Funny thing is…I never wanted to own a tattoo shop…
Hello my loves! It’s me again and it’s story time!
If you know me, you know that the tattoo shops I started my career in are literally the ASS OPPOSITE of Love You Tattoo.
Picture this: 21 year old tiny baby Cori walking into a shop covered floor to ceiling in flash, paintings of naked women getting attacked and/or groped by something (animal, demon, human, you name it) covering the walls, taxidermy animals every 5 feet, Motorhead blasting from the speakers, the smell of cigarette smoke wafting in from the back…
Yep, that’s where I started out and the cherry on top? I was regularly either the only female on staff or at most, the 2nd female on staff.
The first 7 or so years of my life in the tattoo industry (the years when I got my first countering job at a shop, squeaked my way into an apprenticeship, and then into my full time career) were spent in this sort of environment. I worked for dick heads who saw me as the “token girl” and hated that my opinions differed from their own. I worked for dick heads who would set 50 rules for the people who worked at their shop, but the same rules did NOT apply to them. *fucking eyeroll* I watched as older tattooers were valued more than me simply because of “seniority”, not because they were busier, more talented, or even decent human beings. (I will forever fight the notion that the longer you are in a career means you are inherently better than those that are newer.) I also got the, “she’s only busy because she’s a girl”, comments whispered behind my back for years.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and act like every moment of those first 6 or 7 years was terrible, because that would be a lie and I don’t see myself as a victim of the industry. Sadly, that was just the norm at the time, though that’s no excuse for douchery.
However, I also I made some amazing life long friends in those first years. There were times when I experienced moments of pure joy and laughed so hard and long that my face and stomach hurt. It wasn’t all bad, of course, but one thing I always say about those first years in the tattoo industry is:
I learned how to be a good tattooer AND I learned what kind of tattooer I DID NOT want to be.
For that reason, I’m grateful for those years of hardship / bullshit. Those dick heads taught me everything I needed to know about how to NOT treat my clients or my co workers.
It wasn’t until I moved out here, to beautiful Colorado, and started working at shops owned by not only good people who treated me and others with respect, but people who didn’t seem changed by ownership. People who didn’t get a *bossy-power-trip-boner* every time they had to play the role of the business owner - something I had yet to experience in the tattoo industry, honestly!
Specifically, I was lucky enough to work for my amazing friend Sandi Calistro! She was the person who actually put the idea of opening my own shop in my head! Sandi, a female tattooer who has been tattooing longer than most of my former bosses and yet never adopted the “old schooler” mentality, showed me that you can run a shop and not be a total dick about it. Haha
I was commuting from Boulder to Denver 4-5 days a week and though working for her at Tattoo Dumond was amazing, the commute was really starting to kick my ass and she knew it.
She’d say, “you know, if you ever get too tired of that drive and want to open a shop in Boulder, I’ll do anything I can to help you make it happen.”
That support and encouragement is a HUGE reason why Love You Tattoo exists today. Plus, seeing her healthy relationship to the industry and her ability to run her shop the way she does, was a massive inspiration for me! What I'm trying to say is…. SANDI IS THE G.O.A.T AND SHOULD BE ELECTED AS THE QUEEN EMPRESS OF TATTOOING IN THE UNIVERSE. There, I said it.
Next thing you know….I’m online, looking at spots available for lease in Boulder.
Then, I’m touring places on Pearl St, Broadway, and Arapahoe with a real estate agent.
*BLINKS* I’m signing a lease and beginning preparations for my own fucking shop! WHAT?
From the time I started considering the fact that maybe I could do it…just maybe…I mean Sandi believed I could do it, Jason (my husband) was totally in and supportive, my Mom thinks I’m smart…
From that time to signing the lease was probably a matter of 3 or 4 months!
I went from saying, “I never want to own a shop” to “Okay, I’m totally opening my own shop” in a matter of a year…that’s INSANE!
I never imagined myself as a shop owner or boss or whatever the fuck (because responsibility gives me anxiety poops) , but so far, the adventure of being an owner has been truly amazing - HARD AS FUCK AND SCARY AND AWFUL AND UNBELIEVABLY REWARDING AND NAUSEATING- but amazing.
Creating a space full of light, love, color, HEARTS, and a feeling of comfort (not intimidation) is everything I ever dreamed it would be. Filling Love You with artists who are kind and accepting, encouraging them to do whatever is best for them - meaning: saying NO if it means their quality of life is better - and supporting them as best I can, has been one of my life’s greatest achievements.
I’m no perfect owner, of course. I’m just some lady, for fuck’s sake. I fuck up. I let my emotions get the best of me on occasion. I forget to buy fucking printer paper and we run out and I have to scramble like a mad woman and rush to Staples on my day off because I’m an idiot... But I can at least say I’m doing my best and am always willing to listen, learn, and adapt. I will never act like I know what’s best for everyone, but I can promise that my intentions are always good, whether I execute it properly or not. So lastly…
Big shout out to those dick heads from early on in my career :
I made a beautiful tattoo shop that is the antithesis of everything you stand for, you big ol’ butt wieners. Aren’t you proud? PS. I hope your butthole is itchy all the time.
To love! To acceptance! To many more years of Love You Tattoo!
-cori