We were lucky to catch up with Magi Trofi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Magi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

They’ve done a lot right by me! While they aren’t artists themselves, my parents have always been my biggest champions. They fostered my love for art since I was little, even when it meant grabbing me extra art supplies for projects. My mom would block out entire days at home just for encouraging me to draw, paint, create. You wouldn’t believe the number of paintings and artworks that adorn my family members’ walls thanks to them commissioning me and their pride in my work and talent over the years! Nowadays, they’re my biggest cheerleaders in the tattoo world, even if they initially had some reservations about the industry. My stepmother is also an angel and a whiz with finances, helping to taking care of my books and taxes that would otherwise give me a panic attack. This is such an amazing help, especially with the limitations I sometimes deal with due to my ADHD, ASD, and brain damage. My dad, a business owner himself, also offers me invaluable advice on running my own LLC. And let’s not forget that me being a single mom and small business owner wouldn’t be possible without my parents’ help with childcare on Saturdays. They truly are my rock! I don’t know what I’d do without them.

Magi, 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 am a life long fine artist and first year tattooist in Louisville, Colorado. I have wanted to be a tattooist since I was in 5th grade, but was unable to pursue it earlier on due to a lot of hurdles throughout my life. Things came full circle for me in 2022 when I was 29 years old. I was luckily able to pursue my dreams to become a tattoo apprentice at the shop I got my first tattoo in when I was a fresh faced 18 year old! It was Meant to be.

As a tattooist, I offer flash, pre drawn designs, sleeve concepts, custom pieces, and I do cover ups. I specialize in my own unique combination of Traditional, Neo Traditional, Japanese Traditional, and New School styles. I love when my tattoos feature 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s core themes, American and Japanese pop culture, video game characters, creepy and cute vibes, pastel goth, anime/manga characters, florals, furbies, and fantasy/cryptid creatures.

Alongside tattooing, I love to do fantasy watercolor paintings, acrylic landscapes, and mixed media statement pieces and band shirt designs. I design and sell stickers, I sell originals and prints of my fine art, as well as some prints of my custom tattoo designs when requested. I also keep commissions open for custom paintings, logo design, and T-shirt design.

I am most proud of my continuing growth as an artist, and my dedication to my craft no matter what life hurdles I come across. My strong fine art background sets me apart from many in the tattoo industry, as well as my love for color theory, and my strong knowledge of art fundamentals. I am also very bubbly, funny, clever, playful, and light hearted, and I do my best to form genuine relationships with all of my clients. I am more approachable and relatable for women and members of the lgbt community in an otherwise male dominated industry, and I pride myself in being a safe space. I have designed many pieces that carry a lot of meaning and weight for my clients, and I am honored to be such an important part of their journey. Custom designs are one of my favorite parts of my tattoo career, and I feel honored to have been able to create such cool pieces of artwork for my clients so far. I am happiest when my clients are happy, and if I can be a part of their journey.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, being an artist full time means getting to be more kind to myself. Forcing myself to fit in a corporate or mainstream box always had negative impacts on my mental and physical health. I can create all day every day, I have more time with my son, and while it’s more of a struggle financially for me currently, I am overall way less stressed and a lot happier, I bond a lot more with the people around me, and I will never go back to the way things were before.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I am still building my online presence, and have a long way to go! But the things that have helped me the most are doing “in field” networking with other artists in the tattoo industry, posting to my stories at least once a day, sharing my personality and glimpses into my life and not just my artwork. The algorithm likes to see our faces, and likes consistency. I don’t focus on any of the numbers, and just try my best. Putting too much pressure on myself makes it a lot harder for me to stay on it! Slow and steady wins the race, and being authentic will propel you and help you find your audience over time.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/nymphalea
• Instagram: Instagram.com/nymphetamine_tattoos
• Facebook: Facebook.com/magilynne