We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bridget Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bridget below.
Bridget, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?
Starting at a young age, art intrigued me and I knew it was something I would want to practice for the rest of my life. I had taken multiple art classes, private lessons, and had even continued into college as an art major. During my school years, I was always considered book-smart. I had straight A’s and was an all around amazing student. There was so much pressure from my family and friends as the only girl to go to college, get a degree! The older I grew, the more i realized I was losing touch with my creative side and I wanted to reconnect. I started losing focus and interest in my academic classes, and would spend most of my time dozing off during lectures drawing in my notebooks. Once I officially dropped out, I soon panicked and realized I could not just spend all my days drawing, and that I had to find a way to have a career while still being in touch with my artistic mind. Tattoos always interested me, and once I realized I could have creative freedom, while still making a living I jumped right on it. I had went to many shops looking for an apprenticeship, where I would get denied regularly. Eventually I had found a shop that was willing to hire me. One of the first things I was told when I was hired was; “You’re only here for your pretty face. It will attract business.”
This was the first moment of my eyes being opened of how male dominated the world really is. The more tattoo artists I met- I realized many grown men in the industry do not take women serious. This is a huge problem to me. Almost every shop I would go in, there would be at least one man making comments about “tatted chicks” and the stigma around them. No brains, just hot and wild!
Since I have worked this job I have made my best effort to show people that women should be taken serious because of their skill, not because of their beauty. I want to inspire young girls who don’t want to take the traditional college route to step outside of the box and try something new, and not particularly feminine, without feeling uncomfortable because of men. One of my favorite parts of my job is making women feel safe and secure during such an intimate process. Getting tattooed is not always fun to begin with, the last thing you want to deal with is misogynistic comments from the old man tattooing you.
I hope that one day people remember me as someone who inspired them, to not care what anyone else thinks of them and to do what’s best for their future, even if it is looked down upon. I pray the future of young women grow up and realize they can do anything a man can do. Beauty is not the only quality a woman should put effort into. I want to see more little girls grow up and use their creative mind and rock their world. Nothing else could make me happier.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Hi, my name is Bridget Smith, I’m a 20 year old girl from South Jersey. I am a tattoo apprentice at Pins and Roses tattoo studio in Pennsville, NJ. This is an all women ran private studio, making all of our guests feel comfortable and safe. I specialize in American traditional and black and grey microrealism. I’ve been tattooing for about a year and a half now. Many people think I am young for my job, but I wanted to start as early as I could to build a future for myself. This job is the biggest blessing in the world to me, and it keeps my head on straight in times where I feel lost. I can’t wait to see where the future takes me. In my future, I hope to run my own shop also ran by women. I feel as if it is important for women to have a safe space in the tattoo industry, which is very male dominated. I can’t wait to see where my future takes me, and I hope people are inspired by my story!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Dropping out of college and starting to tattoo full time was a huge change for me at only 19 years old. I had to quit my job, and start apprenticing full time with no income. I remember the first few month, I would stress so bad about how I would make it every month to pay my bills and get by. I’d wonder if giving up everything to tattoo was even worth it. I lost friends, family and other loved ones because my whole life became consumed with work. Wake up, go to work, draw and tattoo all day, come home, draw flash and other designs to build my portfolio, answer clients, repeat. I went through many older tattoo artists telling me I was just a spoiled kid and I wasn’t going to make it, that I was just a girl with a pretty face and no one would take me serious. For a while I sat in a pity party and almost gave up. Until one day, I got fed up. I got fed up feeling bad for myself, and realized I wasn’t going to let a few small inconveniences get in the way of my dreams. Instead of letting it get to me, I took it as motivation. I worked harder than yesterday every single day. I still do. As an artist, you never stop learning. You never feel as if you are doing good enough. I pray that my hard work persists and pays off for my future self.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
The little bit of time I spent in college I made a good amount of friends and acquaintances. I have been heavily tattooed since I graduated high school, and everyone knew that. During the beginning of my apprenticeship, I would tattoo my leg for practice often. I would get many compliments from people from school, old friends, people that knew my parents. I always loved it because I was able to tell them I did them myself. This usually interested them and made them want to come get tattooed by me. For a while, business was slow. No one wanted to trust me enough, which is completely understandable for my art is permanent. I used this as motivation to try harder and do the neatest work I could. Slowly my clientele began to multiply. One time I was tattooing an old client of mine, and she told me that my name was spread all over Rowan University. That made me so proud of myself. Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I have a pretty steady and loyal client base. They are the most amazing clients in the world and I thank the universe everyday for giving me these people who allow me to practice, learn, and put permanent ink in their skin, I would be no where without my clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: pinsandroses.com
- Instagram: bridgetsmithtattoos