Careers Archives - Page 2 of 3

April 29, 2016April 29, 2016

Careers: Tattooed Operations Manager

We chat to Lauren who works as the Operations Manager of Twisted Burger Co in Sheffield about a day in the life managing a developing food franchise and her growing collection of beautiful tattoos…

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

I got my first tattoo when I was 18 so it’s not like I’ve got this underage story of a shit tattoo, even though it is a bit. I don’t think I’ll ever get it covered because I like that it’s my first tattoo, I like the back story. It was done in some dodgy tattoo shop in Rotherham and I got it because I wanted to know what a tattoo felt like. It’s just below my ankle and it’s ever so tiny, just a little daisy with some really shitty swirly stuff around it and I think it cost a tenner. I was bit worried that my foot was going to drop off but at the time I thought that it was the shit, like the bees knees, that I was so cool and took loads of pictures to put on the internet like ‘look at my new tattoo’ but I do still love it.

What drew you to tattoos, did anyone influence you?

Richard Lazenby from Crooked Claw Tattoo who is doing my right arm sleeve. His stye is very traditional, thick lines and bright colours that’s the kind of style that I like. There’s also someone I like called Filip Henningsson who works at Red Dragon tattoo in Sweden who I religiously follow – he is incredible. One day I want to go to Sweden just to get tattooed by him, he does really cool flash as well as a lot of necks and hands because obviously he is that good. And then my friend Alexandra Bawn her tattooing is incredible it is so intricate but she’s really versatile and changes. She also just got engaged to Matt Webb who is also a tattooist and I love his style and insanely bright colours. I usually just wear black so I kinda like my bright tattoos.

By Richard Lazenby at Crooked Claw Tattoo

Can you tell us about some your tattoos?

I have these three party dots on my hands, which I have matching with Anthony Allen from Skull & Bones Boys Club. We actually tattooed each other at 3am when we were absolutely hammered in my kitchen. We decided whilst drunk that we were ready for our party dots. So we bleached down the kitchen, got a sewing needle and some biro ink and put these black dots on each others hands. It was very silly but they’ve sort of grown as our friendship group has now got them too.

Then I’ve got ‘CFTHY’ which stands for Cult For The Haggard Youth which is an album by Dead Harts. I think there are now 14 or 15 people with this now in different places which is incredible. Next to that I have my brotat with Dom from Dead Harts as it was Friday the thirteenth and Niall Shannon was doing £13 flash so we got matching ones.

By Niall Shannon at Forgiven Tattoo

My baby is this one on my forearm, which is my late grandad. He passed away in February 2014, and I’ve got his nickname Sonny and my late grandma’s name Joan as well. I gave the task to Richard Lazenby and said here’s a picture of him do it in your traditional style. He did this beautiful traditional portrait of him but it’s not realistic but still a likeness of him in Richard’s style. I was originally going to get him on my leg but I changed my mind once I saw the design and I had him on my forearm, so it is definitely my all time favourite. Then I have a butterfly for one sister, a horse shoe for my other sister and some of my sleeve was paid for by family members. I’m building up bits and bobs like that and I’m getting some for my mum and dad further up my arm.

How did you get into your current role?

I actually started working for The Harley (flagship Twisted Burger Co venue) in October 2013 as the assistant manager of The Harley not Twisted Burger Company and within the space of a couple of months I moved up to being general manager, running the building, the club nights, managing all the staff and everything like that. From that my boss, Dave Healy saw something a little bit more in me, saw my ambition, saw my passion for food and my work ethic. I have always worked really hard all my life and he said right I don’t want you to be general manager anymore I want you to be the operations manager of Twisted Burger Company they need someone and I think you are the right person. I’d never been an operations manager before, I had no clue what I was doing and he said not to worry he’d teach me. So as well as the operations manager my role also entails being the area manager, the brand manager and I do all the marketing.

Did you have to get qualifications or did you work your way up?

