We were lucky to catch up with Kevin Kaapana recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin , thanks for joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think to be successful in this industry you have to be persistent. Art is something we all love to create but the business side isn’t always easy. You have to be on top of things all the time in order to grow your business/brand.

Kevin , 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?

I got interested in tattooing at a young age. I would see older kids in the neighborhood with tattoos and being that I always was drawing, I became obsessed with the idea of doing it in skin. I tried different avenues to get into a shop and get an apprenticeship but it was a lot harder ten years ago. It was a long and rough road but it’s been more than worth it. It’s a wild thing to tattoo people, and I’m beyond grateful to do it. I try my best to push my creative limits, try new things, and give as best customer service as I can. I make friends with clients often and I think that’s important to do. People want to feel comfortable with their tattoo artist and get a good tattoo.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Covid was a scary time for a lot of industries. With no end in sight, I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I could tattoo again. This causes me, and a lot of other artists, to learn to generate revenue elsewhere. It was a wake up call to get back into creating art not just for tattoos, but for myself. That idea had been lacking for a long time. And with that, I could sell prints, stickers, shirts, etc. That pivot respawned the love of art I thought I lost.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I remember starting out, it would be weeks without pay. Being newly moved out of my moms house, it was an unsettling feeling to not have a steady paycheck. It took a while to become stable and a lot of hardships along the way. There has been times where I didn’t have a roof over my head or even good to eat. It made me want to work even harder. I knew it was going to work out one day, I just want sure when but that kept me going. I knew over anything, I just wanted to be a good tattooer.

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