcycles. So that is the motorcycle that you're seeing me

(50:37):
All right. Yeah, I was going to I was kind of leaning up to if
you were riding how you were doing it because you got the clutch and you got to shift
To be completely honest, if I ever end up rich, like
where I have tons of money to blow. I will
because I can't guarantee that I'll end up being

(50:58):
able to ride. So I would need money to just be like, this
is a possibility. Right. But if I ever have
a Wrap ton of money. I definitely have
talked about it with a lot of friends and a lot of people who build that
like I would take, you know, my throttle out of
like my right hand and like like shift everything around and make

(51:20):
pretty much everything like solidly on all
movement for this side so that I can ride again or. You
know, I always said I wouldn't write a track, but I probably would now
because now I just like I miss it. So I

(51:41):
Well, I just need a lot of money to possibly blow for
like, you know, an experiment. Right. Is
what it is. Right. It's not a guarantee like, OK, well,
whatever, because nobody's ever going to be like, oh,
I need to buy that bike because you have to relearn how to

(52:03):
No. Well, I've met a man who he
only had one limb left and he was still riding a motorcycle. And I'm
Yeah, but everything works. This
side of my body doesn't work well. For balance even.
Yeah, when it tenses up or if I get scared, everything

(52:26):
kind of pulls in and panics. So I
have a little bit more stress versus if everything was
Well, I'm going to put that in my brain vision board for you. Thanks.
Let's talk a little bit about tattooing. So you're, you're obviously
a big, you tattoo traditional tattoos. I can tell that's

(52:49):
the, that's, that's your passion, that you love. So you're, you
know, you're kind of old school in that way. What, what, what gives you your, your,
Well, for me, when I got into it, it was
like when I was a teenager and I was going to a lot of
shows like punk rock, hardcore shows and everything like that. And I saw people

(53:10):
like that. And mostly they're all covered in traditional tattoos. And
I was just like, they're they look I that's what I want to look like. I
love them. And that's like where everything was
inspired by, I would say, is in the music scene growing
up. And that was just the style. And I remember the
first couple of times I drew it, I couldn't even wrap my head around

(53:31):
it. I was just I couldn't figure out black shading and traditional because
I had been artistic and drawn my entire life, but I had drawn
like a lot more realism stuff. And so I just was not like trying
to make myself simplify. I was like, I don't get it. Yeah.
And so that obviously took a while. But yeah, that's it
was it would definitely I would say is the music scene that really

(53:53):
You have a love for the traditional aesthetic of tattooing. I'm
assuming you probably are a type of person that has a love for the history of
tattooing. It usually goes hand in hand. Yes. Yeah. So what do you think
about what do you think about people going under
No. Anesthesia, I just think is ridiculous. I

(54:15):
I can't imagine just being like, oh, or
trusting. I just I don't know. I just takes everything
out of the like for me, like
I mean, there's times where I've gotten tattooed like just because like, you
know, oh, like I usually for me as a tattoo or
it's like, oh, I want to collect a piece from another tattoo or whatever. But

(54:37):
a lot of times I'll do it when it is
like, something serious is happening in my life. And,
you know, for me, I've noticed that I'll
choose to get tattooed to like, kind of like work through that pain. Type of
therapy. Yeah. And, you know, it kind of just takes
away from whatever that whatever's going on in your life. Like you're so

(54:59):
busy concentrating on like, that like and
right there and the pain and everything like that, that like it takes
away from all of the chaos of everything else going on inside your
life. For me, personally. So I think
that people need to experience all those things. It's kind of like numbing cream
as well. I'm super supportive in it because I'm only tattooing with

(55:19):
one hand. So now I will let people, you know, back
in the day, I wasn't as supportive. But now I'm like, well,
And I can tattoo easier than Fine. But
I also will tell people I'm like, you'll never use if
you if you're not tattooed at all, I will never let you use it on a

(55:40):
tattoo for your first tattoo, because if you don't know what
to expect and you have no idea what a tattoo feels
like, like, how are you going to react? How are you going to heal
like everything like that? You need to go through all the steps of
a normal process one before you can do
any of those. But so I'm I think the anesthesia

(56:01):
is ridiculous. But that and I don't think that and I don't think
like one time I got tattooed. I was working in Pismo for
a couple of years out there and I was getting ready to move back to
Arizona and I wanted to get tattooed by everybody that I worked with out there. And
I got tattooed like six times in a
span of two weeks and my body was just like healing

