Meet Marisa Mathews

We were lucky to catch up with Marisa Mathews recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Marisa, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout

This can be a difficult one as someone that is self employed but my biggest tool is being sure to set aside time to enrich myself outside of tattooing. Typically, I love to read, run, crochet, spend time with my family and play with my dogs. It’s so necessary to give myself the time away to rest so I am able to have a long, happy, healthy career.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My name is Marisa Rae Mathews, known as @electrababytattoo on social media. I am a traditional/neo-traditional tattoo artist currently located right outside of Pittsburgh, in McKees Rocks, PA.

I currently am a one woman operation, tattooing at a private studio within Yunker Street Studios, located at 703 Yunker Street, McKees Rocks, PA, 15136. I specialize in full color traditional/neotraditonal tattooing and am known for my color saturation as well as my bold linework.

I am originally from New Jersey and moved to Pittsburgh to pursue college but ended up switching paths and I am so glad I did! Tattooing, and making sure everyone has a safe, pleasant experience throughout the process is my biggest passion. I have currently been tattooing for 5 years. Some of my favorite concepts to tattoo are ladies, plants, anything halloween related, large scale botanical, animals and largescale traditional framework 🙂

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?

The three most impactful areas of knowledge, qualities or skills that were pivotal in my growth as a tattoo artist had to be tattoo history, social media, and service.

First, and most importantly, the respect you have for tattooing culture and history will always shine through in your approach to
executing your tattoos. It’s so important for people to be heavily tattooed and spend a lot of time truly diving into the culture of tattooing prior to undergoing any sort of training or apprenticeship, needed in their area to become a tattoo artist. There’s no better way to truly understand how important the relationship between tattooer and client can be without experiencing it for yourself. There are a lot of tips and tricks you can pick up from talking to your elders and predecessors that will save you years of mistakes in the long term and also help you better understand how to execute a tattoo that will look good for decades to come.

Secondly, social media is a big part of tattooing and building along successful career in the current day and age. Knowing how to bridge the gap and create an understanding of how to reach your clients via social media has always been a tool that I have used in order to find like-minded clients that want to sit in my chair and get tattooed by me.

Finally, and most importantly, the joy from providing a quality service experience to a client is not some thing that you can fake. It makes me so happy to see my clients be excited for their new tattoo, feel more at home in their skin and look forward to showing it off. With how many service providers there are in almost every luxury industry I find it so valuable t to be genuine in your interactions with your clients. Plus, you’re able to build connections with folks that normally you may not have been able to that can be life-changing. I wouldn’t trade my clients for the world and I’m so fortunate so have found myself in such a wonderful field where I am lucky enough to spend time with so many amazing individuals from so many different walks of life, even if it’s just for the duration of one tattoo.

How would you describe your ideal client?

I would say an ideal client is someone who is willing to collaborate, stay open minded and communicate directly about what they’re interested in getting tattooed. I love bringing client’s ideas to life in a way that is not only beautiful today, but will age in a way that is sure to last throughout their lifetime. Not all things are always possible with tattooing, so staying flexible with your tattoo goals can always be helpful, but I love hearing my client’s feedback and working on a design until it really feels like “them”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.electrababytattoo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/electrababytattoo/
• Other: ticktock: electrababytattoo

Image Credits

Ashley Keeney for images of me