We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenny Collins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jenny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Back in 2008 I was nearing the end of grad school at the Colorado School of Mines, working on my PHD in material science engineering. Even though I was so far along, I was unhappy with my career choice and was looking for a creative out. I was only 16 when I went to college and entered grad school at age 20, so I stuck to what was safe and what other people told me I should do. But I knew I wanted to do something creative instead, even though that seemed nearly impossible.

At the time I was writing songs on the piano for fun every day and also picked up drawing. One thing led to another, and in one week I got offered to play keys in a metal band that was set to tour the country that summer and then was also offered a tattoo apprenticeship. I had jammed with a friend’s band named Inocula from Chicago while driving through and they called me later wanting me to permanently join them. Also, I was repeatedly going to a tattoo shop as a client in Denver getting a sleeve done, where I met Oscar Zornosa who ended up offering me a tattoo apprenticeship. While both options seemed very attractive, I chose tattooing because I knew I could fully support myself with it once I learned, and I would realistically have to get a second job at first if I chose music. Turns out, I made the right choice because the band broke up shortly after, and I have been supporting myself with tattooing since. The past seven years I have been working by appointment only out of my private studio. This extremely ideal for me as it allows me full control over my schedule and free time to dedicate to music as well.

Once I had carved out time for music in my schedule seven years ago, I started learning how to sing while playing piano and then seriously dove into electronic music production about 4 years ago. Of course DJing came with that since that is the main way to perform electronic music. I have been performing under the moniker JennyKat in Atlanta the past 3 years and just started expanding to the southeast region this past year. I feel blessed that I am able to use one creative passion to fuel another. It takes some serious jugging, and I always have a million different projects/tasks to finish, but it is very rewarding at the end of the day.

Jenny, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a musician I started at seven years old taking years of piano lessons. I actually begged my parents to let me take piano lessons for a few years before that. They finally caved in and I went to weekly lessons and practiced daily. For the first year or so, we didn’t have a piano so I rode my bike to the church my family went to and practiced to empty pews every day. One of the best things my piano teacher did was make me write a song every week based on a chord progression that she gave me. After years of developing that, I started writing lyrics and melodies over the piano. And today I’m combining all of that with electronic production in my JennyKat project. I love the combination of soft pretty melodies with dirty bass lines, and in my live sets, you can expect a cross genre DJ set of that vibe with live singing. I’m excited about the music I have put out this past year and even more excited about the music and collabs I have coming out over next year. You can find my music on all streaming platforms.

As a tattoo artist, I started at 22 years old. I was lucky to land an apprenticeship where I had a great teacher who taught me a lot, even though it was pretty grueling at times. But it equipped me to be able to draw and tattoo whatever style/idea/placement that came my way, which is critical to being successful in a walk-in shop in the beginning. About five years in, I started drawing realistic black and grey animals in pencil and combined that with geometric elements for fun. People started noticing and coming to me for that style. It was really that specialization that allowed me to branch out to work for myself at my own private studio in Atlanta when I did. Today I stay booked out by appointment only, and mostly stick to my black and grey nature/geometry style but am open to other styles too. For appointments/inquiries, feel free to email [email protected] and check out www.jennytattoos.com for a gallery of my work.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My main mission is to do what I love. So many people easily love themselves and others but forget to do what they love. Creating music and tattoos is what I love to do right now, and if I find something else better in the future, I will go do that.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

To me, the most rewarding aspect is having control and freedom, especially when it comes to my schedule. I think time is the most valuable asset in life so having control of that to me is very important. I still have constant commitments and deadlines, but I have chosen them for myself and that makes all the difference to me. It is also super rewarding to see other people appreciate and gain value from my creations.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jennytattoos.com www.jennykatmusic.com
• Instagram: @jennytattoos @jennykatmusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/geometricjenny https://www.facebook.com/JennyKatMusic
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1s4e4F3ScbiuxGM1gcmnY5?si=RlqoiMQQSQqzGtvdP1BtDA https://soundcloud.com/jennykat

Image Credits
Alec Robertson Jeff Kaplan Matt Murphree