(56:22):
everywhere and my body like freaked out and I healed every tattoo crap like
it was just awful and so because of that too I
It is interesting when you see these I think I saw one the other day under anesthesia full
back piece two or three people tagging in and out of it Yeah,

(56:46):
you wake up and you've got half your body is
Yeah, it's like hammering me, basically. Like, I mean, I've watched DJ
because DJ does it all the time. He'll do a back piece in two days. And
I don't think he used. I mean, I've never really I've never really

(57:07):
super paid attention either, though. I know he's not using it,
but I don't know if maybe if some because sometimes, you know, you have that client
that puts it on and then wipes it off before. Right. You know, so maybe
they've done it, but I think that they all sit for the most part. But because
people fly in and get tattooed by him and they're like, I
got to do this sleeve. I got to do this back piece in two days because they live

(57:31):
Darling. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what do you say directly to
I mean, I don't know anybody specifically that's that's doing it.
So if it's your cup of tea and you make it work, that that's fine.
But like for what I do, I I don't think it's smart, you
The style that is the tattoos done and I think makes a huge

(57:51):
difference to like versus, you know, how everything's
Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of in the same boat. I've always been this way, though. I mean, to
me, it's like, everyone can do whatever they want in this
life, as long as what you're doing... Works for you. Doesn't hurt people,
hurt someone else. Yeah. So, you know, because there's, you know, a
lively debate around the subject right now and, you know, there's some tattooers

(58:14):
out there that are... vehemently against it, they think it's
disgusting and all that and missing out
on the experience. And that might all be true. But yeah, that's their
life. That's that's that tattooers life. Yeah, they're going to go do
If it works for you, it works for you. As long as you have it
figured out and it's like actually working and

(58:36):
they heal fine and then whatever teaches
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. I like that. You know, don't
put your, I mean that really kind of stems into the
problems of the world, right? Too many people seem
to want everyone to live the way that they live. Yeah. And
that causes like fucking war and shit. Yeah. You can take it all

(58:59):
You know, it's like when people when people come in and they pick their tattoo
or, you know, I tell people all the time, I'm like, well, if we all if every
single one of us, like if there wasn't like biomech realism,
hyper realism, like if every single one of us is the same, then
it wouldn't be unique and people wouldn't want to do it.
It'd be like, you know, buying like everything, you

(59:20):
know, buying cars, which cell phones we pick. If everybody did everything the same,
Yeah. And life would be pretty boring. Yeah. I mean, that's the best part
about going out there and looking at all those humans. No one's doing their
own special thing. Yeah, pretty. It's pretty cool, even though it might
not be for me, might not be for you. That's pretty cool. Yeah.
What about this whole like AI movement with

(59:44):
That I don't like. I like barely. OK,
so I I had an iPad before before
the stroke, but I didn't barely use it. I love. Paper.
Love paper. And now I super
don't use it because like the issue is is like I set

(01:00:05):
my hand down on a piece of paper and I have to chase the paper around versus
like tattooing. The person is weighted. The iPad
is weighted. So then I don't chase it around. And that's why I can draw on
those two things. But if you ask me to draw on paper, it'll end up
looking like I scribbled across the whole thing because I'm chasing the

(01:00:29):
I use it severely now, but there's just... You
Yeah. Yeah. But you know, that's not like
if I, if somebody came in for a walk-in, it's not something that I can do quick.
I love it. I mean, to me, it's like, it's drawings drawing. I'm drawing with

(01:00:51):
this pencil on a digital tablet. Yeah. Drawing on paper. I
But I feel like AI, like it just really takes all the fun out of
Yeah, it does. It does. And it ain't going away. Yeah.
Yeah. That's something I think about a lot. That what made
me so special for so many years was I could draw something, you

(01:01:13):
know, and you had to come to me. And now people are
going on mid journey and they're getting these Some of them pretty radical
looking designs. Yeah. They didn't have to draw it at all. Yeah.
And they could show the client 17 versions of it and then add
it more in a cubist style. Click a button, boom, it's cubist.
Click another button, it's traditional. Yeah. I was messing around with

(01:01:34):
that. I don't use it for my tattoo designs. I still draw all
my designs, but I was on the journey and, uh, cause I
had one person I work with who was like, yeah, but it all looks so,
AI that everything looks like a video game. And I'm like,
nah, I typed in traditional panther head. They
gave me like 10 of them and they were really cool and

