Luis Ovando

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent tattoo is Felix the Cat catching a huge fish. There are two reasons that inspired this tattoo. The first reason is that I wanted to get a vintage cartoon character on me since they are colored majority in black and I am really into black tattoos. The second reason is that I love to go fishing. This tattoo is very special to me because Felix represents my pet Gilbert and I like the clash of different styles of tattoos (i.e. cartoon felix and the American traditional fish).

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

If my ink could speak it would say "I promise I won't bite, but I probably will". Some of my tattoos are very provocative. These tattoos represent my alter ego which I define as flamboyant, strong, confident, and intimidating. Once people overlook these wild, yet cool, tattoos and look at the rest of my body they begin deeper conversations because the rest of my tattoos represent my family, things I enjoy in life, how I perceive my universe.

What would you do with the $25,000?

With $25,000, I would spend it on my student loans, my mother, and a science program dedicated to teaching younger unrepresented students. I am a first-generation Guatemalan American currently in a PhD program studying plasma cells and aging. Getting to this point in my life was not easy and I had a lot of help from my mother and science mentors. I hope to release myself from student debt so it can help me focus on giving back to my mother and inspire a younger generation scientist.