Latest / The Erica Show / Tara Williamson and Alex From Pink Ink Tattoo Making Waves Around The World For Areola Tattoos

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Tara Williamson and Alex From Pink Ink Tattoo Making Waves Around The World For Areola Tattoos · The Erica Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Do you and I F five It is the Erica Show.
0:01
Speaker 1: I've known them forever. Tara Williamson, Alex her Son, Alex
0:05
Speaker 1: is here. Y'all are like the a squad. You've been
0:08
Speaker 1: all over the country lately. You've been doing stuff for
0:11
Speaker 1: the Canes, CBS, jayhok like everywhere, Pinkink tattoo. But you
0:16
Speaker 1: have been a staple here in our community and this
0:18
Speaker 1: is so special and so deserving. Tara was recognized as
0:21
Speaker 1: one of the Remarkable Women for CBS seventeen, making it
0:24
Speaker 1: to the national level all the way to the Jennifer
0:27
Speaker 1: Hudson Show because of all of the work that you're
0:29
Speaker 1: doing to help women and men who have gone through
0:32
Speaker 1: reconstruction after breast cancer. Can you tell everybody how this
0:35
Speaker 1: journey all started for you, starting from when you were
0:38
Speaker 1: diagnosed with breast cancer.
0:39
Speaker 2: Well, first, thank you for having me here, thank you
0:41
Speaker 2: for having both of us here.
0:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, in the beginning, you know, I was thirty nine
0:45
Speaker 3: years old, just living my life and I was diagnosed
0:48
Speaker 3: with breast cancer with no family history. But thank god,
0:51
Speaker 3: I had a great doctor that said let's do a mammogram,
0:54
Speaker 3: and that's when kind of everything just flipped upside down.
0:57
Speaker 3: I had a lot of surgeries and then the re
1:00
Speaker 3: construction part. Well, at the end, my plastic surgeon said, hey,
1:04
Speaker 3: what about you know, aerola tattooing? And I was floored, like,
1:07
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, what is this about.
1:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I need to meet this expert.
1:11
Speaker 3: And back in twenty thirteen, there just really wasn't an expert.
1:14
Speaker 3: There were a couple of traditional tattoo artists and they
1:17
Speaker 3: did great work, but that just was not the fit
1:19
Speaker 3: for me. Like, this was so special. I wanted it
1:21
Speaker 3: to be special, and I didn't have that option. So
1:24
Speaker 3: I ended up having the nurse to it who had
1:26
Speaker 3: been trained you know, two three times and and that's
1:30
Speaker 3: also scary. D Yeah, it is scary. Well, you know what,
1:34
Speaker 3: it's unacceptable. It should have been this was twenty thirteen.
1:38
Speaker 3: It should have been just part of the treatment process.
1:40
Speaker 3: You get diagnosed, here's your treatment. At the end of it,
1:43
Speaker 3: you're going to have a fabulous you know, outcome. Because
1:45
Speaker 3: this is what we can do, and that is just
1:47
Speaker 3: how it should be. That should be the standard, and
1:49
Speaker 3: it wasn't. So I'm making it the standard. I left
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Speaker 3: my nursing career in twenty fourteen founded Pinkink tattoo, and
1:57
Speaker 3: that is where women and men can come and you
2:00
Speaker 3: know what, they have their voice heard, they can choose
2:03
Speaker 3: their color, their size, their music, whatever they want the
2:06
Speaker 3: people in the room with them because it's all about
2:09
Speaker 3: them and that's how it should be and that gives
2:13
Speaker 3: them a chance to like it's not another procedure. It's
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Speaker 3: the you know, most important part at the end of
2:19
Speaker 3: your breast cancer journey and for a lot of women
2:23
Speaker 3: and so to be able to have that for myself,
2:27
Speaker 3: I didn't and it was sad. So that's why I said, nope,
2:29
Speaker 3: it's unacceptable. I'm going to change the standard of you know,
2:33
Speaker 3: this care and do it. And I did, and I
2:35
Speaker 3: have been now. I travel the country working with plastic
2:37
Speaker 3: surgeons and providing the service for women and men that
2:41
Speaker 3: cannot get to me and my main office in Louisbourg,
2:44
Speaker 3: North Carolina.
2:45
Speaker 1: But so do you train others too, or you're like,
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Speaker 1: I'll travel to you to get it done if they
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Speaker 1: can't come here, or how does that work?
2:53
Speaker 3: You know, this is a question I get a lot
2:55
Speaker 3: and that's been on my heart a lot lately the
2:58
Speaker 3: last couple of years is training for me though it's
3:01
Speaker 3: so special, right that I just don't know. You know,
3:05
Speaker 3: I know eventually I'm going to get to that point,
3:08
Speaker 3: but I just want when that breast cancer survivor or
3:11
Speaker 3: previver comes into my office, I want them to have
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Speaker 3: the best experience so they leave not thinking about cancer,
3:18
Speaker 3: but thinking about and it's time to go live my
3:20
Speaker 3: best life. And I just want the person I train,
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Speaker 3: I want them to have that same standard that I do.
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Speaker 2: And I just don't know.
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Speaker 3: You know, hopefully I'll be able to open that door
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Speaker 3: and start training.