(01:01:56):
legit looking. Like just take, I could have taken it right off that
program and tattooed it straight onto someone's body. No problem.
I mean, I think that's it's like the same because like there's all those tattooers
that are out there, too, that they don't draw anything like where they they
can still execute and pull off a totally clean tattoo with

(01:02:16):
their tracers. Yeah. And they don't actually draw. And
And really, you know, people, some of the old school dudes are like, that's lame. And
I'm like, yeah, isn't that where it all started? I mean, it kind of, yeah, you had a
few tattooers in the 1940s that could draw. But
no, that's where they had flash. It was like a

(01:02:37):
barber shop. You had to be able to technically put ink into skin, but
you didn't have to draw. You wouldn't even change the design. Pick one.
A15, all right, you're getting A15. Tasmanian devil,
My uncle last night was asking me about tattoos. He
goes, people will just walk in and, you know, pick stuff off the wall anymore. And
I was like, because he was asking me, like, what what it's like now. And I

(01:02:59):
was like, I mean, not it's it's not it's common. And I was like,
because now there's everything can be customized and everything
and people draw so much more custom. I
was like, if you find like a traditional shop, it's it is, you know, still
common out there some sometimes. But like at my
shop, I would say no one like I literally

(01:03:20):
if somebody comes in is like, I just, I want that on the wall. I'm like, what? Because
Yeah. Yeah. Nowadays people bring them. They, they,
they are at home and this is going to ramp up fast. Um,
there's going to be some apps real soon. I can't, it's probably already there. And
you're going to be able to go into that app, take a picture of your chest and

(01:03:43):
tell it the parameters to which you want the
tattoo design. Click buttons until it gives you the one you think is the
coolest. You're going to walk into the tattoo shop and say, that's what
I want. Yeah. You know, and you know, if it's tattooable, most
tattooers are going to go sit down, let's do it. Or the tattooer is
Well, I mean, essentially, like it's kind of already a dumb damn

(01:04:06):
version, like has procreate and all those tattoo brush
Yeah, you almost can do that. Yeah. I saw a new thing from procreate
where I think it's like it's like a 3D arm or leg
or whatever keeps coming up on ads on my on my
phone. But yeah, yeah, you have there. There you have the army spinning circles. You
can draw on it, you know? Yeah. Seems kind of functional, actually.

(01:04:29):
But they'll probably get to the place where I could take a picture of that person's, that
actual, short, hefty, tall, skinny,
get their body in there. You know, spin it in circles, draw on
it, get it to the place you want to get it, tattoo it. Yeah,
it's the game is changing big time. And what that's going to do,
it's going to allow more and more people to become tattoo artists.

(01:04:51):
Yeah. Because it used to be a firewall and the firewall was, do you know how to
illustrate? Yeah. Oh, you don't know how to illustrate? Beat it. Gone now.
I think if it isn't totally gone, it's will be soon enough. Yeah.
And yeah, all you folks out there that can't stand what I just said, there's still going
to be folks that are wanting analog, old
school tattooers where they draw it on paper from

(01:05:12):
their mind to the paper, to the skin. That might even
become more popular, you know, might even be more sought after,
more authentic. So I don't think that's going to go away either, but we're
going to see a lot more people coming in that don't really have to
have those skills anymore. Yeah. Yeah, just interesting. I I
don't get personally offended by any of it. I'm just observing,

(01:05:35):
Well, it's like I feel like for me, I feel like
the all these I don't even know what category
to really put these tattooers in, but they're, you
know, they learn and they do an apprenticeship or whatever, but
then they go and they open a private studio. And now it's kind
of like the whole cancel culture thing and like, you know, you
should expect this from a tattoo artist and this and this and this and this and

(01:05:59):
this, which you which some of the things that they have to say, I
am like super supportive in. But then like the part where they're trying to
take like all of like the old school methods and
be like, No, that's where I'm just like, Oh, And
also when you're not that far into tattooing, I'm just like, you
shouldn't put yourself in a box where you're just by yourself. Oh,

(01:06:21):
yeah. You know, I'm still every single time I if
I get a couple of years into being, you know, out in Arizona and I'm like, I
need to be at the bottom of the totem pole. I need I need, you know,
I want other people to teach me like you should always be
How good of a tennis player are you going to be if you went to