I’ve been in the hospitality industry since I was 14, waitressing and working my way up. I also did some other management jobs before I was at The Harley but at the same time I went to university and got a degree in media studies and got a couple of NVQ’s in hospitality and catering so I got my qualifications as well. I originally wanted to go into radio but my career in hospitality just took over and I kept getting promoted. I’ve never had a company that has pushed me to be so creative and it’s definitely brought out the best in me.

Dead Twisted Vegan Sauces

What is a typical day like?

I’ll just describe what has been happening in March and that may just show you how crazy my career actually is! We’d planned to release our sauce range with Drop Dead, a new menu and a unit at the Moor Market in Sheffield City Centre. But originally these were all spaced out in our business plan for the year. Various things happened and it all ended up dropping into March. So in the space of like five weeks we launched the unit at the market, we launched a sauce range and we launched a brand new menu across all our franchises. So it has just been a really crazy past few weeks. But obviously everything that we’ve done with the sauces, from designing the labels with Tom J Newell, to coming up with the right recipes to the names on the new menu has just been mad.

It is just myself and Alex Malins who do all the day to day working for Twisted Burger Company, he is the executive chef but he has a lot more involvement than just the cooking- we do a lot together. It’s a very fun job, hard work but very rewarding.

Sweet Potato Fries from Twisted Burger Co

How do you dress for work? Do you show off your tattoos?

We dress however we want, most offices have a dress down Friday but usually I do dress up Fridays but just on my own because I do like to wear smart clothes and dress up a bit! If I’ve got meetings with future franchieses and I’m doing a sales pitch I will always dress up a little bit.

Do you find in hospitality people react more to your tattoos?

I actually worked for Wetherspoons before I worked here and as soon as I got my first visible tattoo my boss sort of said ‘you’re covering that up’ and they wouldn’t let me have my nose ring in either. Here there is a lot more freedom and it took me quite a while to get used to it after having to dress so smart all of the time. So coming to Twisted Burger Co and letting myself go was a bit of a weight off of my shoulders in a strange kind of way. But when I was working behind the bar, customer facing you do get a lot of comments or people touching you are grabbing where your tattoos are. But you just kind of get on with it.

The new Twisted Burger Menu

Do you have any advice to other people considering their careers when getting tattooed?

In the day we are in now I don’t think it matters as much as it used to but obviously with things like face or hand tattoos you’ve got to be quite discreet unless you know for the rest of your working life that you are going to be in a company that doesn’t mind you having those. But even with that sometimes when I have business meetings with future Twisted Burger franchisees I do cover up just to look a bit more professional rather than risk that judgement.

Even as a tattooed person I have that opinion that to look smarter you should cover your tattoos up – it depends entirely on who you are with and what you are doing. I don’t want to risk a bad decision for this business but then sometimes that is the quirk of Twisted Burger Company in that we can dress and look how we want. A few of us are tattooed and Alex Mallins my colleague has his eyebrow pierced so he is a bit of a goth as well. So if we turn up to a business meeting I bet sometimes people think God what have we let ourselves in for and then we sell our product and they think it’s a great product and a great brand. We’re so proud of TBC so its really easy to say great things about it because we love it as well.

We just want to grow in Yorkshire and keep getting bigger. It’s a lot of work to do but I love working here and I love my job!

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

After we spoke to Lauren we then had the pleasure of checking out Twisted Burger Co’s new menu.

From the ‘Return of The Mac’ burger with a pesto and mac and cheese combo to the incredible ‘Bury me in Smoked Sausage’ their new menu did not disappoint. If you’re into your chicken burgers but fancy something a bit different it’s well worth it for the creole mayo and smoked sausage topping.

Return of the Mac Burger

Bury me in Smoked Sausage Burger

But it was the ‘Drop Dead Twisted Barbecue Burger’ that really raised the stakes with a double vegan ‘meat’ patty, vegan ‘cheese’ slice and bbq jackfruit in the new Dead Twisted sauce which made this carnivore think twice before she orders another TBC burger.