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Speaker 1: But and you've walked the journey too, so you also
3:33
Speaker 1: instantly connect with those that come in to see you
3:36
Speaker 1: because it's like you've been there, you know what it
3:38
Speaker 1: feels like like, you're not just trained. And then you've
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Speaker 1: never experienced breast cancer, so you already have the instant
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Speaker 1: connection with people that come.
3:44
Speaker 2: In, and I think that's what makes it different.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I am a woman, I am a
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Speaker 3: breast cancer survivor about to celebrate fourteen years on the
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Speaker 3: twenty nine.
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Speaker 4: That's awesome, congrats.
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Speaker 3: And then you know, and being and having that medical
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Speaker 3: background as a nurse, so I know the medical part
4:00
Speaker 3: of it, but I know the survivor part and I
4:02
Speaker 3: know it impacts you, not only from the minute you
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Speaker 3: hear the word I have cancer, but here I am
4:07
Speaker 3: fourteen years later, and I know how it still creeps up.
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Speaker 3: And so if I can give somebody a great experience
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Speaker 3: at the last moment or when they you know, five
4:16
Speaker 3: years later, they open up that curtain or take off
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Speaker 3: their shirt and that's not the first thing on their mind,
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Speaker 3: That's what it's about.
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Speaker 1: You also work with men, and a lot of people
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Speaker 1: forget yes, men can also get breast cancer, and so
4:26
Speaker 1: on an average, like, how often do you see men
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Speaker 1: that come in as well?
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Speaker 2: You know, with men it's not as high.
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Speaker 3: There's some that choose like I'm going to just do
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Speaker 3: a chess piece and I don't do traditional tattooing. I
4:38
Speaker 3: only specialize in areal A three D right, and so
4:42
Speaker 3: I don't do that. But there are men that are like,
4:45
Speaker 3: I just want to feel like myself again, and so
4:48
Speaker 3: you know, I do see them, and sadly the ones
4:51
Speaker 3: I see are stage three, stage four because nobody would
4:55
Speaker 3: listen to them when they said I have a lump,
4:57
Speaker 3: or they didn't listen to themselves, or they just thought,
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Speaker 3: you know, maybe it's just a cyst, or so it's
5:02
Speaker 3: really important. That's another message. It's really important that if
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Speaker 3: something fills off, go get it checked, whether you're a
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Speaker 3: man or a woman.
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Speaker 1: And you have done both of you have done a
5:11
Speaker 1: lot of stuff in the community to advocate for making
5:14
Speaker 1: sure you're getting those mammograms and doing all the things
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Speaker 1: like what organizations have you been with, because I literally
5:19
Speaker 1: will see popping up everywhere, whether it's TV or in
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Speaker 1: a magazine like you guys are everywhere.
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Speaker 3: We've always been involved with American Cancer Society.
5:27
Speaker 2: Last year I was a co chair.
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Speaker 3: With the making strides of the Triangle and Alex and Kate, like,
5:32
Speaker 3: my whole family's involved with everything because it does. Cancer
5:35
Speaker 3: doesn't just affect you, it's everyone around you. And so
5:39
Speaker 3: with everything that we've done, they've been right by my side.
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Speaker 3: So Alex, his wife, my daughter in law, Caitlin, myself
5:45
Speaker 3: all with American Cancer for many years, and the Susan G.
5:48
Speaker 2: Coleman.
5:49
Speaker 3: So I'm also a policy change maker with Coman all
5:52
Speaker 3: the way to Capitol Hill last year and getting.
5:56
Speaker 4: Bills changed, all that incredible and.
5:58
Speaker 2: Then I wrote my own bill.
6:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm like that. She's a bad ask you mate, No,
6:03
Speaker 1: that's right. She is Yeah, so, and I'm crying too
6:06
Speaker 1: because you say it affects everybody. So my mom has
6:08
Speaker 1: cancer right now, she's going through it. She's thriving, but
6:11
Speaker 1: it's like a blood cancer, so it's a different type.
6:13
Speaker 1: So cancer does really affect everybody.
6:16
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was fourteen. Yeah, I literally was doing my
6:19
Speaker 5: like learner's permit class when she got diagnosed. So I'm
6:22
Speaker 5: supposed to be focused on like how to learn to
6:23
Speaker 5: drive a car and do everything. And I'm a freshman
6:26
Speaker 5: in high school. And then she's battling, and you know,
6:28
Speaker 5: like I would go to get her Sundays and stuff
6:31
Speaker 5: to cheer her up when she's got tubes hanging out
6:33
Speaker 5: of her and everything. So it's an adjustment period. And
6:36
Speaker 5: then it's not something that like in foresight you could
6:38
Speaker 5: see years later here I'd be doing marketing and traveling
6:41
Speaker 5: with her to Hollywood for these kind of topics.
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Speaker 1: Which are such an incredible duo. But you, as a mom,
6:46
Speaker 1: probably and I think a lot of moms out there,
6:47
Speaker 1: you try to be so strong. I'd be like, oh
6:49
Speaker 1: my god, this is fine, it's fine, but it really
6:50
Speaker 1: does take a whole village to help build you up
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Speaker 1: and have that mindset that you will get through this
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Speaker 1: and overcome the obstacles, the many obstacles.