(01:06:42):
Nah, it can be that good. You gotta get another tennis player on the other end of
that court who's hopefully better than you. That's how you grow.
It's a trap. I don't really care what anyone
does. Be happy. Not my problem, but if you want
my advice, a younger tattooer who still hasn't made
it to their place in this world, going to a private studio is

(01:07:03):
a great, it's gonna slow you down tremendous. I did
it. I worked for six, seven years maybe. Went
private for two years and immediately noticed it. Not the first
year. First year I was like, this fucking awesome. Yeah. I'm my own boss. I,
it's great. I control my own environment. Year two, I
was like, uh, I'm not, my peers are growing faster

(01:07:24):
than I am. I can see it. So I went and that's how I actually opened
Guru is I, um, I didn't want to. This is many, many years ago. I didn't want
to go back to shops because so many of the shops had so many problems. I was
like, yeah. And I had been through so many traumatic events in tattoo shops.
I was like, God, I can't do it. So I opened my own place, brought
in tattooers that I respected. And boom, the growth was

(01:07:47):
Oh, it depends on a person's goals. I tell people
when I hire them all the time, I go, look, What are your goals? I
mean, if you want to have a job, like
a barber, where you come in, do some tattoos, go home, barbecue
some chicken, take the weekends off, don't come
here. I built a place where, and there's a lot like

(01:08:08):
this, I'm not trying to be special. But this place is about the ones
that want to see where they can take it. How far can you take it? And if
that's your goal, you're going to really want to be around a bunch of other really
proficient tattooers because that's what is going to raise you up. And
it's not even from teaching. It's like it just seeps
into you. Yeah. You know, it's not like they're going to show you a needle you didn't understand.

(01:08:29):
Well, if you're around people that want to come to work and you know, you're coming
to somewhere like where your mindset's all the same,
then like you want to come to work. Like versus like
when, you know, I've been at a shop before and you know, everybody
else was, you know, that, that person that you just described and
you know, they just want to, they do one tattoo and then they bail and then they go

(01:08:51):
home and it just really like drag, drags you down.
It's just like, man, like nobody wants to be here. Like nobody wants,
you know, to put any more effort. Yeah. And I feel like I always
need that. So, you know, being around people that are like
You know, we tend to be able to accomplish things

(01:09:11):
we have seen with our own eyes. You could see tattoos
on your phone and know they've been done. That should work,
but it kind of doesn't. But when you walk into a shop and there's a guy right
next to you doing something amazing, in your mind, you're
like, well, I know him. He has problems, he has challenges,
yet he did that tattoo today. I can do it too. And as

(01:09:32):
soon as you make that decision in your mind, you rise to that level. It's
just how life works, you know? Yeah, I agree.
And then there's the guy who's made it, and he's the man,
and he's in his private studio, or she's in her private studio. Yeah, I get that.
You've done it, you've developed your style, you've developed where
you're at. Probably can go somewhere in a cave and

(01:09:53):
just keep on truckin', to some degree, and then go
out and do conventions and expose yourself occasionally. Yeah,
you see that. Yeah, the private studio thing. It
does seem to be not it's it's kind of reached its
apex. Yeah, I see. I've seen several private studio owners
that are now coming back to the shops. Yeah, for that reason. Plus,

(01:10:15):
there is a something going on in the world of marketing that's new, which
is a God, these words, I hate even uttering these
words because man, for years, I love, my
friends were in different industries and I would brag to them. Oh,
I love my industry. Why? Because it's so honest. What do you mean? Well,
if you're good at it, then you do it and someone tells a friend and

(01:10:35):
they come and get it. It's great. I don't have to go to marketing meetings.
I don't have to worry about any of that shit you guys are doing. I
don't think that's the case anymore. If you don't show up in
the algorithm, then no one knows you exist. And
that private studio thing gets harder and harder. You know, so
marketing budgets are necessary, you know, to thrive. To survive

(01:10:58):
is, we're not talking about survival, we're talking about thriving. And
I've talked to a few people that went solo and they're like, bro, I just, I
can't really keep busy in my studio. And they go with a bigger shop that's
got marketing budgets and place, get them noticed to get, you
know, where the action is. So, yeah, these are just all things
You know, I was talking about that last night with my uncle and I was