Drop Dead Twisted Barbecue Burger

But if you aren’t in the mood for burgers Twisted’s ‘Jalapeño Business Fries’ hit the mark along side more amazing new sides to the menu. The incredible ‘Highway to Falaf-hell’ with coconut and coriander drip and ‘Hang up the chick habit’ consisting of a basket of confit chicken wings has an unbelievable blue cheese dip and will fill you up as much as any burger!

Pig Pimpin’ Fries

Crack ‘n’ Cheese

Highway to Falaf-hell

Jalapeño Business Fries

Next time be sure to check Twisted Burger Co at one of their venues across the North.

March 26, 2016

Careers: Tattooed Visual Merchandiser

We chat to 23-year-old Stefaine who works as a visual merchandiser at Tiger UK in Canterbury, Kent about her beautiful traditional tattoo collection and her love for all things interior design…

I begged for my first tattoo for about a year. I was the youngest in my group of friends outside of school, they all had tattoos and at sixteen I was desperate to get my first one.
I went into a shop in Margate,my dad was childhood friends with the owner. I remember walking in, it had wall to wall tradition old school designs. I picked a classic swallow. I think as I aged and I became more aware of the tattoo industry, especially through Instagram. I’ve since had it blasted over by the incredible Philip Yarnell, With a sombre looking cowgirl and I love it!

My mother was the first person to really open my eyes to tattoos, I distinctively remember her coming to my year six sports day with a fresh tattoo and thinking ‘this strong, beautiful woman is my mum and she has tattoos, what a badass’.
I feel tattoos have enhanced the love I have for my body. Every time I get tattooed I’m able to make a lifetime connection with an incredible person and artist. I started getting tattooed at a stage where your mind can very easily be warped by not always positive influences. Allowing outside negativity about my body is something I’ve always struggled with but as I’ve aged, with each new tattoo I’ve found an acceptance.

I have a real eclectic collection of work on me by some truly amazing people. Almost all of my tattoos are traditional/neo-traditional and mainly all in colour. Although I wouldn’t change that, I am always quite envious of people with all black work, it’s definitely a style I want more of going forward.
My good friend, Amy has done a majority of my work, we started as soon as I turned 18 and it’s been a pleasure seeing her grow in popularity and really push her distinct style. We recently put my beloved pooches portraits on my skin, I feel like it really helped me heal the grief I had in losing them.

I met Harriet Heath last year, I loved her style from day one. The last pieces she did for me was a kewpie Frida kahlo on me and a lucky black cat with a good luck swastika on the inner of my leg. She’s an amazing person and I really want more from her this summer!

Right now I’m between having day sessions to complete my woodland leg sleeve by Becca and finishing my knee by Aaroné Realmao. I feel very fortunate to be tattooed by these people. I’m always in awe when I see Aaroné free hand on designs. I think you have to put a lot of trust in someone to do that and it always pay off. I’m already thinking of what I want him to do once we finish my knee, his lady faces are stunning!

I started working at Tiger in 2014. Tiger is a Danish variety design store, it’s been dubbed the poshest, brightest, happiest pound shop in the land but it’s so much more than that. Tiger is a name play on ‘tier’, which is Danish slang for 10 kroner, the equivalent to £1.10. I was a Christmas temp for two of the company’s busiest months before being given a part time weekend job. I then began working my way up to a full time position as a visual merchandiser. I really do love my job and the team I work with are like a slightly dysfunctional second family to me.

I didn’t have any previous experience in retail or merchandising, I had worked in the nightclub industry for three years prior, although I loved that social scene at the time I knew I wanted something more creative. I’ve always had an eye for interior design. Visual merchandising at Tiger is like no other, the foundation of what you’re working with is very minimalistic, so the products speak for themselves.
Visual merchandising has given me the confidence boost I needed to pursue bigger goals, so I’m looking to do a silver smith course during the summer. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while so I’m excited for things to come.