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Speaker 3: Well, and you know what, during that whole process, my
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Speaker 3: faith was. I struggled and because I thought, I can't
7:06
Speaker 3: believe this. I have three kids at home, every one's
7:08
Speaker 3: going off to college, the other ones and he's you know,
7:10
Speaker 3: going into high school and learning to drive. And cancer,
7:14
Speaker 3: and then my dad died and that was horrible, and
7:16
Speaker 3: my literally I'm diagnosed, and then that I get a
7:19
Speaker 3: call about my dad. So instead of focusing on me,
7:21
Speaker 3: I had to transition and focus on my dad his
7:24
Speaker 3: final days and then come home and fight with my
7:27
Speaker 3: breast surgeon because she had a plan and that was
7:29
Speaker 3: not my plan, and she just wouldn't.
7:31
Speaker 2: Listen to me.
7:31
Speaker 3: So in six weeks of arguing and going back and forth,
7:34
Speaker 3: like I'm a nurse, I've read about this, I've you know,
7:38
Speaker 3: researched it. I know what i want, what's best for
7:40
Speaker 3: my body, and I want to live like I want
7:41
Speaker 3: to fight for me, and she just wouldn't listen to me.
7:44
Speaker 3: Like it now we're invasive. Now the cancer became invasive,
7:47
Speaker 3: and that is just so unacceptable to me. I'm like,
7:50
Speaker 3: you have got to listen to your patients, you know,
7:52
Speaker 3: and so that was hard. And then I finally just
7:56
Speaker 3: dug deep in my faith and which a lot of
7:59
Speaker 3: people don't want to talk about, you know, but it
8:00
Speaker 3: was super important. And that's I wouldn't be where I
8:03
Speaker 3: am today without that. That's what kept me together. That's
8:06
Speaker 3: what kept our family together, is just having that knowing
8:10
Speaker 3: like there's something stronger and higher than me.
8:12
Speaker 2: And so here I am.
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Speaker 3: Today helping so many thousands of women and men from
8:17
Speaker 3: all over the world, you know, and.
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Speaker 1: God has a purpose that we don't always see because
8:21
Speaker 1: we have that tunnel vision. But in the bigger picture,
8:23
Speaker 1: you're traveling the world helping so many people.
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Speaker 5: Yes, absolutely, And it all started from something that you
8:28
Speaker 5: would most people would view as negative if you get cancer.
8:31
Speaker 5: And then now look at how many people you've been
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Speaker 5: able to affect in a.
8:35
Speaker 4: Positive way advocating for yourself.
8:37
Speaker 1: So I like showed out a little bit, and I
8:39
Speaker 1: don't like to do that in public because like this job,
8:41
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, my nice, you know, but when it
8:42
Speaker 1: comes to my mama, I will fight.
8:44
Speaker 4: And so Alex as well, yeah, yeah, you fight for
8:48
Speaker 4: either your people.
8:48
Speaker 1: And so there was a few times where they weren't listening,
8:50
Speaker 1: and I was like, let me tell you right now.
8:52
Speaker 1: And you have to really advocate for yourself and sometimes
8:55
Speaker 1: trust your gut if you know in your heart like
8:58
Speaker 1: this is not the right treatment for me, the right thing.
9:01
Speaker 3: Like you saw your mom was struggling and maybe she
9:04
Speaker 3: couldn't get her voice heard, but you found yours and
9:08
Speaker 3: you were like, oh, I'm going to use my voice.
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Speaker 4: Tell me and my dad and her we all showed out.
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Speaker 2: They're like, okay, we're gonna listen. Yeah, I'm on a
9:16
Speaker 2: case code.
9:17
Speaker 3: I'm a human being and I have my feelings and
9:20
Speaker 3: I have my own thoughts, and I think once you
9:22
Speaker 3: do your research and you pray about it or think
9:24
Speaker 3: about it, and you talk about it with your family
9:26
Speaker 3: and friends, and you know what plan is best for you,
9:29
Speaker 3: and maybe it doesn't go with what the standard is
9:31
Speaker 3: for right then you either have to make a decision.
9:34
Speaker 3: You're gonna fight for it, make them listen, or you're
9:36
Speaker 3: gonna go get a second third opinion, whatever you need
9:38
Speaker 3: to do that's best for you.
9:40
Speaker 1: And that's why pinking tattoo is so special because it
9:42
Speaker 1: is like custom to the individual. It's not just like Okay,
9:45
Speaker 1: I it's this one area like you know, it all
9:47
Speaker 1: looks the same, like it's custom and it it makes
9:50
Speaker 1: it just a beautiful process where people feel alive again
9:52
Speaker 1: and they feel like you know themselves once again.
9:55
Speaker 3: Well, and I always tell everybody, and I know it's
9:57
Speaker 3: hard to see in radio, but cancer gets put in
10:01
Speaker 3: the back of your mind. It's never going to leave
10:03
Speaker 3: your mind, but it will be in the back. It
10:04
Speaker 3: doesn't need to be in the front. And that makes
10:07
Speaker 3: such an impact because once you're done with this and
10:10
Speaker 3: you walk out that door, you know, every day for
10:13
Speaker 3: definitely that first year, it's like treatments, doctors, everything you're
10:16
Speaker 3: going going, and then you're done and you're like, what
10:19
Speaker 3: do I do now? That question is always people you
10:22
Speaker 3: know in my office and they're like, I'm like, I'm nervous,
10:24
Speaker 3: I do want to do now?
10:25
Speaker 2: I'm like, you go out through that door and you
10:27
Speaker 2: go live your best life. Yeah, because we have a
10:29
Speaker 2: second chance.
10:29
Speaker 3: Now.
