We were lucky to catch up with Jessie Langs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jessie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut. I figured out early that it probably would not have worked out well since I had asthma. A deep love of animals made young, naive me think that being a veterinarian would be a good choice–up until the morning I was supposed to move into the aptly named Shoebox dorms at Clemson University to start the Pre-Vet Med track. I woke up in a cold sweat to the realization that I am terrified of parasites, worms, and anything that could MAYBE be parasitic. The difficult time I had studying for the parasite section of the animal care class in high school should have been a hint. Between that and my tendency to cry when anything involves animals, being a veterinarian was so wrong for me that it was almost funny–or it would be funny if I didn’t spend years of my life preparing for this moment. Oops.

I had no back-up plan, so I worked and went to community college for general education courses in hopes of finding something I enjoyed. I considered Baking, but I found I liked designing the sweets more than making them. I sent off an admission request for a Music Education track at a semi-prestigious school, but everything about it felt wrong for me upon touring. One weekend, I ended up speaking with a high school friend about their hope to get accepted into the selective Graphic Design program at the University of South Carolina. It felt like my brain needed a moment to process that I could make money doing things I did for free for people on online forums. I had not even considered that my skills were marketable.

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

Hi, I am Jessie, a tattooer, illustrator, graphic designer, and general maker. I pride myself on being well-rounded, but recently tried to focus myself in the direction of illustration I enjoy most, which tends to lean towards the anime it was inspired by. I am an avid fan of making things too complicated for the sake of being extra fun to look at.

I’m proud to be co-owner of Dead Sure Studio with Aaron Wall and B Hancock in downtown St. Louis. We are a private tattoo studio located on the second floor of the Ludwig Building. After building several tattoo businesses for others, we decided to open a studio that had all the things we wanted: a private and comfortable location that was a real collective built by like-minded people. In addition, we wanted to provide things shop owners told us were too expensive to give away, like basic aftercare materials and snacks. People’s experience when they get tattooed often sticks with them and gets associated with the piece. We want to ensure that the experience from start to end of healing is positive.

What do you find most rewarding about being creative?

As someone that has grown to appreciate their body more since being tattooed, I find a lot of joy in making people excited about their bodies.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

COVID Quarantine was difficult for everyone, but it got really complex for us in a career that is a luxury service that creates wounds. So part of the reason for our opening of Dead Sure was to provide a place to accommodate clients and artists once we could tattoo again safely. As an immune-compromised individual, a studio space where people respected the real damage COVID could do was a non-compromise.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.deadsurestudio.com, www.jessieisokay.com
• Instagram: jessieisokay, jessieisalright
• Facebook: Facebook.com/jessieisokay
• Other: I’m on reddit as jessieisokay. Tiktok as jessieisokay_