We were recently invited to do a presentation for Career Day at Quander Road School in Alexandria, VA. Many of the students are nearing the end of their high school careers and are in the process of deciding what to do next, so we talked to them about how we went from dropping out of school, to finding a career, to becoming business owners.

The three of us have had vastly different educational and work experiences, and we all got into tattooing at varying ages, so it was a great opportunity for us to explain to them how different each of our paths were, and what we learned along the way. Our main message to them was that there is no “right way” to get where you want to be, and college is not the only way to get an education. It’s important to work hard at whatever job you have, even if it’s not the one you want to keep, because every experience you have can help you later in life, and a strong work ethic will get you far!

A lot of them were very interested in tattoos in general as well, so we talked about the process of getting a tattoo, what to look for when choosing an artist, and helped them understand why it’s so important to get tattooed in a safe, clean, and professional environment.

We had about 40 minutes with each group, and we spent the last portion of each presentation answering their questions, and were delighted when many of them pulled out their own sketchbooks to show us their art! We met a lot of bright, strong-minded, and well-spoken kids, and we enjoyed hearing from them about what they are interested in and their plans for the future.

We want to give a huge thank you to all of the students we met, as well as the teachers and staff for being so welcoming, to Ms. Greta Thomas for reaching out to us on Mr. Joe Barbee’s recommendation, and we look forward to returning next year!

To the students: You are welcome to come through the shop anytime, whether it’s for a tattoo, drawing advice, life advice, or just to say hi! We hoped to have a positive impact on you, but you had a positive impact on us as well, and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting each of you!