We were lucky to catch up with Uma Anderson Chopra recently and have shared our conversation below.

Uma, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

I grew up on a small island in the Salish Sea. Tucked away from the mainland, I spent a lot of time outside or doing projects. Growing up in such a wild and remote place I have always felt a deep connection to the land and water that I come from. My parents centered our life around the land, always ensuring there was a clear connection between us and the natural world. I greatly appreciate the time we spent outside, rain or shine, we got out in it. Living so close to the land from such a young age instilled a real comfort in the outdoors which I think is not the case for all children. It instilled a love of midnight moonlight romps in the woods, of rainy day ocean swims and of climbing trees that I don’t think I’ll ever lose.
I think the greatest lessons my parents taught me were all the non traditional ones. My Mom, Dad, and Stepmom all showed me the importance of seeing the world. Seeing other cultures and places. All the skills that you learn outside of a classic K-12 school.
One of my friend’s uncles was in town visiting from Hungary and my Mom pulled me out of school that day because we were going to be making sausages from scratch. I still remember so vividly blowing up the intestines like balloons and filling them with the freshly seasoned hand ground sausage meat. The Lessons and learnings outside of the classroom taught me more life skills than school ever did.
In elementary school we went to Thailand for two months. Though I missed out on what my fellow fourth graders were studying, those two months changed my entire perspective on life. I saw farther and wider than I’d ever known.
I thank both my parents for instilling a very big love of adventure and exploration.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I picked up many different art forms over the years from my family and community. My senior year of high school, I was drawn to tattooing. After ordering stick and poke essentials, and giving myself my first tattoo, I knew I’d found my form. Wrapping up highschool,I wanted to pursue art in some form or another but was not feeling excited about a traditional four year college. I looked into tattooing laws and saw that Oregon required tattoo school to get licensed. This seemed like the perfect route for me. It was a way to not only further develop my tattoo skills but also to learn how to make a career out of them.
I was all in from the start. Not only did I love the art form but, I was set on figuring out how to make it my livelihood.
At 18 I moved to Portland alone not knowing the city well but with a feeling it would be a good first place to go. I started school and was quickly on my way to my dream of becoming a tattoo artist.
My clients are the only reason I am where I am. I always want to provide a space that is welcoming and a safe haven for people to confide in. I want to provide a warm experience where we feel like friends chatting about our weekend instead of a procedure in a sterile room. I want there to be excitement not only for the tattoo my clients are getting but also for the time they spend there. I want to giggle with them and make sure we’re creating something that feels right for them.
I’ve grown to a place with my work where I only tattoo a few pre-drawn designs, while botanical freehands take up most of my days.
My clients come in with an idea of a plant/plants they want and a general area and we put sharpie to skin. We create the piece together to fit and form to their body.
I hope for people to know that tattoos are just as much the piece of art you get as they are the experience of getting them. With just as much love for the experience of getting it.
Get after what you love! If you have that all in mindset I think you’re capable of so much more than you think.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Taking a lot of care in my craft and the experience I provide for people generally leads to a positive word of mouth reference. Though social media plays a significant role I think word of mouth will always bring in the most business.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I started my business I really didn’t have anything just enough for the essentials. I knew that as time went on I could grow my space and get more equipment. I started out in a tiny little studio and slowly grew from there.

Contact Info:

• Website: Umatattoos.com
• Instagram: @umatattoos

Image Credits
Joe @kovacmedia took the two photos of me tattooing. I took the 6 others!