TINA (PIERCER/OWNER)

Ever since the first time I saw my mother get a tattoo (at about the age of 6) I have been interested in body art. I of course had no idea back then that I would eventually be spending a great majority of my life doing it for a living, but as fate would have it, that's exactly where I happened to land.

Here's my story:

I grew up in Calaveras county, and as a teenager growing up in a rural area like that, it can get a bit boring at times. I was only 14 and all of my friends lived several miles from where I did. I was unable to drive, so at home is where I spent a large majority of my time. All I can say is - THANK GOODNESS FOR THE INTERNET! It was dialup, and it was slow, but it got me by. It was at that time that I had developed an ever increasing interest in body piercing and spent several hours a day researching every single thing I could on the topic. I was completely obsessed with it, to say the least. I felt like I knew everything there was to know. What 14 year old doesn't? It was then that I decided to perform the first piercing on myself - (WHICH I VERY STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST!!) Wow! What a super sweet eyebrow ring that was, for my barely there eyebrows. (This was the year 1999 and I had thought it would be really cool to pluck my eyebrows out until they were basically non-existent) And boy oh boy was my Mom extremely upset with me when she saw the new hole in my face. I'm sure she would have appreciated for me to have stopped there, but my desire for more piercings only grew.

After a couple of years, I eventually got up to 20 piercings in my head alone. The adrenaline rush that I got from doing the piercings was extremely addicting as was all this new found attention that I was getting. At school, I became the go to person for anyone with any questions about piercings. I had really found my niche! My last year in high school, I even did my "Senior Project" on the topic of body piercing and was actually able to pierce a fellow classmate's belly button in front of the entire class. With their parent's consent of course. (AGAIN, I HIGHLY ADVISE AGAINST DOING ANYTHING LIKE THIS!! I'm sure its not even legal, but things were a bit different back then)

About a year after graduating from high school a tattoo shop had opened up in the county. It was then that I decided that I was going to get my very first tattoo. It was the year 2004 and I was just a couple of months shy of turning 19. I had originally thought that I was going to be getting it done by a fellow that I had met prior to visiting the shop, but it turned out he was busy, so he had the owner of the business do my tattoo. We talked for a bit and he asked who did all of my piercings. I told him that I did them all myself. Right on the spot, I ended up with a job! My dream job! I was ecstatic.

I spent the next couple of years working from the shops that he had in Calaveras and Amador County but eventually he wanted to come back to Sacramento, where he was originally from. He was opening up a new location, and he wanted to bring me along with him. By far one of the best decisions I've ever made! It completely changed my life.

I spent over 16 years working at that shop. I learned so much, met so many people, did thousands and thousands of piercings, made so many memories, and had some of the best years of my life working at that place (Thank you for everything, Chris Aguilar!) but now it has come time for me to fly the nest and do my own thing.

And just like a phoenix being reborn, this is my new beginning and I'm coming back stronger - Rising Phoenix Body Piercing & Jewelry