We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Megan Hoogland. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Megan below.
Megan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I started tattooing in the 90’s with an apprenticeship in Owatonna, MN. When I started artists were not sharing information outside of their shops, so what I learned was minimal. It was when I started traveling and meeting other artists at conventions is when I really started to learn the most. I also had a few other tattooists come to work in my shops with me who taught me some of the basics that I had not been taught in my apprenticeship. I think the biggest obstacle was my location and being a female in a very male dominated industry.
Megan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Megan Hoogland, and I’m a mother of 4 who has been tattooing for over 25 years and owns a shop called Mecca Tattoo in Mankato, MN with 8 artists. I started with an apprenticeship in Owatonna, MN and have owned 3 shops and worked in countless others doing guest spots. I’ve also travelled the world doing conventions. I’ve won countless awards for my tattooing and was recently honored at the Puerto Rico convention for being a female artist along with other women as being trailblazers for women in the tattoo industry in what was a very male-dominated industry when we started tattooing.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
In the early 2000’s I sold my shop in an effort to move to Denver with my partner and 3 young kids. Soon after that we ended up breaking up and I stayed working in a shop that I had formerly owned (awkward) and working in Minneapolis on the weekends b/c I couldn’t bear being in my house when I didn’t have my kids (he kept them on the weekends). Up to this point my skills as a tattoo artist had kind of stalled…my whole career changed for the better when I went to work with other artists in Minneapolis. They pushed me to expand my skills and to work on larger pieces like back pieces and sleeves instead of smaller one-session pieces.
What I’m trying to say is that one of the worst times of my life ended up being necessary for me to evolve as an artist:)
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I am neurodivergent, which means I am socially awkward, intuitive, shy, creative, and weird. I am autistic with ADHD which I’ve recently realized as an adult. Tattooing has given my most of my management skills by forcing me to talk to people and become more social. It’s also been extremely challenging raising 4 very different kids with very different mental circumstances…navigating motherhood, running a shop, tattooing, and traveling has been a lot. When I started doing conventions I seemed to get a lot of attention, often hearing things like ‘these are really good tattoos for a girl!’ or ‘you did these? (insert a shocked look from the customer)’. I was told by a male artist that the only reason I was getting attention was b/c I was a girl (insinuating that my work wasn’t that great). Remember, there were very few female tattooists at the time…After that I did everything I could to be one of the best tattoo artists in the industry by traveling, doing guest spots, etc. regardless of my gender. I had the support of my community at home to help with the kids and the shop, but it was SO HARD and so much work. I wish I would have recognized that I was autistic back then, maybe I wouldn’t have been so hard on myself…but then I’m not sure I would have had this successful of a career?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meccatattoo.com
- Instagram: meganhoogland
- Facebook: meganhoogland
Image Credits
Elvia Iannacone