Jonelle St Aubyn

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

I have mandalas in a number of my tattoos. To me, they represent elegance, beauty and personal and spiritual growth. My most recent one is a mandala design that caps my shoulder but it is connected in style different mandalas that decorate my right arm. I am running out of space and hope to finish my sleeve with a mandala on my hand, similar to the one on my shoulder as a frame for all the other beautiful tattoos that I have.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

This question made me cry. My tattoos speak of my never ending love of my nephew and my deep grief over his loss. It speaks to my resilience, determination, strength and power to keep moving forward despite difficult challenges. It exposes the softer sides of me in my love of reading, a good cup of tea, my quest for knowledge and my care for those around me. It says I can still find beauty in the darkest of times and that although I prefer peace, I'm ready to go to war for those I love.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would use part of the money to travel. Getting a chance to explore the world and see and learn new things is something that I love to do. Part of it would go into the scholarship fund that I sponsor yearly in memory of my nephew for a deserving student in the basketball program to help fund their post-secondary dreams at the high school we both went to. And I would save the rest. I live alone and there are always unexpected emergencies. A cushion would provide some comfort.