10:30
Speaker 5: That's what are like. Our foundation, the Pink Promised Foundation
10:33
Speaker 5: that we started a nonprofit, is kind of mainly addressing
10:35
Speaker 5: is like the transition from your cancer journey into life
10:39
Speaker 5: and then what are your options? Like hereal of tattooing
10:42
Speaker 5: and things like that that you can have. Like another
10:45
Speaker 5: aspect that people forget about is like chemo brows for
10:48
Speaker 5: eyebrows and things like that. You can lose your hair.
10:50
Speaker 5: And part of that is like when you finish your journey,
10:54
Speaker 5: you want to feel like yourself. You don't want to
10:56
Speaker 5: feel like someone was taken from you. And so what mom.
11:00
Speaker 5: A lot of the times, honestly, it's more emotional and
11:03
Speaker 5: mental for their esteem than it is actually physical, because
11:07
Speaker 5: you know, imagine that, like she says, you get out
11:10
Speaker 5: of the shower. In your shower, you're not thinking about
11:12
Speaker 5: your cancer, but when you step out and see the
11:14
Speaker 5: reflection in the mirror, you might. And those are the
11:17
Speaker 5: kind of things that you got to address and the
11:18
Speaker 5: topics that we often are talking about, even like on here,
11:21
Speaker 5: where it's so important because it's a conversation that should
11:24
Speaker 5: be you know, you should have that, and most people
11:27
Speaker 5: are not having that. A lot of people still to
11:28
Speaker 5: this day don't even know that you have the options
11:30
Speaker 5: of aerial at tattooing. And so you think about how
11:33
Speaker 5: many people are walking around going through their daily lives
11:36
Speaker 5: feeling incomplete, not feeling themselves, you know, not being able
11:39
Speaker 5: to reclaim who they are.
11:41
Speaker 1: Ya have been honored so many times, like the Canes,
11:43
Speaker 1: you received a check to go towards the foundation, Like
11:46
Speaker 1: how did.
11:47
Speaker 4: That all happen?
11:47
Speaker 2: I mean, so many blessings.
11:49
Speaker 3: And with the Canes and Lenovo, I was nominated by
11:55
Speaker 3: Alex I believe, but actually they said a lot of
11:57
Speaker 3: people which I'm really honored, from all over the especially
12:00
Speaker 3: the East Coast nominated me and I was the top ten.
12:05
Speaker 3: So I had a technical upgrade which was awesome for
12:08
Speaker 3: Pinkink Tattoo where they all came to my office, Stormy everyone, so,
12:12
Speaker 3: I mean, and they totally surprised me, and I mean
12:15
Speaker 3: I was caught off guard. And then we went to
12:18
Speaker 3: Lenovo's the stadium for the Canes game and I won
12:22
Speaker 3: the first place for a small business initiative in the Triangle,
12:27
Speaker 3: which was amazing because that just gave a platform.
12:31
Speaker 2: It was an advertisement package which give me a Platts grade.
12:34
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, and to have like NHL say we will
12:37
Speaker 3: use the word tattoo or we'll use ariola. I mean
12:41
Speaker 3: that's huge because I'm twenty fourteen. When I first started,
12:44
Speaker 3: that was not like people shied away from me because
12:47
Speaker 3: they didn't you know there was a stigma with tattoo
12:50
Speaker 3: or Ariola and so to have like fan duel or
12:54
Speaker 3: ESPN and the Canes and Lenovo say we are going
12:57
Speaker 3: to stand up. And actually Lenovo was the one that
12:59
Speaker 3: was like, no, she is it. We are gonna We're
13:01
Speaker 3: gonna shout it out loud. And they have been so supportive.
13:05
Speaker 3: A year later, we just left their office, we went
13:07
Speaker 3: out to the Triangle, had a meeting with them. They
13:10
Speaker 3: made a commercial for me and that's their global commercial,
13:14
Speaker 3: and I mean it is all about the message that
13:17
Speaker 3: you know what, you have a voice, get out there
13:19
Speaker 3: and there's options after breast cancer.
13:21
Speaker 5: And we saw an immediate impact, Like we've gone to
13:24
Speaker 5: the games and we've had people stop us in the
13:26
Speaker 5: concourse and in the stands and be like, we love
13:28
Speaker 5: what you do.
13:29
Speaker 2: And we'round a survivor yeah.
13:31
Speaker 5: And she actually had if you want to tell a
13:33
Speaker 5: story about the one survivor.
13:35
Speaker 2: So I had someone show up.
13:37
Speaker 3: I just cry right listen, I'm like, I have got
13:40
Speaker 3: to wear waterproof. So I had a survivor come in.
13:45
Speaker 3: I was right in the middle of her tattoos and
13:48
Speaker 3: she said, you know, Tara, I saw the Lenovokanes win
13:52
Speaker 3: this year. So it was last year and when she
13:55
Speaker 3: saw it and I said.
13:56
Speaker 2: Oh, you know, thank you. You know, wasn't that wonderful.
14:00
Speaker 2: It's so amazing.
14:01
Speaker 3: And she was like, well, I was there and I thought, wow,
14:04
Speaker 3: this is great. She said I didn't know anybody who
14:05
Speaker 3: had breast cancer, but I thought wow. My husband and
14:07
Speaker 3: I were sitting there like this is amazing what she does. Yeah,
14:12
Speaker 3: and she said that was in March, and two months
14:16
Speaker 3: later I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I went
14:19
Speaker 3: through all my treatment and I had my double misectomy
14:22
Speaker 3: and she was like, then my doctor said that you
14:24
Speaker 3: need to go reach out to her and if you
14:26
Speaker 3: have any questions, she can help guide you through it.
