We were lucky to catch up with Melania Newcomb recently and have shared our conversation below.
Melania, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I had no plan b.
I was 19 when I left Maine where I grew up in a small town. At the time surely there was less than 1500 people to make up Harrison village. Daughter to an immigrant mother who raised me alone, I had two options. Succumb to the all so normalized life of working a low paying job in the underwhelming economy of nothingness – or leave.
I went to Salt Lake City to then work in my first ever tattoo shop. I lived in hotels, worked very dissatisfactory jobs to get by and chipped away for about two and a half years. Covid happened somewhere in between that. Thankfully I was able to get my bearings and move to Seattle where I have been for the past 3 and a half years, and plan to stay.
I always worked hard, I never had anything. I consider myself to have been on my own since I was 16, feeding myself and providing for myself (and the occasional couch hopping – thanks guys.)
To this day, I remember how eager and determined I was to make my dreams come true. I’ll never forget how hard I worked to make it all work. And for that reason I will never let it slip between my fingers.
I consider myself lucky to have had such a colorful dream. I moved to a state very far away from home with no money to my name and told myself I’d do whatever it took to make it work. I had no plan b.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a tattoo artist that specializes in illustrative and fine line tattoos in Seattle. My main focus is to provide my clients with a comfortable, collaborative and fun experience. I love meeting people and learning about others through my craft. Through tattooing I have learned so much about myself such as how to communicate well and how to create peoples ideas into images.
Tattooing is an incredible challenge for the artist and client. I love pleasantly surprising myself when taking on a challenging idea and turning it into something special. On the other end of It sitting through a tattoo is a spiritual opportunity for people to be present with their bodies. And even better it’s a great way for people to decorate their body!
I love traveling and working at tattoo conventions whenever I have the opportunity.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Being passionate about what you do is by far the most important quality for any business. There were many times I was tired and wanted to quit but I kept reminding myself why I was doing it and that’s what has kept me going thus far.
Having knowledge about money helped me a lot as well. Growing up poor, I had a bad relationship with money. I knew in order to have a successful business I was going to need to do research. I read tons of books and saved my money.
Be a good person. Sometimes it’s who you know and not what you know (bonus if you can work with both). Build good relationships with people, be a part of your community, give back, and be good to yourself.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Collaborating is one of my favorite things to do as an artist. I love meeting anybody who is passionate about what they create. I would love to hear from artists of any nature about events, festivals, or really anything at all!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://melaniatatts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melania.tatts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melania.tatts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MelaniaTatts
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@melania.tatts
Image Credits
@thedragonsimage
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
