We recently connected with Kristy Nadine and have shared our conversation below.

Kristy, appreciate you joining us today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?

We started Crybaby Tattoo amidst the covid chaos with a mission in mind, we wanted to created a relaxed safe space for tattooers and their clients. Welcoming everyone. Bending the standard for tattoo shops and making sure everyone has a good experience getting tattooed. We also acknowledge the privilege we have as artists and try to give back to the community by doing charity events. We successfully did our first charity event in April and plan to do more.

Kristy, 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?

My name is Kristy and I have been tattooing since 2008. I started making jewelry in 2012 and moved to San Diego from Colorado in 2013. Since then I’ve been working towards bringing my clients unique tattoos that are influenced by the neo traditional style. I enjoy it most when clients give me a base idea and let me take over from there. I specialize in full color pieces that include animals and botanicals. What was unexpected in that time was that my jewelry really blew up on Instagram and I struggled for a bit trying to find balance and time to do both. These days I’m heavily focused on bringing my tattooing to a new level at Crybaby Tattoo while simultaneously running a new Jewelry/Apothecary in North Park called Datura. Where i have most of my jewelry and other art for sale. I’ve been called “goth Martha Stewart” because I enjoy a wide range of mediums that compliment an ADHD lifestyle. Everything in the store, aside from a few relics from friends, has been made by me. I have a cant stop wont stop lifestyle and thats where I find my happy place.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Samara came into my life when she started working as the counter person at the shop we worked at prior. At first I was very closed off to her at the time it was hard for me to warm up to new people in my environment, especially other women because I rarely have stuff in common with them. Samara was no different, she indulged in pedicures and skincare routines while I like to hike in the sticks and get my hands dirty. She tried being sweet to me with no reciprocation for nearly two years but finally managed to get me to open up to her; shes vegan so she cant eat those peanut butter cups from the grocery store that I ate. One day she asked me to breathe on her after eating one so she could live vicariously through me and I though to myself that she was “a super weirdo like me” and that was the turning point, from then we were pretty much inseparable and it was when we were doing tour de San Diego Indian restaurants that we started dreaming up opening a shop together. Then covid hit. We were planning on opening the shop a few years out but covid forced tattooers out of work for nearly 8 months so in that time we felt like it was now or never.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

So i started making jewelry in 2012 from my collection of animal bones that I would collect when hiking deep in the mountains of Colorado. At the time it was just a hobby, i was fascinated by oddities and things alike, i loved sending out care packages to friends with the jewelry in them. I started posting on Tumblr, just about my little life and hobbies aside from tattooing. Then Instagram came along and when I moved to San Diego I decided to start one just for my jewelry, Earth and Bone. I started doing releases. Every time I would sell out in 10 min or less. From there it just snowballed. Fast forward I now have Datura in north park. Although its name is different from my online name it also includes things other than jewelry. I sell herbs that are fair trade and ethically sourced as well as body products and candles. Its my little happy place, the fruit of my labor on display for other to indulge in. I am working towards making art nouveau influenced engagement rings with raw bold elements. Working with fold and diamonds is such a scary/intriguing endeavor and I hope to start making a few custom engagement rings a month in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: Crybabysd.com
• Instagram: @Earthandbone
• Yelp: Datura, Crybaby Tattoo