Cara

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent tattoo is a playful koi/cat fish sleeve which could either symbolize a harmonious balance between my resilience and my carefree nature, celebrating my struggles and the joy I find in life. Or, I’m simply a crazy cat lady letting the world know with over 40 hours in the chair. What’s that line… beauty is pain. The mermaid barracuda has a much better story… let’s just say the barracuda represents all the names I’ve been called in my career as an

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

They would share stories of resilience and transformation, each marking a chapter of my journey through pain, healing, and self-discovery. They would celebrate moments of strength, commemorate love and loss, and express my unique identity and experiences, reminding me and others of the beauty that emerges from struggle. My tattoos cover my inner and more exposed scars. Allowing only beauty to be seen. It’s taken me 48 years to feel beautiful in my own body in my own skin.

What would you do with the $25,000?

While the easy answer would be… more tattoos. Perhaps it would fund my right leg sleeve. However, since my art stems from trauma… I’d like to take time off from my regular nurse job to help others. A medical mission. Serve the underprivileged. Then since my life, my job is sacrificing myself to care for others, I’d then go and just be… in Bali. My whole life I’ve suffered and grown from it. Why shouldn’t this part of my path be a little of the same. O