If I had to describe myself in a sentence, I guess I would say I’m an all-American girl with some badass tendencies. This past summer, I started working at a Harley-Davidson dealership in northern New Jersey. I had always loved motorcycles: the smells you encounter when you pass by a restaurant on the road, the feel of the wind blowing through my hair, the freedom you feel when it’s just you and the road ahead and how anyone you pass by that’s riding will give you a nod or a little salute. Working at the dealership is where my love turned to obsession. I guess that’s kind of how my obsession with tattoos came to fruition as well. Before I had ever gotten my first tattoo, I always admired people’s artwork and was amazed how a person’s bare skin was a canvas for a tattoo artist. I loved the way that every tattoo tells a story, whether it be good or bad. It’s like a diary for those who are a bit more daring than most. When I finally turned 18 [because I knew damn well my parents were not going to sign off for one before that], I was stoked to get my first tattoo. Since that day, I was spending my rent money on ink. I’m always thinking of new ways to tell my story through what I put on my body.

My favorite tattoo, by far, is my “Irish pride” piece on my left shoulder. I wanted something that commemorated my heritage but wasn’t really feeling the whole Celtic knot approach. So I asked my good friend and artist, Jake Kirk, to come up with something that incorporated sparrows, which are a part of my family’s crest, and the phrase “Eirinn go brach” [Ireland forever, in Gaelic]. The result was something so beautiful; I can’t imagine my body without it. Jake decided to color the sparrows with oranges, greens and white to go along with the theme. I get compliments on it all the time and I just say, “That’s what you get when you have a great artist.”