So my mom and my stepdad are the ones that originally opened Altered Visions and I think I first came over here in the year of 2023. and then I became an owner by buying out my mom and my stepdad.

So it’s not in a bad way.

they just they all they have a lot of side jobs going on themselves, you know, because they used to remodel or flip houses and things like that.

so we would just take some extra things off their plate, and we bought fill and ink and altered visions.

And then we opened up a new shop in November here at Altered Written.

Specifically, we we want to make sure that everyone knows that.. any type of person.

We understand that this is a therapy session for a lot of people, and you know, it's not just a business.

It's we're here to make people feel better about themselves and have a good time and be somewhere they can be safe and hang out.

So my name is Jasmine.

I'm not only a tattoo artist and a piercer here, but I manage this shop.

and then I help oversee our two other sister shops.

So on top of tattooing or piercing, kind of just depending on what I have going for the day, I do all of our paperwork.

so, like when we have apprentices start up, I get their paperw.. make sure they get licensed fully.

And then I keep in touch, with state to make sure all of our state forms comply for what they need to keep the shop open, and then do our weekly pay out.

That way all of.. so I like to stick to, if I can, the neo traditional.

But with that more very like unique and twisted looks.

I use bright bold colors, but in a very abstract way.

So like my lines are blue and teal with orange hair.

But I do try to make sure, like all of my clients or stuff is unique to their personality because that's what's more important.

and then we try to keep everybody comfortable and distracted because we know tattoos aren't always the most comfortable feeling.

So most of our rooms also have TVs.

That way our clients can watch anything from we've had blue, we going to horror movies depending on what they're looking for.

I think we have now 20 artists altogether at all three shops.

So just trying to keep track of everybody and the supplies itself in the shop just to make sure that we don't run low.

At the worst point in time is a little bit hard in itself, but not too bad.

I'm Haley, I'm a tattoo artist.

I draw on people for a living.

There's really a lot that goes into becoming an artist.

A lot more than people would think.

Like, I've spent the past four years.

Like figuring out being an artist.

And it's just it's a learning process, like every day.

Like there's never you never stop learning in this industry.

And I think that's why I like my job so much, because I like to see progression and I like to learn new things, and I'm very outgoing and just extra.

So I've actually been tattooing for about a year n..

I think it's actually like a week past a year.

I was just an apprentice, so I cleaned, I got to break down, I drew, but I was really all I did for the first like six months.

So the apprenticeship program here is really nice because it's technical free.

But what you do is it's free, but you basically pay it back over the course of your time h..

So essentially, like most places, instead of like paying right off the bat like $10,000 or whatever they want for the apprenticeship, you can it's actually accessible here because it's free and you pay it back over time.

And it's never actually like you never have to technically like pay out of pocket.

So it's not affecting anything, which makes it a lot easier for people to actually make it through the apprenticeship and get it done.

and like it, it does just allow like a lot of people to come in here and be able to follow throug.. And we've actually got quite a few like decent, pretty good artists like out of here.

And then they will have to go learn more.

This is kind of like a good starting spot.

And it helps you really like get your foot in the door and learn and meet all these new people and is definitely, definitely a fun thing.

I love watching people grow and excel and to be happy in their own aspect.

And the fact that I get to watch them come in and do something that they love every day, it makes me happy as an owner, and the fact that we get to reach out to other small businesses in the local community itself, like when we do flash sales, we do we make the major events and bring in vendors so other small businesses can get their name out there like we have ourselves.

So it it makes me feel good about the impact that we're making in the community itself.

You you want your customers to trust who you are as a person as well as an artist.

and you can't get anything better than that by word of mouth.

So that's why we try to have the big events, and they get, well, happy when they come in.

So our shop hours vary.

it's typically 11 in the morning to 10 p.m., just depending on the day.