14:28
Speaker 3: But that's who we recon you know, refer for aerial
14:31
Speaker 3: and tattooing. And she's sitting in my chair and I'm like,
14:35
Speaker 3: oh my god, and she was like here, I am, like,
14:37
Speaker 3: it's been almost a year.
14:39
Speaker 2: And I was just like, you never know who needs
14:43
Speaker 2: to hear it at that time.
14:44
Speaker 3: So every time I do anything like this, you know,
14:47
Speaker 3: it isn't about me. It's about somebody that needs to
14:50
Speaker 3: hear it or know, like, you know, hey, my mom
14:53
Speaker 3: or my sister or my best friend or you know,
14:55
Speaker 3: my husband or you know, this is an option, and
14:58
Speaker 3: we do so much more than just the tattooing.
15:01
Speaker 2: Like Alex said, like this year.
15:04
Speaker 3: It's been heavy on our heart for a couple of years,
15:05
Speaker 3: and Alex has been the literal literally the driver, going.
15:09
Speaker 2: We need to start this nonprofit.
15:10
Speaker 3: You need to do it, mom, and I just can
15:12
Speaker 3: I take time away and dedicate it because I'm so
15:15
Speaker 3: dedicated to Pinking tattoo And then I go I woke
15:19
Speaker 3: up and I was like, Hey, this is the year
15:20
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six, are doing it. He was like, oh fine.
15:23
Speaker 3: So his mind is so you know, it expands. He
15:28
Speaker 3: goes so much more than me. I'm so focused in
15:31
Speaker 3: cancer community, cancer world, and he's like, no, Mom, people
15:34
Speaker 3: in sports world to get it, cancer people and every.
15:37
Speaker 4: Everywhere, everywhere, every walk of.
15:38
Speaker 3: Life, you know, and I have tattooed them, whether it's
15:41
Speaker 3: doctors or you know, lawyer, whatever, you know, because it
15:44
Speaker 3: doesn't discriminate. This year we started Pinking Promise Foundation and
15:49
Speaker 3: we are so thankful and lucky because as soon as
15:53
Speaker 3: it started, I was nominated for Remarkable Woman Yeah twenty
15:58
Speaker 3: twenty six for cbsventeen locally and I won and then and.
16:03
Speaker 1: Which I knew that you want to think before you
16:05
Speaker 1: did it. And I was like, they're like, don't say anything.
16:07
Speaker 3: Apparently with him every day he didn't even I mean,
16:13
Speaker 3: I was nothing. And when you watch that video that
16:16
Speaker 3: or the from the news from My Carolina and I'm
16:19
Speaker 3: sitting sitting there and Bria is like, you look, Terry,
16:23
Speaker 3: and I look over and it said it on there,
16:24
Speaker 3: but all I saw was me and I was like, yeah,
16:26
Speaker 3: that's me, and she goes look and I was like,
16:28
Speaker 3: oh my god, Like that's where they announced I had won.
16:31
Speaker 3: And from from there to move on to go to
16:36
Speaker 3: Nashville where they sent us and we filmed for c W,
16:39
Speaker 3: which aired that show with Lisa Gibbons, which was amazing,
16:43
Speaker 3: and then I won Top five.
16:44
Speaker 2: From that, I just I couldn't believe, like, oh my gosh.
16:48
Speaker 3: Next our media wants to c W wants to put
16:52
Speaker 3: it out there, you know, even like iHeart radio, do
16:56
Speaker 3: you want to find you want to put it out there,
16:58
Speaker 3: like you're not ashamed of AOLA or not?
17:01
Speaker 4: Girl, Like, let's do this right.
17:03
Speaker 5: Well, we run into it because everyone talks about like
17:05
Speaker 5: breast cancer. You can say the word breast. But then
17:08
Speaker 5: when you say Ariola or anything else like that, people
17:11
Speaker 5: start to kind of get a little weary about it,
17:13
Speaker 5: and it's like, but it is so important. It is
17:15
Speaker 5: so important, and that's part of what hinders the conversations around.
17:19
Speaker 1: Right, which like, come on, y'all, yeah.
17:21
Speaker 3: There's so many things like you can say that, yes,
17:25
Speaker 3: but you were on I got a chance to see
17:26
Speaker 3: some of the clips from the show, Jennifer Hudson's show
17:29
Speaker 3: on Monday that aired something.
17:30
Speaker 1: It's very recent, so you're like fresh back from celebrating.
17:34
Speaker 1: I know you filmed it what in April y or
17:36
Speaker 1: end of March, end of March, but you got a
17:39
Speaker 1: chance to sit with your family and watch it. Like
17:41
Speaker 1: what was that feeling? You're like, I'm on TV with
17:43
Speaker 1: Jennifer Hudson right now.
17:44
Speaker 2: You know what it feels like. I'm in a dream.
17:46
Speaker 2: I can't even believe it.
17:47
Speaker 3: It literally started as soon as they said, you know,
17:50
Speaker 3: you're gone to Nashville, Tara, I went, what? And then
17:53
Speaker 3: we get there and that was a dream. And meeting
17:56
Speaker 3: Lisa Gibbons, which I have watched, you know, my whole life,
18:00
Speaker 3: and then all the amazing gifts and things that happened
18:02
Speaker 3: there and the women I met there to go like, hey,
18:05
Speaker 3: you're going to LA.