At Tiger, merchandising involves the constant rotation of stock around the store to keep it ‘fresh’, in order to do this we group products by relevance and by use. In the summer we focus of children, so kids arts and crafts and toys will dominate the front of the shop. The development of planograms for tables and window displays are a critical part of being head VM, it’s really exciting to see the new products coming in for the monthly kamp! It’s definitely my favourite part of the job. We try to keep in mind what’s current right now, moustaches were a really big deal last year so our designs were focused on that. We use emotional attachment and retro music to build a positive shopping experience. To us customer experience is key.

Right now I’m responsible for stationary, adult/kids hobby and professional art. I’m a DIY fanatic, I thrive off creative ideas on how to use products not always how they’ve been intended for. We have such a high turn over of products, that displays need re-merching weekly. I find if i have a product that’s a slow seller, it often is down to placement, which is my job to recognise and change.

There’s no real dress code for work, we’re given a black t-shirt with our logo on it. Clothing has to be practical as there are some very manual aspects of my job. My go to outfit is a long sleeve black midi dress, with tights and boots. I’m quite reserved about all of my tattoos being on show, Canterbury is diverse but is still predominately middle class and being a young woman with a lot of visible tattoos I sometimes, rarely though, encounter sour opinions. I’m lucky though, Tiger embraces individuality and is probably the most laid back retail chain you’ll find on the high street. I’ve always said if I need to cover my tattoos, I’m happy to do that but I’ve never been asked to.

The end of last year I took the plunge and had my chin tattooed by my lovely friend, Kamila. It was a huge decision for me which I definitely didn’t take lightly. Its completely dotwork and it’s just so beautiful. I’ve had super positive feedback from customers, I get ‘that must of really hurt’ a lot and they’re always surprised when I tell them it didn’t, a little pinchy around the jaw but nothing too bad!

The most important thing to consider when getting tattooed is will this burden my pursuit for my dream job. I’ve always tried to live by if it makes you happy, do it. Sadly happiness doesn’t pay the bills every month! I think if you’re driven and passionate, I’d like to think your employer will look beyond being tattooed and see it doesn’t change your values or your work ethic. Society is changing, a lot of companies are realising there is a wide demographic they can appeal too by having (I hate to say it) ‘alternative’ looking employees. For a lot of high street retail , Topshop, Lush etc it’s ‘cool’ to be quirky and you’re more likely to get an interview if you have that edge about you.
That being said I feel there is still a bit of a shock factor when you see face tattoos, it won’t always be that way I’m sure but until you’re 100% certain of you career pathway I’d say hold off on anything that could hold you back. I don’t want to be defined by my tattoos, I want to defined by being a good person and a hard worker.

March 16, 2016

Careers: Tattooed Wholesale Manager

We chatted to 28-year-old Jenna Needham who is wholesale manager for Motelrocks.com about her beautifully dark tattoo collection and her role within the fashion company…

How old were you got your first tattoo, what was it? Do you still love it?Shamefully I was 13 when I got my first tattoo. I bunked off school to go at get it at a local place called ‘Dodgy Kevs’. Of course that wasn’t the actual shop name but its how we all locally knew it and since me and my friends all got tattooed there so young I’m pretty sure you can guess why!

I went in and picked my favourite Chinese symbol off the wall (that was big in 2000) and had it put on my butt! I had to have it there to hide it from my mum, he just sketched it free hand with a biro and away we went! I can’t say I’m a massive fan of it now but for comedy reasons (and the fact no one ever sees it) it doesn’t bother me too much. It means tiger in case you were interested!

What drew you to tattoos, did anyone influence you?
From a young age I was into a more alternative scene and so naturally from that point I saw more people with them. Not that I think tattoos are bound only to the alternative scene but I was definitely more exposed to them in that environment at that time.
I can’t really remember what it was that first attracted me to tattoos though to be honest, no one in my family has them but I was always drawn to them and the way the art looked on skin.

Can you tell us about your tattoos? I can tell you there’s not enough of them!
My tattoos are just a random collection of my likes and memories really. I have a few that I’ve had done that mean something to me and people close to me, some while travelling to remember a time or a place and then some which are just a memory of me getting tattooed by someone I admire and perhaps a point in my life.

