We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Thomas and Desiree Keys. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley andDesiree below.
Ashley and Desiree, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?
As female tattoo artists in what has historically been a male-dominated industry, we aim to make our shop a warm and inviting place where everyone feels welcome and comfortable.
Ashley/Desiree, 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?
Desiree: I have been drawing my entire life and that is actually one of my first memories! I remember as a child always being so amazed by the old story book illustrations. “how did they do that!” Vintage/Victorian illustrations and fantasy art have really influenced my art style along with my love of nature and seeing magic in the little things. I love bringing that magic to life through tattooing.
Ashley: I’ve been tattooing for 17 years, and my focus in recent years has been on blackwork, traditional, and neotraditional tattoos. My aim is to provide a safe, friendly environment where people can get expert tattoos. I’m proud of the many thousands of projects I’ve worked on over the years and the trust that clients have placed in me with the tattoos I’ve done for them.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
Ashley: We met when Desiree when she came into my shop looking for employment. I looked through her portfolio and was very impressed with her work. We worked together for 2 years and then decided that it would be awesome to go into business together and create a new location with a fantastic aesthetic that really captured our mutual vision for the shop, as well as creating a larger space where more artists could come on and enjoy working in the beautiful new space we created.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Ashley: We opted to avoid a loan and instead use an equal amount of capital from our respective business savings.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.echelontattoo.com
- Instagram: echelontattoo
- Facebook: Echelon Tattoo
- Linkedin: N/A
- Twitter: N/A
- Youtube: N/A
- Yelp: N/A
Image Credits
Emma Voyles