18:06
Speaker 2: Just want to let you know.
18:07
Speaker 3: That's right before we left to get on her airplane
18:09
Speaker 3: to come back to Raleigh. And and next hour was like,
18:12
Speaker 3: you're going to LA and you're getting on the Jennifer
18:14
Speaker 3: Hudson Show. And I'm like what that's so cool and
18:17
Speaker 3: I get to share what I do. And so we
18:19
Speaker 3: flew out there. Alex came with me. I mean, I'm
18:22
Speaker 3: not going to go do this without him at all,
18:23
Speaker 3: because he literally has been lifting me up, you know,
18:26
Speaker 3: to get to this.
18:27
Speaker 1: And do you ever get nervous and you're like, you
18:29
Speaker 1: got this, mom, because I mean it is scary.
18:30
Speaker 5: She gets nervous every day. Yeah, she got nervous before
18:33
Speaker 5: she got on.
18:34
Speaker 1: Here, like you can, but I get it, Like you
18:37
Speaker 1: get nervous and you're just like, oh, you have to
18:38
Speaker 1: have somebody to cheer you on and push you well.
18:41
Speaker 3: And it's like I want to make sure the message
18:43
Speaker 3: is right, like cause I'm I can talk, and if
18:46
Speaker 3: we're in a room like I'm I can talk, but
18:49
Speaker 3: to make sure like the words get out that need
18:51
Speaker 3: to get out. That's what I'm always concerned about like
18:53
Speaker 3: I'm going to make sure that it's about like I
18:55
Speaker 3: get all the important things out, which it always does
18:58
Speaker 3: come out, but because that's when I'm on a mission
19:00
Speaker 3: for But while we were in Hollywood, we didn't sleep.
19:04
Speaker 3: It was like two days of NonStop. We got off
19:07
Speaker 3: that plane and it was on. We went to Muscle Beach,
19:09
Speaker 3: I mean you had to go. See we're in Santa
19:11
Speaker 3: Barbara and so we had fun, but we also you know, business.
19:16
Speaker 3: So I met with some plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills,
19:19
Speaker 3: which is.
19:20
Speaker 1: So huge because a celebrities would be your next you know,
19:23
Speaker 1: like maybe it's Kim Kardashian your tattoo.
19:25
Speaker 2: In her breath, you know what.
19:26
Speaker 3: And I'll never tell if I have already yeah, you
19:30
Speaker 3: never know. I would never And and there are many
19:34
Speaker 3: people you know, that celebrity that I may or may
19:37
Speaker 3: not have already seen is just as important as my
19:40
Speaker 3: next door neighbor.
19:41
Speaker 2: You know, we all deserve which.
19:42
Speaker 1: Some of them do people because you know, like say
19:45
Speaker 1: it happens to me, I come in and be like,
19:46
Speaker 1: y'all look at this, like you know, but some people
19:48
Speaker 1: keep it very quiet. We have a different story. For me,
19:51
Speaker 1: I'd probably be more open about it. Yeah, I'm like,
19:53
Speaker 1: you know, this happens.
19:54
Speaker 2: Which I hope I never see you and I what
19:57
Speaker 2: I go.
19:57
Speaker 1: To dinner and talk about what's happening the weekend. But
20:00
Speaker 1: you know, yes, it just depends on the journey.
20:03
Speaker 2: And I totally respect that.
20:04
Speaker 3: So if they say can we take a picture, terre
20:06
Speaker 3: them like of course, or or they say can I
20:09
Speaker 3: put it out there? I don't put any before or
20:12
Speaker 3: after photos on any of my social media. It's on
20:14
Speaker 3: my website and you can contact me us and just
20:16
Speaker 3: millions of them, but I'm never going to put it
20:18
Speaker 3: on because I just can't, you know. So I'm so
20:23
Speaker 3: protective of the women I see and the men that
20:25
Speaker 3: but that's on them. If they say we want to
20:28
Speaker 3: put it out there, can we tag you? I'm like, sure,
20:30
Speaker 3: you know that's one hundred percent. It's your journey, not mine.
20:34
Speaker 3: I'm never gonna interfere with somebody's walk of life.
20:37
Speaker 5: And it's also like we talked about, like when you're
20:39
Speaker 5: reclaiming your body, you don't immediately want to go and
20:42
Speaker 5: share that with everybody else for some people and so
20:45
Speaker 5: and for us, we're like, we're not going to go
20:46
Speaker 5: out and share your body to the rest of the world.
20:49
Speaker 5: And it's because of the discretion of whoever's coming in
20:53
Speaker 5: and you want to be able to feel like yourself again,
20:55
Speaker 5: well that includes you know, like we often joke like
20:57
Speaker 5: we give them a reason to wear a bra again,
20:59
Speaker 5: we give them a reason to want to cover up,
21:01
Speaker 5: you know, and feel like a woman, like a man
21:04
Speaker 5: and and what you are intending to be. And so
21:07
Speaker 5: that's why it's like you want to have the conversations,
21:09
Speaker 5: you want to be able to put it out there,
21:11
Speaker 5: and we have these platforms, but we're not going to
21:13
Speaker 5: share the photos to the rest of the world because
21:15
Speaker 5: that's your body, right.
21:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
21:17
Speaker 3: And if you choose to like film the whole thing,
21:19
Speaker 3: which I've had women do, like can I film this
21:22
Speaker 3: while you're doing my tattoos and then I'm going to
21:24
Speaker 3: put it on my YouTube?
21:25
Speaker 1: Sure go yeah, if that your awareness, whatever you're comfortable with, right,
21:30
Speaker 1: And it's also like their journey, and that's why it's
21:32
Speaker 1: like it's a celebration.
21:34
Speaker 5: If you want to film it, you want to do
21:35
Speaker 5: it your way. But that's why it's important that like
21:38
Speaker 5: that is the big difference between what she does and
21:41
Speaker 5: versus like who may be convenient around the corner. They
21:44
Speaker 5: don't have the same understanding as you know, a survivor
21:47
Speaker 5: to a survivor, and so for us, we're like, you
21:49
Speaker 5: want to celebrate, you want to do that?
21:50
Speaker 1: Do it?
21:50
Speaker 2: It is a celebration, it is. But let me tell you.
21:53
Speaker 3: So the hotel we stayed in so not only were
21:56
Speaker 3: doing bus at the Lows, Yeah, which is so fun,
22:00
Speaker 3: and why we were there. Of course, We're all over
22:03
Speaker 3: the place, you know, doing all the tourist photos and
22:06
Speaker 3: I'm like, Alex, the one place I really want to
22:08
Speaker 3: go is the Hollywood Sign, which we did, but we
22:11
Speaker 3: had to be you know, in our car by three
22:13
Speaker 3: pm to go to Warner Brothers Studios to film. So
22:17
Speaker 3: one o'clock we're on the Hollywood Hills literally taking photos
22:20
Speaker 3: and then booking it back. We left there immediately and
22:22
Speaker 3: then got back to the hotel, got ready and when
22:25
Speaker 3: I came out at well, Alex's like, Mom, did you
22:27
Speaker 3: see who you know?
22:28
Speaker 2: It's been walking right.
22:29
Speaker 3: Around you and I'm like no, Like I am getting
22:32
Speaker 3: prepared for Jennifer Hudson. And so we walk outside to
22:35
Speaker 3: get in our car and there's Jason Alden and his
22:38
Speaker 3: wife Brittany and she's getting in her car and we
22:40
Speaker 3: just made eye contact and I was just said a
22:44
Speaker 3: few words to him because we were face to face
22:47
Speaker 3: literally and just away. I just said a few words
22:49
Speaker 3: to him, and he looked at me and said thank you,
22:51
Speaker 3: and then we just gave each other a hug, and
22:54
Speaker 3: then I kept walking and got in my car and
22:56
Speaker 3: drove off to Warner Brothers.
22:58
Speaker 4: But I mean, so cool.
23:00
Speaker 1: Yes, And he was there for the iHeartRadio Music Awards
23:02
Speaker 1: because he was performing at ours you know thing, and
23:06
Speaker 1: you're there.
23:06
Speaker 3: At Jayhood and like it's like, how it's so cool
23:09
Speaker 3: and how lives just crossed, you know, your path just cross.
23:13
Speaker 2: And what's the meaning of that? I don't know.
23:15
Speaker 5: And well, I mean it's like we just cross passed
23:18
Speaker 5: with Lisa robertson.
23:19
Speaker 2: Friday from the Duck Dynasty.
23:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, so their is so nice, by the way, all
23:24
Speaker 1: of them are so nice and just down to earth.
23:26
Speaker 5: Well, that was I think her first speaking event talking
23:28
Speaker 5: about her breast cancer drive.
23:30
Speaker 3: And I do share because she's now public with it.
23:32
Speaker 3: So her breast cancer, she was diagnosed a couple of
23:34
Speaker 3: years ago, and so she's just her first speaking engagement.
23:38
Speaker 3: This is what she said, she told me Friday was
23:41
Speaker 3: Friday night, and so her she was nervous.
23:44
Speaker 4: Yeah.
23:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know her husband, Al was with her.
23:47
Speaker 3: So that makes it easier when you have, you know,
23:49
Speaker 3: your support system beside you to be able to share
23:52
Speaker 3: something so intimate. And so we you know, had a
23:55
Speaker 3: great conversation and connected, you know, survivor, a survivor, but.
24:00
Speaker 2: Also you know what I do.
24:03
Speaker 3: And then now that she's sharing her journey, so again
24:07
Speaker 3: you just don't know never now.
24:09
Speaker 5: And it was right before they released their Lifetime movie
24:11
Speaker 5: The Faith and Forgiveness.
24:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and it.
24:15
Speaker 5: Aired on Lifetime like literally the next day.
24:18
Speaker 4: So when are y'all getting a TV show? Because I
24:20
Speaker 4: think that should happen.
24:21
Speaker 5: We've actually been talking about that a lot.
24:24
Speaker 3: I wanted to show so well after I wrote my
24:27
Speaker 3: book last year that came out last May. That has
24:31
Speaker 3: definitely been you know, conversations with a lot of people
24:35
Speaker 3: who've talked about it. I mean, it's always been just
24:37
Speaker 3: because there's so many different avenues that happened with my
24:41
Speaker 3: whole journey and then where I am today and what
24:43
Speaker 3: I do, and and it wasn't just like I had
24:45
Speaker 3: breast cancer and now here's what I do.
