Laurel Derksen

What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent is a bright sun on my shoulder. I live in northern Canada and getting enough sun is difficult so I got the sun on my right shoulder to also remind me that in hard times to look for the light. I asked the artist to convey the idea of heat as well because I crave to live in a warmer climate someday.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

That to some degree tattoos can be changed and even though you can't see it on the surface, that old ink is still there. Life is like that, it can be changed, things forgotten or remembered but the old memories and lessons are still there just maybe not on the surface. I think my ink would say " sometimes you were a dumb bitch, but you did ok in the end, raised a good girl and are still working on the rest".

What would you do with the $25,000?

Last year I closed my barber shop and moved to a larger city to try my luck. I left my home town and came to a place nobody knows me. Slowly I am rebuilding my career one haircut at a time. It's been just over one year and it's coming along slowly and bills need to be paid. If there is anything left I would love to take my daughter on a nice vacation to a sunny place, I've never been to a tropical country.