Colleen McGuire

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent tattoo is a tribal butterfly on my forearm. I know what you’re thinking, “every girl has a butterfly tattoo” and I get it. I got this tattoo because it was a symbol of me fixing my relationship with my family. I had a tumultuous childhood and was often a rowdy or “bad” daughter that created issues that carried into my adult life. I got the tattoo matching with my mother (who I had the worst relationship with). It also works as a cover up tattoo, as I

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

My ink would remind you that regardless of where you come from, what you’ve been through, how hard you have fought, you are beautiful. You are full of stories and memories that you can wear with pride rather than feel shamed by your past. Tattoos are the purest form of expression. My tattoos remind me to get my shit together because I am not a product of all the bad things that happened to me, but instead that I took my life into my own hands and pursued self-betterment

What would you do with the $25,000?

In all honesty, I would use it to help my parents pay off their mortgage or lingering student loans. They have been amazing with supporting me through every up and down. I was awful to them when I was younger and now that I am getting it together and in college, they have moved mountains for me. I would like to make their lives just the slightest bit easier for the way they have helped me through mine and loved me through mine.