Jillian zerkle

What inspired your most recent tattoo?

I did my most recent tattoo myself. A few years ago, I tattooed a unicorn for my ex's daughter, Nico (u"nico"rn), on my forearm. After we broke up, he and his family kept her and me from communicating and trashed me to the point that her memory of me became skewed. It was painful to look at, especially through my journey in recovery and starting school to become a counselor. I covered up the unicorn with a tattoo of a woman with flowers growing out of her head, representing growth.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

My ink would speak of a life full of chaos, loss, struggle, despair, recreation, and survival. It would tell a story of pain. It would tell a story of survival and strength. It would tell a story of love. It would tell a story of allowing your embarrassing and ugly past to tell a story of hope, of change, and of growth and development.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would take half of the funds and pay off my debt so I can start fresh from a life I worked so hard to overcome. 17 years of active addiction, doing what I needed too to survive the life I was recklessly placed in at 11 years old and struggled through until I was 28. The other half I would put towards the prevention, harm reduction, and education for substance use and mental health that I crowdsource and pay out of pocket now. Events and resources and support for our stigmatized community.