When I got tattoos when I was younger I didn’t really think about what I wanted and getting a tattoo was just walking into a shop and picking something off the wall. Now it’s like having an artwork collection on my skin that I can see everyday. I remember when I first started to find peoples whose work I loved like Thomas Hooper and just being so excited to be able to put their designs onto me and finally finding people’s work that was in the style I like. My favourite thing to do on Instagram is find new tattoo artists, I think its amazing that now it’s so much easier to find so many amazing artists across the globe.

Are there any artists you admire?
Too many! I pretty much admire all tattoo artists. Being a person who is unable to draw I appreciate all their amazing skills.
Of course everyone I have been tattooed by I have the utmost admiration and appreciation for which is why I want their art on my skin and that includes, Raph Cemo, Grace Neutral, Rebecca Vincent, Jack Ede, Tiny Miss Becca, Aaron Anthony and Jemma Jones just to name a few!

What are your future tattoo plans?
I really want to get my back done and my arm completed in the near future but I don’t actually have anything booked in right now.
I never really focus on an area I just seem to know where something is going to go when I have it and so my pieces are generally just scattered around.
A few of my current dream people to get tattooed by are Guy Le tattooer, Sway, Thomas Bates, Kelly Violence, Thomas Hooper and Ryan Jessiman.

How did you get your current job? What did you do before? Did you study for it, did you work your way up?
I was living in Wales at the time, I’d moved there for my boyfriend and although I absolutely loved my time there and the people I’d met, when we broke up I felt I needed a fresh start. My friend at the time had just moved to Bristol and we were obsessed with shopping on Park street it was full of independent shops, vintage and clothes you definitely couldn’t buy in Newport! We were shopping in the Motel store and I noticed they were advertising for an assistant manager position in that store and I just thought why not! Got the interview a week later (which I actually don’t think I performed that well in) and just got on so well with the two girls who were interviewing, they called me back a few days later and said they wanted to offer me the job. At the time everyone thought I was mad because I was moving to a flat with rent three times more than what I was paying and a salary that was half of what I was currently earning but something just felt right and I guess it was the universe telling me I was making the right move.

When I started with Motel in 2007 it wasn’t that well know or big and one of the girls from the shop used to model for the website which only had a handful or products on it then we started to get more PR activity around our clothes including celebrities wearing the brand and everyone just started to notice Motel more and more. No one was doing printed dresses like Motel were at that point and so we were way ahead of the game!

From assistant manager I became store manager, then the website started to boom so they moved me over to work on that, managing the in-house buying, promotions etc. I was also already helping them with the wholesale trade shows in Berlin, Las Vegas and New York during that time so then when they eventually decided to open a London showroom and offered me the chance to work on the wholesale team I jumped at the chance.

What is a typical day like for you?
So I basically sell the collections that Motel creates to other boutiques and stores that buy third party brands. At Motel we sell 12 collections a year which pretty much means I am selling product all year round (as well as an additional swimwear line we now do!).
I deal with all our international agents/distributors, all of our UK key accounts and any boutique smaller accounts where we don’t have an agent servicing that area.

The best thing about my job is the variety of things I do really. I might have the wholesale manager title but I’ve been with the company so long I can’t help but get involved with other areas of the business and share my ideas! I’ve helped create a promotional street team family for Motel, I organised the recent Grace Neutral collaboration we did, ran the clothes show, designed a print, helped organise events and held sample sales as a few examples!
Mainly though on the run up to the ranges I spend time with design and production and we all discuss requirements and needs for future seasons, we go over any upcoming collections in sample form and will go through pricing and design to make sure the range is completely as we feel it should be.
Selling the range I am speaking with customers, maintaining relationship and meeting their Motel needs while also trying to source new relationship with potential new customers.
I work on exclusive designs with some of my customers and bridge the gap between all the agents and Motel helping them meet their customer needs to.
Its definitely not a 9-5 role but I’m fortunate that I love my job and that’s why I’m so passionate about it.

How do you dress for work, do you show off your tattoos? I’m pretty lucky that fashion is possibly one of the easiest sectors to work in and wear whatever you like.
I of course wear a lot of Motel anyway and I try and do this for meetings especially. Generally anything black, grey and a shade of in-between!
I don’t purposely get my tattoos out but I don’t hide them either. So long as it’s not a cold day I will happily have my tattoos on display for meetings, the office or any trade show we do!

What kinds of reactions do you get? From work colleagues, family and the general public.
I think my mum has the typical parent reaction and worries about how many I have and if I will still like them in the future, like I say no one else in my family has them so I’m slightly different, but that said she often tells me she’s proud of me for being vegetarian and having tattoos. She’s happy that I express myself and stay true to me.
I generally get a really good reaction to my tattoos from the general public, work colleagues and anyone I might have in for a meeting. My hand is the most commented on, I guess because its the first people see a lot but I’ve never had any negative comments said to my face. I of course have had to challenge a few “what about when you’re older” comments like most!

What advice would you give other people considering their careers when getting tattooed?
I personally think that you shouldn’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do to your body. That’s the skin you have to live in and if you want to decorate your home, your body then you should. A tattoo doesn’t define who a person is or change their skill set or mind and therefore it shouldn’t change the jobs that you can to do. That being said there are still jobs/companies/careers out there which feel tattoos which can be seen in the working environment are not professional, so I guess at that point you have to make a choice on what’s more important to you and perhaps think more carefully about placement of what you want done. It still shouldn’t stop you though, there are plenty of ways to keep expressing yourself but just maybe avoid the hand, neck and face area.

March 4, 2016

Careers: Tattooed Hair Stylist

We chatted to 28-year-old Lucy Keegan aka Stylicorn about exploring her creativity with a new career venture as a hair stylist and her pastel cute tattoo collection…

Lucy styling at a BMW event

I was 18 when I got my first tattoo. It was a koi carp on my lower back. I’d just rocked up to a local studio with a picture off the internet, it was on a whim and it took me around seven years to get anymore. Although I loved the tattoo at the time, it didn’t age well. I’ve since had it covered with a gorgeous piece by Lucy O’Connell. Using Instagram opened me up to a world of amazing tattoo artists, and I just fell in love. It feels really important to me to have these lasting pieces of artwork, and they have helped me to make my body beautiful. I’ve had a tough few years with the loss of my mum in 2013 and lots of health issues, and I’ve found tattoos give me back a control over my body and my life.

@keelyrutherford

Most of my tattoos are very ‘me’ –girly, colourful and cute. Some have personal meanings, my anchor is linked to a quote ‘hope is the anchor for my soul’ , which Harriet Heath created from a picture I painted for my mum while she was ill, and my match was inspired the by the Paramore song ‘Last Hope’. Others, such as my fan and my jackalope, were designs artists posted on Instagram and I fell in love with. Most are purely for the fun of it, such as my piece of cake and my happy doughnut! I always enjoy the collaboration process between the artist and myself, and knowing that I can email them and ask for ‘a girly, feminist, amazing, sparkly sailor moon tattoo’ and get just that!

@abbiewilliamstattoo

I really admire all the amazing female artists out there, and it’s great to see them grow in popularity. Two ladies who are very special to me are Lucy O’Connell and Abbie Williams, because I know they will always create beautiful pieces for me, and they have both tattooed me numerous times. They are also both super lovely ladies! I met Sarah Terry at the Brighton Tattoo Convention in 2013, and have followed her progress as an apprentice since then. Her dedication to the craft is amazing and I was so happy to finally get tattooed by her in January this year.
I am booked in for another tattoo with Lucy in April, and I’m hoping to grab something at Brighton this year too. I’ve got lots of artists on my list for future work, such as Katie Shocrylas, Onnie O’Leary and Shannan Meow.

