Yael “Jelly” Sanchez almost wasn’t a tattoo artist. If her life flows smoothly now, it’s because she paid the early years in sweat. Sanchez owns The Surly Skull Tattoo Studio in San Angelo, TX, a shop lodged in an antebellum house with a unique stone front and an interior fireplace. In high school she sold designs to tattoo shops for $20. When she couldn’t get picked up as an apprentice – because she was female – she settled for henna, and listened to everyone tell her she should be a tattoo artist.
Because of her military husband, she frequently moved. “So every few years I tried,” said Sanchez. “I’d bring my drawings in and tell them I’d really like an apprenticeship. If I was turned down I just gave up until we moved somewhere else.” Eventually, she gave up entirely.