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

Maddy, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

As a short answer, yes I am MUCH happier as a business owner. I spent 9 years of my life working in bars and restaurants, and think about it often. I cherish that time of my life! It was where I have found most of my community. Tattooing and hospitality go hand in hand, so I felt very prepared when I began learning how to tattoo (at least as far as talking to people went!) Tattooing the past few years, especially with the economic downturn, is a difficult job to maintain. There are months at a time where you may only have a few appointments a week. Or none! So I do sometimes miss the stability of having a paycheck come in weekly. As far as the job itself goes, tattooing is much more rewarding than serving tables and bartending. I create a special bond with every one of my clients and tattooing is a very intimate experience. You are with the same person at a close proximity for hours at a time, so your “bedside manner” in tattooing is definitely important. I definitely do miss the constant hustle and busyness in restaurant work, however I have fulfilled any missing hustle/bustle by working out of shop tattoo flash events, which can be a bit more fast paced than my average schedule. As far as the hit on money goes—when you want something as bad as I wanted to be a tattooer, you put the financial instability aside. Happiness first, always! And I am soooo lucky to have the job I do:)

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

Hi!! My name is Maddy and I am a tattooer working out of KSD Tattoo in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I spent a lot of time working in restaurants but have always been a natural artist. I was a ceramicist and a painter, a sculptor, and a graphic design assistant. Basically anything artistic I could get my hands on, I did! I always loved expressing myself through tattoos even from a young age. In high school, you would find me head to toe covered in henna tattoo designs that i did myself in the mirror. I never thought of tattooing as a real possibility of what I could do for a career. It felt like a fairytale job. Jobs only for the most talented people. When you’re an artist most of your career is spent circling the self doubt. Shortly after graduating college, I moved to Portland, Maine where i learned how to tattoo. It was a very difficult time of my life and I was bouncing around the idea of “but what if I could tattoo for a living”? So I found someone willing to teach me and I threw myself into it. It was hard and like most artists, my relationship with my mentor was toxic and for my mental health left my apprenticeship and opened my own business. I had been tattooing for about a year and had enough clients, and felt like it was the healthiest move for me to keep my career and sanity. I learned A LOT opening my own business so early and I am incredibly lucky for all of those who have boosted me up and trusted me from the beginning. I think the thing that sets me apart from others is the experience I give when you’re getting tattooed. I am non-judgmental and easy going. It seems people find it easy to open up to me! I try to treat every client ,new or old, as a friend I’ve known for years, and that is definitely helpful to establish trust in my line of work. Trust is the entire basis of getting tattooed by someone and I am honored to be able to create permanent work for those who ask! I take my job very seriously but am a very goofy person. So when you’re getting tattooed by me, you’re getting a one of a kind experience every time :)

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Since my move back to Pittsburgh, PA in 2025 I have tried to work an out of shop event monthly. This is anything from representing our shop, and selling art at a brewery to working donor events for causes I feel are important! I always talk about how events are my bread and butter, I love meeting new people and I love tattooing, so it’s truly the perfect combination. Me and my shop mates have raised money for PAAR (Pittsburgh Action Against Rape) at Ink for Impact, local animal shelters, and most recently for an event that donated proceeds to MAP (Medical Aid for Palestine). The like-minded clientele I meet at these events often become repeat clients. It is an opportunity for them to chat with me before booking a tattoo based on my portfolio alone, which I think helps establish who and what kind of person they plan to work with.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is a tricky beast. At the beginning of my career, I received most of my following by living in a small area, and having known most of the people in the restaurant community. It was kind of a “everyone knows everyone” situation and I received most of my follows/clientele by word of mouth. Working out of shop events is also very helpful here. Business cards feel a little outdated these days but they are helpful to share information. I keep a coupon on the back of my business card to give it a purpose (a reason to not ditch it or throw it at the bottom of a bag). I also make custom stickers and hand those out with my instagram handle. Every local dive bars’ bathroom is covered in stickers, so whenever there is an opportunity to stick one somewhere, I also do that. I feel as though a lot of my following has come from the stickers alone :p

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sweatypalmstattoo.com
• Instagram: @sweatypalmstattoo
• Facebook: @sweatypalmstattoo
• Other: BOOKING LINK:
  venue.ink/@sweatypalmstattoo