Hey, I’m Deziree! It was when I was 8 years old that I found my passion for art, which was heavily influenced by my dad. I never thought it would be a viable option for me to do anything with my passion due to hearing about the starving artist stereotype. With that archetype in mind, I pursued my higher education and majored in biology while doing so with the goal of being a doctor. Although I excelled in school, I wasn’t happy, and my life partner could tell as well. It wasn’t until we were sitting on our patio in our first apartment that he prompted the question, “why don’t you pursue tattooing?” It never occured to me that I could be an artist and make a living as well. And just like that--I made the heavy decision to drop out and look for a shop to apprentice me. I was getting tattooed almost bi-montlhy with the money I was saving, and any excess change I had to talk with professional tattoo artists. It proved difficult as I went shop to shop to talk to people, and ultimately coming out without anything fruitful. COVID-19 made things even harder, and as most people, I felt hopeless. It wasn’t until September 2020 that I had walked to Dear You Tattoo and shockingly found Amber, Jason, and Nicki chatting. I hadn’t realized it then, but it was extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to speak with Amber for so long as she rarely has any down time currently. I’ve been working at Dear You since January 2021 helping around the shop and learning how the business works. I’m now a full time apprentice here, and I’m learning to tattoo!