Meet Maggie Davis

We recently connected with Maggie Davis and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maggie, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

Imagine for a moment that you have accepted a new and exciting job. You have no experience whatsoever, but you will be trained as you go. A week later you find yourself holding onto someone’s tongue with gauze as it fights against your shaking fingers. Your job is to not just to run a needle through this tongue; you also must choose the correct jewelry for their anatomy, follow proper aseptic technique, keep your angle correct so it will heal and minimize damage, then insert that jewelry and tighten the bead securely for safety. Your client is sweating, you’re sweating. Everything in you is suggesting you should probably abandon this madness. Instead, you reach for determination. You WANT to be a body piercer, and this is something that must be overcome. You tell yourself you can do it and try desperately to believe it. You instruct your client to take a deep breath in, then let it out. You breathe in with them to steady yourself, and as you exhale and pierce, you achieve what didn’t seem possible just moments ago.
That’s how my confidence was built; it wasn’t intrinsic, nor did I read a self-help book and immediately transform. It was a bit gritty and mildly terrifying, especially at first. It was a chain of trust and execution, from myself to myself. As I learned to believe in myself, I noticed change in small but mighty ways. I sat taller, spoke louder, announced my presence with echoing high heels. I later learned that one of the best skills a piercer can possess is having command of the room. I didn’t have a name for it until then, but I understood how a client will feel safest when they know where to be, what will happen, and what cannot happen. That all comes from trust, and in order for a client to trust you, they need to feel you trust yourself.
If you want to build confidence and self-esteem, set about challenging yourself to push past anxiety. Hunt down your fears and vanquish them one by one. You will perceive yourself in a better light, and that type of good energy is contagious.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I have been piercing people in our community for over eight years now. Piercing is a beautiful craft and I’m always aware that it’s an honor that I’m being trusted with people’s bodies. While I love jewelry and shiny things in general, the best part of being a piercer is the relationships you build with clients over the years. I’ve hit this special point in my career where a newly minted adult will come in and tell me how I did their first earlobe piercing when they were 10. It’s wild in the best way possible to be established in our community long enough to see kids to adulthood. I have also had clients that have become some of my closest friends. Oftentimes people use piercing to mark transitions in their lives; I have seen birthdays and bridal parties and celebrated alongside you. I have seen breakups, deaths, and losses and have cried openly with you. For me, it’s really about the people.

My career has undergone a transformation of her own. As of November, I opened my own piercing business! I had previously been an employee for the past eight years or so, but there came a time when I had to recognize that the environment I was in wasn’t right for me. I think one of the healthiest things a person can do is to seek an environment that is positive and surround yourself with people who feed your soul. Brenton Weaver offered me a home at Brass Cat Tattoo, and it’s made all the difference. Aside from the amazing environment that Brenton and Angel created, I was excited to team up with them because of their passion for community involvement. I organized “Twyla’s Memorial Tattoos,” an upcoming event in tribute to my late Mom who was a resident there. We are so looking forward to doing temporary tattoos and faux piercings on the residents! I’m very passionate about the elders in our community, and the idea of celebrating their lives and bringing joy. Too often our elders feel overlooked. Not on our watch!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My career journey has taken me from undertrained apprentice to trusted piercer and business owner with a five-year plan. That being said, I am always aware that the journey is never over if you want to have growth and stimulation. There is more to learn and skills to perfect. What has set my course to steadily rising is the combination of determination, resilience and humility.
I am humbled all the time in my line of work. I’ve done something thousands of times, but the second I get cocky my brain suddenly can’t understand what perpendicular means – which is crucial for most piercings! Along the years I learned to change my approach. I try a new method, and suddenly I’m back in the game. That’s where the determination comes in; if it’s allowed to, humility can halt growth completely. It happened to me several times over the years, I even limited my services due to lack of confidence. I was determined to escape that way of thinking and see humility as a teacher, so I began to challenge myself. I had to become resilient enough to not let mistakes stop me. I had to remind myself that every single person makes mistakes at their job. When you’re a piercer, the stakes are much higher than usual.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I would absolutely love more community involvement projects! I particularly love causes that benefit or involve our senior citizens, but I’m open to explore all the opportunities that come up. I’d love to hear from you, just email me at [email protected]

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.odinseye.studio
• Instagram: @piercingbymaggie
• Facebook: @piercingbymaggie

Image Credits

Angel Black
Clients who tagged me at my Selfie Saturday event