I was in my 20s before I realized there was an awkward dichotomy to my personality makeup. Understanding my creative body and emotional body were one and not opposing forces took a lot of time and effort. As a woman, the concept of, “saying it with your chest,” doesn’t always come for free.

In my experience, tattoos have forced the connection between the emotional body and the physical body. It isn’t without learning to harness your inner voice and stand steadfast in decisions you’ve made for yourself that this becomes fact (you can then reason with the choice to change your physical body for good).

Tattoos have marked thugs, thieves, and masculine destructive energy for over 150 years in the United States…. In my eyes, their name hasn’t begun to be cleared until the last 10 years. Although there is still a taboo to both the craft and the bodies who choose to wear them, it has become increasingly clear that American Tattooing has become the mark of any and all life paths who claim bodily autonomy and often raise their voices in contempt of western normative culture. This is where my story and mission comes to play.

Humbled Beginnings

My name is Alexxis Scott, I am a 20-something Midwestern Transplant learning what it means to live my life for myself and not for the vision of others. I have battled with severe Anxiety and Panic Disorder since before there was really name given to the ailment. With all things in life, you can choose to fall victim to them or you can choose to use them as tools… but how?

I have never been a risk taker: over 4.0 GPA in high school, Magna Cum Laude Grad from University, hardworking white collar job, car, home, working the grind just like everyone else… until the Summer/Fall of 2020.

In what I refer to as my “past life,” I was a beat reporter journalist and technical director of a mid-sized market television station. I found peace in telling the stories of my community and for being the voice of those who would never have a platform to speak their truth (you can see where this is going.) After months and months of grinding day-in and day-out, I realized my mental health was slowly collapsing and I felt like I was living in a really bad scene in Groundhog Day.

I was told to sign a contract at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic that would limit me from being social or partaking in any activity that wasn’t being home or being at work…. I was just a number, barely making enough to make ends meet, and now I was just gonna be a peg in the system. I am not known to be easygoing in the face of boredom. I remember thinking, “is this really what I am supposed to do until I turn 65 and retire (hopefully)?” That’s when I realized if I didn’t want this repetitive cycle to be my life… I had to “say it with my chest.”

The Tattoo Chapter

I went to at least 10 different tattoo artists in my hometown, being repetitively told, “you’ll just give up” or “why would I raise competition?” Until a shop, an hour outside of my hometown, finally agreed to provide me a space to learn and grow as a potential tattoer. There wasn’t much guidance other then, “this is a machine, this is a needle grouping, don’t go this deep, don’t go this shallow, don’t go to fast or to slow.” I had a bachelors degree in art, so it was taking all of my technical art training and learning a new medium. After two months of tracing, tattooing fruit, and staring over people’s shoulders, it was finally time to tattoo my first live “peach” and I was HOOKED!

Time came and passed and by the time the Spring of 2021 came… I was graduated to being a Junior Tattooer and building clientele by the day. In a total eclipse of a moment I also happened to meet my, now husband, Tyler, a Sailor in the United States Navy. It was about this time where he was to shift duty stations from Rota, Spain to Guam, a U.S. Territory island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (above Australia and below Japan). Young hearts in love decided it was time to take the grand leap from long distance to living together and that’s where the adventure picked up pace. I quit my job at the TV station, took up full-time tattooing, saved up all the money I made, moved back in with my mom, sold everything I owned, and dove into a nomadic lifestyle filled with love, exploration, and art.

What's’ the Point?

What does all of this have to do with the difficulty of learning to express yourself? Alexxis has always been a people pleaser (yes, I am reffering to myself in the 3rd person), but if it weren’t for Alexxis being able to explore her inner desires and completely reject all preconceived notions of what her life was supposed to be… Alexx wouldn’t be able to live her most authentic life. Alexx came about when Alexxis decided it was time shift from caring about what people think… to doing what gave her most fulfillment in what was important to her.

That’s what I want to do for you. Whether you are LGBTQ+, Disabled, White Collar, Blue Collar, a mother, a father, a student, a teacher, well-off, or barely scraping by… I want to create a space where anyone, no matter their walk of life can come sit in my chair and, “say it with their chest.”

Let me help teach you what it means to be your purest form of self… it is truly the most chain-breaking, earth-shaking, and empowering version of you that could ever be.

Sometimes learning to express yourself takes leaps and bounds, but sometimes learning to express yourself comes from someone giving you permission to breathe and allow them to tell your story through brush strokes of ink.