tattsss

@lucylucyhorsehead & @charlotte_eleanor88

I was originally a Primary school teacher, but after five years I wanted a new direction. I’m a very creative person, and I felt like teaching was trying to squish me into a tiny box. Plus tattoos are still frowned upon as ‘unprofessional’ in teaching, so I was getting mine in places that couldn’t be seen. I’d always wanted to get into hairdressing, so last year I was brave enough to leave teaching and retrain at the London Hair Academy in Shoreditch. It was an amazing experience and I’ve been taught by such great tutors who are still in the business. My dream is to become a session stylist, and to work on magazine shoots, music videos, film and TV. So although my day job is as an assistant in a salon (Matthew Cross Hairdressing) while I complete my training, I take on freelance styling work, such as a recent event for BMW. Hairdressing is not 9-5, I spend evenings and my days off doing hair for friends and family, but I love every second of it. Countless people have told me how happy I look, and although its hard work starting from the bottom, I’m excited about the journey ahead.

Red carpet hair- I won 1st place in my college competition and have now been nominated for Level 2 British Hairdressing Student of the Year

There is no dress code at my salon, and lots of stylists have tattoos so I don’t worry about them being on show. Most of mine you will only see if I’m wearing a dress or a skirt, so it’s funny when people notice them for the first time. To be honest I get more comments about my hair, which is my little pony colours!

ninety nine percent of the reactions I’ve got have been positive. People always comment on how girly and colourful they are, and like to ask about what they mean. I like how engaging having tattoos can be, and it always creates a conversation. The only real negative I feel is when people don’t respect your boundaries if you are tattooed. I’ve had a couple of men pull at the back of my dress and stare at my back tattoo while in bars or at work, which makes me really angry. I don’t mind showing my tattoos if I’m asked, but nobody has the right to touch you without your permission.

@samwhiteheadtattoos

I think it’s really important to consider your career when you get a tattoo, and also think about the fact that you might change your career in the future. As a teacher, it was not acceptable for me to have tattoos on show, so I always had mine covered up. Now my job is accepting of tattoos, but I have yet to take the plunge and have any really visible ones. You don’t have to have tattoos on show to enjoy them, as for me that’s not what they are about. Although tattoos are much more common, especially on girls, they are still seen negatively by society in a lot of ways. I always advise people to think carefully about any tattoo before they get it, because it’s a lifetime commitment.

December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

Careers: Tattooed Model Booker

We chatted to 22-year-old Laura who works as a model booker in London, about her beautiful tattoo collection and people telling her she doesn’t look like the tattooed type…

My first tattoo was (I’m embarrassed to say) those feathers with little birds coming out of them with the quote “Not all those who wonder are lost” I cringe so much looking at it but despite what it is it’s not actually a bad tattoo but just poor decision making on my part. I was 18 when I got my first tattoo and have learnt a lot about tattoos over the past four years so I try not to feel too bad about my first couple of tattoos! At the time I loved it so I’ll never regret it but at the same time feathers and birds are so cliché; I didn’t even realise the quote was from The Lord of The Rings (sorry!) so that makes me feel bad!

There are two people in my life that influenced me. My older cousins had tattoos and I used to think they were so cool. I’m like 12 years younger then them so they were my idols. When I was older (like 16/17) I worked with an Aussie girl at Dr Martens and she had beautiful tattoos, I can’t remember the name of the tattooist she went to but from then on I was set on getting at least one tattoo. I lost touch with her after leaving Dr Martens but I always think about her and her tattoos.

I guess one of the first thing people notice is that the majority of my tattoos are ladies and animals, animals on my legs (there’s a couple of exceptions to that though) and ladies on my arms/chest. I have a tattoo by Daniel Gensch based on Rebecca from a novel by Daphne Du Maurier that’s on my arm, Sam Smith also tattooed a portrait of that author on the same arm. I love my Eckel tattoo, it took years to finally get a reply from him and I still can’t get over that I managed to get booked in with him!

