Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Gary.
Hi Thomas, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Tattooing started between 16 and 17 years old as a hobbie. Doing designs on my friends. I got really interested when I went to college in 1995. My roommate and I tattooed out of our dorm room and it went great. During college I got called a bootleg artist, meaning I’m cheap and not professional. It was at that moment I decided to take it serious. Being kicked out of college started my professional career in tattooing. I went back home and opened my first shop called Inked 4 Life based in Danville IL. I got married I. 2001 and was divorced by 2009 when I opened Inkful Thoughts Tattoos based in Chicago IL. Things grew very fast I had 4 shops total by 2013. During that time I tattooed celebrities and appeared in multiple magazines and also appeared on Spike Tv for my own show. There’s more……
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having custody of two of my kids which was hard cause of having to travel back and forth to each shop cause they were in different states. I also went through a traumatic event which landed me in the hospital for 6 months. I closed all my shops in 2016 and moved to Austin Tx
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a professional tattoo artist of more than 30 years I specialize in black and grey and I e won awards for it. I’m most proud of how I educate my clients while educating myself. Getting the awesome reviews for having great customer service
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Growth and that you can’t stay where you grew up
Contact Info:
- Website: www.inkfulthoughts.jimdo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkfulthoughts
