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

Toad , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Any thoughts around creating more inclusive workplaces?

The tattoo industry historically has been a “boys club” led by older white men whos beliefs often come at a detriment to most of their client base. Much of the “old school” tattoo world is rooted in gatekeeping, sexism, homophobia, misogyny and racism – so I set out to join those who are revolutionizing and changing the industry to be a safer and more inclusive place!

In my few years of business, I’ve gathered and joined a huge, loving community of young, queer, BIPOC artists who really care about the safety and comfort of their clients, along with cultivating beautiful inclusivity in the industry!

Within my company and my clientele I strive to celebrate that which the industry has historically rejected and often still rejects, especially the queer and disabled community!

Toad , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Toad (they/them) , and I created Toad & Turnip tattoo aftercare! A queer owned and operated company dedicated to bringing the best and most natural healing products for your fresh tattoos!

My whole life I had worked very labor intensive jobs, jobs that exacerbated my chronic illness and chronic pain, I was always injured and hurting so one day I took a leap of faith, without any prior experience, quit my job, and started a small business! At first my business was based in my hobby of general herbalism, simple herbal tinctures and tonics. My friend Michelle Messing became my herbal mentor and taught me so many things that inspired the products I have today, as well as a tattooer friend of mine, Mason Kher, encouraging me to create something for healing tattoos and my company took off from there, nicheing down to just natural tattoo products!

Once I got into the tattoo industry, I realized there was a great need for natural products, the standard for tattoo healing products were things like petroleum and lotion, as an herbalist I knew our skin and the beautiful art on it deserved so much better! So I used all my herbal knowledge to create products that would actually heal your skin, cut out the itchiness, and prevent infection, while healing tattoos way faster than the “old school” methods.

Ive discovered more than just a need for natural products in the industry as my business has grown… the need for queer and disabled representation! The tattoo industry has historically not been a very safe place for fems, BIPOC, queer and disabled people, but in my time running this company I’ve created and joined a thriving community of people working to make the industry a safer and more inclusive space!

Something I am proud of and work very hard to maintain is that I source my ingredients and outsourced work from ethical places! Including hand-foraging my herbs in the wild, buying from small farms and hiring other small queer owned businesses for things like labels and merch!

I base everything I do with this company in kindness, inclusivity, and with ethical standards. I hope to bring natural healing options and queer/ disabled representation to the industry!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

For me, the best strategy for growing my clientele has been word of mouth!

The tattoo industry is like a spider web where everyone knows everyone, once a good artist or 2 gets wind that Toad has wonderful products, they tell their tattooer friends and reccomend to their clients!
I’ve found that tattoo conventions have been marvelous for networking and growing clientele! I adore talking to people, have a friendly personality and huge smile I’m not afraid to hide! I treat new and potential clients as respected friends and I’d like to think I’m well liked in the community for it!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I first started this business I had no prior savings or experience, but was asked to vend a table at a tattoo charity event, and realized how well that type of thing works for building a savings to begin my business with! So I started vending where ever I could, mostly farmers markets, and eventually started creating my own events, like the “witches bizarre” craft show for halloween at a local smoothie shop. I very much would not have been able to do that without the amazing friends and connections I made, the vendors for that event were all artists I had met before and the smoothie place was owned by an acquaintance. It took me one full summer of vending and running events to gather the funds needed to begin my tattoo aftercare business! It was extremely fun and I made so many friends along the way!

Contact Info:

• Website: Find us on etsy, search “Toad and turnip”
• Instagram: @toadandturniptattooaftercare
• Facebook: Toad and turnip tattoo aftercare

Image Credits
chyanne @chyfawn, Models = morgan hoeffel and antony felix Photographer for morgan ONLY is chelsea whitaker (other model pic was self taken)