(01:11:21):
talking about, I was like, it's not, I still have one, but.
portfolios it was like people don't come in to look at portfolios anymore which
is actually another really funny story i went into your shop when i
was i must have been 17 it was way before i started tattooing in
pb it was before i even thought about tattooing but i i had went
into your shop but and that was when everybody had portfolios and

(01:11:42):
you had to look at the tattoo artist portfolio and be like well i like i
like this style or this style or you know you and you had to
come in and you had to meet the person like and talk about
the tattoo and get an idea of like
how it was going to work and everything like that. And that's just completely gone. But I feel
like it's completely gone because of like marketing and because of Instagram and

(01:12:04):
everything is just through, you know, let me just send it,
you know, an email. And I personally, I'm not that
tattoo artist. I hate emails. I don't like receiving like
it's just not for me. Like I want somebody to come in. I want
them to talk to me. I want. there to be like interaction,
Yeah. Yeah. That's another aspect of tattooing that people are

(01:12:26):
missing out on, because one thing about getting a tattoo, it
And you can deepen and enrich that experience by
having a connection to the human being that's tattooing you. And that begins with
sitting down and first deciding if you like the person. Oh,

(01:12:47):
Yeah. And that has become less and less and that's
fine. But you know, I like that part. I like to
know who's tattooing me. I've got tattoos on me that
they don't bug me anymore. Yeah. The people that did
them aren't great people, in my opinion. And
Yeah. You think about that person because that person

(01:13:10):
did it. I have people that come to me and I'm
not amazing by any means. I could do a decent tattoo, but
I'm not amazing. And I have people that will come to
me and they're just like, I don't care because I am comfortable
with you. I like you like the stories, the the
environment, everything. They're like everything about it is good. And

(01:13:32):
I don't want to go to a different person because of that. And, you
know, because I have a kind of new newer tattoo tattooing
with us. And, you know, me and one of the other tattooers were sitting there talking
with them. And I was like, There are so many different aspects. There's, you
know, you could have clientele based off of like your personality, you
know, your actual tattooing. Like there's a lot of different things.

(01:13:53):
Like there were times when in the beginning of my tattooing where
I was only a couple of years into it, but I went in and because I am a woman,
it was just assumed that you're not a tattooer, you know? And then they
were talking to me like I was ignorant and I had no idea what I was talking about.
Yeah, yeah, that's a big part of it. I like I like that you're

(01:14:14):
you recognize that. Yeah. You seem to be rooted in some of
the traditions of our beautiful art form. Kudos
to you for that. That's cool. It's nice to see it's still alive. Yeah. I
Well, that's what I was going to say. I was like, I am still a baby. But
like I was telling my family, I was like, what's crazy is like Guru

(01:14:36):
was one of the first shops that I went into, like as a kid. And
Yeah. 32 years, I think now. Went
by quick. Wish I would have slowed down and smelled the roses a little more,
but such is life. Well, thank you. Thank you
for coming out. Thank you for who you are, for being an inspiration
to me. You know, I have my little bitches and whines

(01:14:59):
that I get up with every day. I'm going to bitch and whine a little less
after being with you. I've absorbed some of that. It's
cool. You were able to overcome that. Your love, your passion for tattooing,
your passion for life. got you back on that horse and
you're riding again. And I think that's awesome. So thank you
for that. I'm here for it. Sweet. Well, before we close

(01:15:21):
out, I would be remiss if I didn't thank Sullen
Clothing for all of you out there that love tattoo art and you love clothing.
I'm assuming most of you wear clothing. And if you'd like to see some
of that art on clothing, please check out sullenclothing.com. Some
of the best tattoo artists in the world put their art right on their stuff. high-quality

(01:15:41):
stuff, best, most comfortable stuff I've ever worn. Ryan and Jeremy, huge
supporters of the tattoo industry, huge supporter of this show. So
check out solidclothing.com. And that'll probably end it
for today. Stay tuned for our next episode and please keep the
likes coming, the subscribe. You guys hate, I know you right now you're
turning this show off. But maybe some of you haven't turned me off yet. I

(01:16:02):
need your help, guys, girls and guys. I
can't keep doing this forever without your love, without your support. Like,
share, subscribe. It means the world to me. It's what
keeps this thing running. So for those of you that have done it,
thank you. For those of you who haven't, please, I'm begging you to do so. And
that'll pretty much wrap it up for today. I think we're going to leave on the note

(01:16:23):
of gratitude and perseverance. Right?
Sound good? Yep. All right. High five. Boom. All