My tattoos are quite girly apart from my chest piece that is a lady with daggers going through her head. Sam Smith tattooed that one as well, she finished it all in five and a half hours, it’s one of my favourite tattoos but hands down the most painful. I’ve been really lucky with who I’ve been tattooed by; Sadee Glover, Drew Romero, Kodie Smith, Magda Son, Georgina Jurd.. My most recent tattoo is a portrait of the actress Felicity Jones by Rose Hardy.

There are so many artists that I admire and still want to get tattooed by, including Emily Rose Murray, Jacob Gardner and Sam Clarke, to name just a few! There are so many more though! I can’t wait to get my back started by Aimee Cornwall, I’m really excited but nervous because I hate not being able to watch myself being tattooed.

I saw my current job on Fashion Monitor whilst at my previous internship. I applied, got an email back 10 minutes later, had my interview the next day and got offered the job a couple of hours later! I started working at Scallywags which is a child’s modelling/acting agency and I’m starting up a little model division with Simon & How which is Scallywags big sister company. I look after Scallywags social media, answer the phone to parents but mainly look after new briefs that come in from clients I submit the children that match the briefs to the client, book in children for auditions, shoots. I do a lot of scouting as in town and have meetings with photographers and potential new clients.

Before that I was interning at the Anti Agency which was really fun, I learnt a lot and really enjoyed working there! Aside from that I’ve worked at Dr Martens, Fenwick’s, Whistles, Fred Perry, Office and Waterstones so yeah I’ve had quite a few jobs. I attempted university twice and changed my course three times. My courses were fashion based so I guess I tried to to study for my current job.

Another thing I’ve been really lucky with is doing lots of work experience. I started doing work experience at Vogue in the classified department when I was 14, I worked hard and eventually was allowed to work at GQ and Russian Tatler, I had done a lot of the packaging of clothing and accessories that had been on set for shoot. I assisted different stylists for a couple of years as well, interned at Tank, worked at Fashion week doing photography.

I tend to dress pretty casual for work as the office is super chilled. When I came for my interview I covered up all my tattoos and when I got my job I came into the office with most of my arms and legs on show. I’m lucky that my bosses actually don’t mind at all about tattoos. In general I usually wear a lot of dresses and skirts, little tops. I think I live in a constant mental state of summer, I hate winters clothing!

I think my family have just accepted all of my tattoos now, they were never angrily against me getting tattoos but my parents were more worried about the financial side of things. I’ve got a twin brother who doesn’t have any tattoos and I just think that my family were more surprised that out of the two of us I started to get all the tattoos that I now have because I’ve always been the slightly awkward, quiet one. I think my work colleagues were surprised that I have tattoos just because they said I didn’t look like someone to have any interest in tattoos. That’s the most common thing I’ve heard people say about my tattoos that they were surprised I had any because I didn’t look the type, I don’t know like to me it feels normal and natural to have my tattoos but maybe to others it might not make sense.

I get a bit of a mixed reaction from strangers in the street, I get stared at A LOT and most the time I just ignore it but if I’m having a bad day and I’ve got someone glaring at me and shaking their heads it just makes me really anxious. People come up to me and start talking to me about my tattoos and that’s really nice when people have a genuine interest in the art that I have. I’ve had some mean comments as well from complete strangers like I was going to order a coffee from Costa and the guy serving we was like ‘oh you look really scary’ I only wanted my coffee not your opinion on me but yeah thanks! Recently I got told I looked like a public toilet which was very nice- people have such a lovely way with words!

I would say to people thinking about their career when getting tattooed to think carefully about getting a obvious tattoo like on your hands, knuckles, face etc. just anywhere that can’t be covered just purely because some companies still judge someone on appearances as opposed to their skills and what they’re capable of. I think it’s a rubbish way of judging someone but at the end of the day that’s what people are like so before making a rushed decision and then being angry about not getting a job maybe just try sit down and have a careful think. As for getting tattoos on any other part of the body that can be covered then go crazy!

In the kind of job I have it doesn’t really matter about whether you have tattoos so I’m really happy about that, to be honest I’ve never really had a job (whilst having tattoos) that have a no tattoo policy, even when working at Waterstones I got my job because the manager liked my tattoos.