I started my career as a piercer 25 years ago, but my interest in piercing started long before that. As a young teenager, I was heavily influenced by the punk and grunge scene. When I first started seeing photos of musicians with piercings outside of the normal ear and nostril, I was immediately intrigued. After the sudden loss of my mother at 15, I found myself feeling very disconnected, alone and yearning for somewhere that I belonged. I got my first professional body piercing at 17 years old, and I was immediately hooked. It made me feel unique, special, and connected to myself in a way that I had been missing. By 18, I decided I wanted to pursue it as a career. The options for an apprenticeship in the 90s were not very vast; Edmonton only had a few studios that even offered piercings back then, and only a couple that were reputable and used safe jewelry. I began to read and learn as much as I could about piercing and its history, immersing myself in the culture as much as possible. 7 years later, I was finally offered an apprenticeship at Ritualistics, which was THE best piercing studio in the city. I was elated! After spending a year and a half training under Lysa Taylor, an incredible mentor, and Noni Coburn, Ritualistics' owner, I was officially a body piercer.
My career soon took me to the United States, which was the most incredible learning experience I ever could have had. I had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the pillars of the body piercing community, and to work at studios, the likes of which I had never seen in Canada. They had these incredibly vast jewelry collections, and operated under the most stringent of standards, and for the next 6 years, I soaked it ALL in. That is where my relationship with BVLA began, as well as so many other incredible manufacturers, and I am endlessly grateful for the opportunities I had during my time there.
But I started to miss home, miss Canada and miss my family, so I found my way back to Edmonton and was hired at Strange City. I spent five years there, bringing with me all the knowledge I had attained from my time in the US, and started to grow their jewelry collection, introducing Edmonton to BVLA. After the studio's sudden closure, I was hired at Atomic Zombie, where I pierced and managed their jewelry ordering for the next decade. But life changes, and I moved out to the beautiful Strathcona County countryside with my partner Scott and decided it was finally time to create my own little dream studio in Sherwood Park. Scott welcomed me into his studio space (he’s a phenomenal tattoo artist), and we have created this lovely little spot where we both get to live our dream and serve our clients to the standards we’ve always wanted.
In my free time, I’m an avid gardener and spend as much time as possible outdoors. I have a beautiful Arabian/Saddlebred horse named Webster that I love to trail ride and two amazing little tabby cats named Dale and Cucho. I love pilates and nature walks, spending time with my family and eating all of Scott’s delicious cooking! And I never, EVER, stop thinking about jewelry.
