Meet Serena

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Serena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Serena, we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I still face a lot of those challenges to this day. It never really goes away, but instead I just find new loopholes to cope with it. I try to remind myself, for starters, of all the work I put in to get where I’m at now. I also want to make the people I care about proud, like my daughter, one day.

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’m a diagnosed autistic tattoo artist, as I’ve shared before. I have been creating permanent art for about 8 years now. (I realize I got that part wrong in previous interviews as well; Time just flies and I don’t realize it!) And the best part about doing this career is the feeling of making others feel good about themselves (and also seeing your work on people for a lifetime of course). I’ve also taken on commission paintings now as well so that’s always exciting to do too!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Patience, consistency and determination are personally for me the most important in this field. My advice for apprentices or early year tattooers are to remember those 3 and of course never stop creating art. Whether it’s practicing or painting, anything. It really does pay off in the long run.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

I won’t down play this one, often I have a bad habit of withdrawing completely. But I want to work on that specific area more. So, now I take a break, reclaim my energy and thoughts. Sometimes talking it out with someone helps and following up with jumping back in to the groove again. Time alone as well does help (at least for me). Always know you’re not alone in this world even if you think you are. There are plenty of resources now and days. I’m one of them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serenadovalina
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/serenadovalina