We recently connected with Miche Reeve and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Miche, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
My focus for this piece is not necessarily on how I started my business per se, but more so I want to focus on how I built my speciality and brought services to my industry that are not commonly seen. For backstory, I am a licensed and 17x certified cosmetic tattoo artist located in Richmond, VA. I started tattooing back in 2018, and I have been working full time as a PMU (permanent makeup) artist ever since. About two years into tattooing, I came out as transgender and began my social and medical transition. Sharing my story on my transition and incorporating it into my work, played a huge role in the trajectory my career went into. Prior to tattooing, I have received a BA in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies with a concentration in Health and Science. It always made perfect sense to me to incorporate my lived experiences as a transgender person, and my education from my bachelor’s degree with my tattooing. Tattooing is a reclamation of the body; it’s empowering and healing. Affirming gender goes hand in hand with that. Tattooing eyebrows, lips, and facial hair all allow for my guests to feel the solace and peace that comes with affirming gender. It can bring as much gender euphoria as gender affirming surgeries such as top surgery. You can literally change the appearance of the angles of the face with proper mapping to give a more masculine appearance, feminine appearance, or something in between. Helping someone to feel at home in their body is priceless and is hands down the most rewarding work I’ve had the pleasure of doing. Immediately when I started tattooing, I started tattooing a lot of masculine eyebrows and gender affirming eyebrows. You don’t often see artists talking about doing gender affirming PMU although it has been around for a very long time. My industry is so highly feminized that we have to push the narrative that PMU is for men and masculine people too. I would even go as far to say that the feminization within my industry often lacks feminism, as there is often a narrative of “fixing something” like someone’s eyebrows or lips, and often for the male gaze. When you have a gender affirming perspective, especially once you realize that cis people get gender affirming care too, and that it isn’t about fixing, it broadens the lens and pushes the boundaries of the PMU industry. I have always enjoyed pushing the boundaries and limitations of the beauty industry, and started with makeup. Prior to cosmetic tattooing, I was a freelance makeup artist, and that was when I first started playing with fluidity in presentation. Learning how to contour and about the angles of the face really helped to lay the foundation of my career. When I started doing cosmetic tattooing, all of my passions and experiences fell together to create what my career is today. As time went on, I made gender affirming services for the transgender community more accessible financially and otherwise. I started educating other artists on the importance of this work and how much of an impact it makes. And most importantly, I started educating others on how to conduct these services safely. There is a lot more that goes into a gender affirming service than just the tattooing itself.
Within the last year, I started offering services that are not commonly seen in my industry – gender affirming facial hair restoration. That’s right – mustache and beard tattooing for the transgender community. I am the only artist in the country who specializes in gender affirmation that offers this service. There are only two other artists in the United States that I know of who do this service as a gender affirming procedure. I’ve always had this service in mind, and wanted to start it for my community. Once I started getting requests from clients all over the world who were willing to travel for it, I knew it was time to start. I had clients reach out who had asked other PMU artists and were denied the service either to lacking experience on the artist’s end, or the artists discomfort providing the service due to lack of facial hair on the client. Limiting the service to clients who only have facial hair limits the accessibility of the service – not everyone who undergoes HRT (hormone replacement therapy) grows a lot of facial hair and some people don’t have access to HRT. This fueled the fire for me to really push to make this happen for my community. I did tons of research and practice and used previous education to build my technique. I did a model call for my first few clients which also allowed for some to get this done as a complimentary service. The rest is history!
Miche, 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’ve already given a bit of my background and how I got started with my business in the last response). For additional background info : My name is Miche (rhymes with quiche), and my pronouns are they/them. I am a non-binary transmasc cosmetic tattoo artist and business owner. I just opened my own collective called Xenith last year – it is home to differnet artists such as body tattoo artists, cosmetic tattoo artists, and nail artists. I currently offer nano brows, powder brows, combination brows, lip blush, freckles, beauty marks, and facial hair restoration tattoos. I will soon be offering paramedical tattoo services that include areola tattooing, scar camouflage, belly button tattooing, and scalp micropigmentation. I am the co- founder of an educational organization called PMU in Transition, which provides inclusivity training and education for fellow PMU and restorative tattoo artists. We currently offer consulting, in person education, public speaking, and will soon be releasing online trainings. Prior to tattooing, I not only was a freelance make up artist, but I worked briefly in the non-profit world specifically in domestic violence agencies.
I feel what sets me apart from others in the field is the passion and ethos behind my business. Creating cosmetic tattoos from a queer and affirmative lens allows for results that differ from the average PMU artist. I am not creating my work to “correct anything,” or to serve the male gaze. My work is healing, empowering, restorative, and allows for my guests to feel more at home in their body regardless of how they identify. The passion and ethos behind my business is what pushed me to do services you don’t typically see in PMU. My service menu definitely sets me apart from other artists. Not every PMU artists understands that our work can be a tool for gender affirmation and some don’t even understand the power and healing nature that gender affirming care provides. Having the perspective I do not only changes the service menu, and how I do the service, but also my business model, my bedside manner, my marketing tactics, and so much more.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
When I first started my business, I did everything I could to put myself out there. Social media was a lot different back then, and as long as I posted consistently and slightly appealed to the algorithm, I was building a following. I started my social media before I was even licensed so that people could watch my journey as time went on. That way when it was time to start tattooing, I already had a clientele. A lot of people were interested in getting tattooed by me because of my background in makeup as well. I was able to build my presence of social media by embracing vulnerability within my own identity and experiences. That was when I really noticed things changing. I’ve been very public online about my medical and social transition as a non-binary transgender person. I’ve found that sharing those details of my life and experiences has allowed for me to connect with others with similar experiences. Those also happen to be my ideal clientele – whether they be a part of the community or a wonderful ally. It goes hand in hand. I feel that being vulnerable and being yourself, as cheesy as it may sound, is what really builds connection and connection is how you build a social media presence. Clients may find your page because of your services or word of mouth, but it is the connection and who you are as a person and service provider that keeps them coming back.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
I have built my business purely through social media and through word of mouth. Online, people love to see a good before and after shot. They want to see what you’re capable of, what skills you bring to the table, while also getting to know you. This is where being vulnerable and putting yourself out there will bring you more clientele. Sharing details of your life outside of work makes a difference, as long as you’re keeping it professional. With word of mouth, I have found that a lot of my clients want to see the results first hand on friends or family if they are already on the fence. If they know someone who has trusted me with their face and had a good experience, then they are usually more likely to book an appointment. The vulnerability that comes with getting your face tattooed is huge here. It’s all about building trust.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.xenithrichmond.com
- Instagram: @michereevetattoo
- Other: Email : [email protected]
Image Credits
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