Young Bae of Black Ink is a mother, a self-taught tattoo artist, and a self-made business owner who is the epitome of perseverance. She shares her story to inspire women to have faith in their journey.
How did you begin your journey into the artistry of tattoo? Name your influences.
I’ve been an artist all my life since I was a baby. Drawing and painting was my thing since I was two or three years old. I’ve always been an artist then I came to New York with nothing. As you know, I didn’t even speak the language. I had multiple jobs to pay my bills and then one day I was walking home so I saw a tattoo shop… I loved art. While making money, I wanted someone to teach me. It was hard being there at the time. There were artists or men and they only showed interest in wanting to have sex with me. As a female, I wasn’t going to do that or compromise my integrity so I started working in shops for free, cleaning their tools, I cleaned the shop and learning the business behind the scenes. I did like three tattoos and that was it. I am who I am now, self-taught!
You’ve owned a tattoo shop, Diamond Tattoos, for ten years. What made you get involved with Black Ink, especially with the success of your own brand?
My shop was doing really well and every year I had to move because of the growth. I didn’t have money when I started. When I first began my shop was so small, it was literally someone’s storage room. But with all the world word-of-mouth and my popularity increasing, I had to keep moving to bigger spaces until I finally found a home in Times Square. Ever since I could remember, I wanted to write a book because I have a story to tell and if you follow me you know. Especially when I became a successful business owner, I thought I owed myself and the girls struggling and getting abused. I need to tell my story for people really going through shit and show them there is light at the end of the tunnel. I started to realize, who’s going to read my book if I’m not famous. Because I’m very big on faith, I asked God what is my next step. Ink Master was reaching out for years and then of course Black Ink. Black Ink ended up being the better fit and that was it.
Your line-work is some of the best I’ve seen. Do you remember your first tattoo? And what would you say is the biggest improvement from then to now?
I’m the type of person who never gets nervous so I wasn’t nervous, I was just having fun. It came out really well. It didn’t come out shaky or anything like that but it did take her two months to heal. It only took that long to heal because I didn’t know how deep I should go and I didn’t know about overworking the skin. I didn’t know about skin at all… I started to practice on pigskin, oranges, and grapefruits. You always have to work on perfecting your craft. I’m still learning something new every day. Tattoo styles are always changing so you have to keep up with what’s current.
With tattooing being a male-dominated industry, there has been a wave of successful female artists. How did you develop your brand and was it especially hard being a woman?
I love – love – love that. I think it’s so amazing (referring to the growth of female tattoo artists). Before, you would barely see a woman tattoo artist. When I first started it was really rare. I’m no sexist, but you know women in our society go through sexism. Yes, there is racism, but women deal with sexism all day every day. I had a lot of males working for me at my shop and they would be so pissed because I’m a woman. I would hear my employees talking sometimes, “Yeah I work at Diamond Tattoos, but I don’t really work for Bae.” And I’d confront it like “Relax! You work for me!” It’s hard for men to admit they work for me because I’m a strong person but I’m also so little. Whether they’ve been tattooing longer than me or not, my work speaks for itself.
Being a mother while running a business, how did you get involved in fashion? What inspired 2one2apparel?
I’ve always been into fashion even when I didn’t have much to work with. I love fashion. With me working all the time and tattooing all day, my wardrobe mostly consists of leggings. I just like to be comfortable. I see a lot of girls love wearing leggings. Sometimes, the leggings are not the best quality. You know, the see-through raggedy pairs. It used to break my heart. So I wanted to make something that was comfortable but at the same time high-quality and that was also affordable. Not everyone can afford $160 leggings. You need to try the BBL leggings, the material is so nice and you’d love the fit. I’m not playing with my supporters. I’m not going to sell bullshit. If that’s the case, I’d rather sell nothing. That’s always my motto even when it comes to the quality of my tattoos. I got bigger little by little by always providing quality work, so I apply the same work ethic and morals to my apparel line.
What piece of advice would you offer for a female tattoo artist coming up or a woman trying to come up in any industry?
I would say you don’t have to sell yourself short to make it in any industry. Always be consistent, make sure to build long-lasting relationships, always have faith and work hard.
SHELBY NICOLE