24:47
Speaker 2: It was like I had to advocate.
24:48
Speaker 3: I had to change things policy do you know, stand up,
24:52
Speaker 3: be a voice for women that didn't have a voice
24:54
Speaker 3: or men, you know, fight for When I was being
24:57
Speaker 3: recognized with different companies and say, hey, men have breast
25:01
Speaker 3: cancer too, and I have a literally an insurance company
25:05
Speaker 3: telling me, well, I don't know if you should put
25:07
Speaker 3: that ribbon in your drawing and not because it was
25:10
Speaker 3: blue and pink, and I go, what do you mean?
25:12
Speaker 3: And they're like, people were confused, We're confused, we don't
25:14
Speaker 3: know what it is. I'm like, oh my god, your insurance,
25:16
Speaker 3: Like this is an international ribbon for male breast cancer.
25:19
Speaker 2: This is for This was a project I did with.
25:22
Speaker 3: A male dominating sport here in the Carolinas, well known
25:27
Speaker 3: for many years. And I said, I'm not taking it out,
25:30
Speaker 3: like I'm leaving that. If you can't leave this send,
25:32
Speaker 3: I'm not going to do it because in this male
25:35
Speaker 3: dominated sport, let's let them ask the question, what is
25:38
Speaker 3: that ribbon?
25:39
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Because that could save somebody's life.
25:42
Speaker 2: So yeah, we're where I'm leaving it. So I left it.
25:44
Speaker 1: So TV is on the on the table, possibly or
25:48
Speaker 1: a show or a movie and then what else, like
25:50
Speaker 1: you know, you met with the doctors in the plastic
25:52
Speaker 1: surgeons in Beverly Hills, Like, say they call you, does
25:55
Speaker 1: that mean you fly out to meet with clients or
25:57
Speaker 1: they come here? Like, how does that work?
25:58
Speaker 3: It'll both okay, and I already see women that come
26:02
Speaker 3: from yea, you know, the West side California and all
26:05
Speaker 3: around the area. But yeah, I absolutely would fly there
26:09
Speaker 3: and spend time. However, many days needed to work with
26:12
Speaker 3: them and see their their patient.
26:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
26:14
Speaker 4: How long does it usually take to do that?
26:16
Speaker 1: You know? How like a tattoo My husband got one.
26:19
Speaker 1: It's like a six hour tattoo, you know that on average?
26:21
Speaker 1: Like how long does it take?
26:22
Speaker 3: So I schedule an hour and a half or bilateral
26:24
Speaker 3: an hour for unilateral, it typically doesn't take that long.
26:28
Speaker 3: But that just gives enough time to really go everything,
26:30
Speaker 3: no pressure. You know, it's an important decision. We're mixing colors,
26:34
Speaker 3: you're getting size. And here's one thing that I'm different
26:38
Speaker 3: from everyone, and I've always been this from the beginning.
26:41
Speaker 3: I give them one full year for a free touch
26:43
Speaker 3: up because you need to you know, once.
26:47
Speaker 4: You I love it, once you get adjusted and you know,
26:50
Speaker 4: maybe six.
26:50
Speaker 3: Months down the road, like someone who are more conservative
26:53
Speaker 3: with their decision and then six eight months are like,
26:55
Speaker 3: oh man, I should have went bigger, darker, pink or
26:57
Speaker 3: whatever they have that option to change.
27:00
Speaker 1: Do they ever show you pictures of like the before,
27:02
Speaker 1: like before, this is what I want?
27:05
Speaker 2: They share pictures of all kinds of women before.
27:07
Speaker 3: I get it from magazines, from they bring all.
27:11
Speaker 2: Kinds of stuff in and that's what they'll get.
27:13
Speaker 4: There, like a wall of boob.
27:14
Speaker 2: No, not at all, Nope, I have brochures.
27:18
Speaker 1: But yeah, okay, all right, So how can people reach
27:21
Speaker 1: out to you? How can they get involved with the foundation?
27:23
Speaker 1: Like where can we reach out and connect with you?
27:26
Speaker 3: So Pinkink Tattoo dot com and of course Pinkink Promise
27:31
Speaker 3: Foundation dot org and those are both our websites and
27:34
Speaker 3: contact us through there. We're going to be hosting a
27:36
Speaker 3: lot of again our Day of Hopes for the Foundation
27:39
Speaker 3: and just being involved with the community. But on all
27:42
Speaker 3: social media Instagram, Facebook, x YouTube, LinkedIn, LinkedIn.
27:48
Speaker 4: Got a TikTok.
27:52
Speaker 2: TikTok, though I just got it.
27:54
Speaker 3: I don't posts, so I didn't use it me too,
27:59
Speaker 3: come to That's why Alex is like we're not doing
28:01
Speaker 3: TikTok so I haven't had it, but I just got
28:03
Speaker 3: it a little bit ago, and I don't know how
28:05
Speaker 3: to operate it me neither.
28:07
Speaker 1: I got it during COVID and I haven't used it
28:09
Speaker 1: since then, and I was like, I don't know, I'm
28:10
Speaker 1: out of date now.
28:11
Speaker 2: So same. Well, I'm Alex handle okay, pinking.
28:15
Speaker 1: Tattoo Tara, Alex, thank you so much for coming in.
28:19
Speaker 2: Thank you for having us. You're amazing. Thank you