We recently connected with Diana Allen and have shared our conversation below.

Diana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

As a female tattoo artist and shop owner in a predominantly male based industry, the most important success objective is to keep yourself motivated to compete not only with the industry’s finest artists but also with yourself. Motivation to be better than yourself every day is so important. I am constantly driving to be better than I was yesterday. There is no time for jealousy of other artists and what they are accomplishing. Just because another shop is feeding doesn’t mean yours will starve.

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

I’m from a very small town, Coldwater kansas, population of about 800 people where I worked in the special educational field for 13 years. I visited my son during his time in the military while he was stationed at fort Polk Louisiana. While visiting him, my friend and I decided to get tattoos together there by the base. This was my second tattoo and I was excited and a little nervous at the same time. Zach fruge was the artists and I distinctly remember how gentle and patient he was with me and at that time I thought to myself, how amazing it would be to permanently put art on people’s body that meant so much to them. Then I had an Epiphany that this could be something I could do! I told the entire shop right then and there that this is something I am going to do for the rest of my life. I could feel the eyes roll and i think I even heard a few chuckles as well. Little did everyone know I was totally and completely serious. I came home so on fire for the industry that I told everyone in my home town that this was my career choice. Not many listened or took me seriously. I was met with a lot of apprehension and negativity. They would say things like, that will take you years and you will never get that done without visiting shops and knowing artists. I thought to myself, How will I do this when the nearest shop is so far away from me? How will I do this without any experience whatsoever? I didn’t have three or four years to wait! Well, I got a list of all the mentors in the state from the Kansas board of Cosmetology and I started calling every shop in the state to set up interviews. Most of them just simply hung up or discouraged me. Testament tattoo in Leavenworth Kansas finally took me on and I moved to Leavenworth four months later to begin my apprenticeship. My husband then followed behind me a year later. Now we are proud owners of bearded lady tattoo in Leavenworth Kansas and we haven’t looked back since then. This was absolutely the best career decision I have ever made for myself. It makes me feel proud that I accomplished something so great as to be the first female artist of the first city in Kansas. Something only I can have claim to.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I feel as though my reputation is all about the way I treat others in the industry and my clients as well. Patients, understanding and being genuinely kind to everyone I meet, treating them with respect and compassion is definitely the best way to conduct myself. Everyone should treat other this way. I truly believe it is the most important part of success.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My team knows without a doubt that I would do absolutely anything for them and I am grateful for everything they do for me. My husband and I try to go above and beyond to meet their needs in any way possible. We are completely transparent with them on everything business related and they also know if they need anything at all, we will be there for them one hundred percent. Even with personal things outside of the shop. If they need anything at all, we are there for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: beardedladytattoo.com
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebeardedladytattoo