We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shelby Swann. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shelby below.
Shelby, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, one thing many business owners consider is donating a percentage of sales or profits to an organization or cause. We’d love to hear your thoughts and the story behind how and why you chose the cause or organization you donate to.
When the weather is nice, we try to run a tattoo flash event at least once per month. With these events, we always donate a percentage of our proceeds to an organization, usually 15-20%. Our biggest event to date was our ‘Keep Your Laws Off Our Bodies’ Flash Event in August. We showed up an hour before opening and there were already 30 people lined up outside. This event went to support the ongoing fight for reproductive freedom here in Kentucky and our donation went to Kentucky Health Justice Network(KHJN) We had over 300 people show up to get tattooed or buy gift cards and we raised a total of $2000 for KHJN. Our patrons were so committed to the cause that even when it started storming outside they stayed and waited in line.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into this industry because of my love of art and creating. After years of trying and failing to set up an art business based on commissions, I finally caved and decided to pursue a tattoo apprenticeship. I spoke with my mentor Ray Frost, Ray’s Tattoo Studio, and before I knew it I was his apprentice! I spent 6+ months observing him and tracing lettering over and over again on paper until I ever held a tattoo machine.
Ray truly sparked a new passion in me, and taught me everything I know about tattooing (and a lot about life too). Ever since I tattooed on skin for the first time, I’ve become obsessed with the art of tattooing. I love to see the look on my clients face when you do that final wipe and reveal their fresh ink. I feel that even though I may not be making a huge impact on the world, I’m at least making an impact on my client’s world and that is so rewarding.
Ray passed away in January 2022, and thus the doors to Ray’s Tattoo Studio closed. He had wanted the studio to continue with out him and so I stepped up and took over the lease on our storefront and started a new studio under the name Black Swann Ink!
My goals in starting this studio was to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone to come get inked without judgement! We are women & LGBTQ+ owned and operated. We strive to work with each individual to create a beautiful and empowering design for them. I also wanted to be sure we give back to our community in some way (I believe that if you take care of your community, they’ll take care of you) and that’s why we do our charity flash events.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
The universe works in funny ways. I was thrown into the deep end in opening this business. It was not something I had been planning for months. When Ray passed away, I had less than a week to decide whether or not I wanted to take over the lease for our store front or not. Once I decided to move ahead there were numerous other costs involved other than just storefront rent, such as LLC creation, business licenses, health department registration. Luckily, I had some money saved up from where I had just sold a school bus conversion that I had built. Aside from that I had a small loan from a family member that has since been paid back. I am one of the lucky few that was able to open my business with out going into debt.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My business partner is actually my boyrfriend, Jonathan Borders, we met at a Steve Earle concert. Neither of us wanted anything serious and here we are almost 2 years later. He expressed interest in tattooing when we started dating so I started teaching him, he’s still apprenticing now. While I have been the face of the business and the main tattoo artist here since we opened, Jonathan has been one of my biggest supporters and done so much work behind the scenes for this business that he deserves a shoutout and recognition!
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