Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana CARLSON.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Nostalgia Tattoo was born from the desire to be closer to home so I could pursue professional growth and family goals. I accidentally began my career in the tattoo industry in 2014 shortly after graduating from VCU with a degree in Communications. What I thought would be a temporary stint answering emails and doing reception work at a tattoo studio while I applied to “real jobs” turned into so much more. Over time I took on more managerial duties but eventually accepted an apprenticeship that changed my life. I became licensed to tattoo professionally in 2017 and haven’t looked back since.
I was hungry to grow in my career and pursue stability in my personal life. I had moved almost every year since moving to Richmond in 2010 and was determined to put down roots, I scrounged and saved enough money for a down payment on my first home and purchased a 100-year-old fixer-upper in Northside in 2019. I lived in the house while it was mostly gutted through the Covid pandemic with rooms curtained off with plastic sheeting, no heat, a kitchen with no floors, walls or ceiling, and one usable bedroom. It was glorified camping; but it was mine.
While my marriage didn’t survive the renovation, I grew tremendously through this experience. Building something so personal and special through blood, sweat, and tears exposed grit I wasn’t sure I had. On the other side of heartbreak and divorce with a now partially empty but mostly-updated home — I had the chance to ask myself what I wanted my future to look like. I spent a lot of time in therapy, in the outdoors, traveling for work and pleasure, getting sober, and letting go of things that no longer served me.
As I was navigating my own milestones and challenges, my neighborhood was growing and changing. The commercial district down the block from my house welcomed new business after new business. The corridor that had felt dormant and forgotten was coming back to life as hopeful entrepreneurs took the risk of opening storefronts in the “up and coming” district. I never thought I would be one of them.
But life kept moving forward for me too. I found love again, kept pushing myself in my career to do markets, and pop-ups, conventions, seminars and guest spots. All of these things pushed me out of comfort zone as an extroverted introvert; but I was determined to prove to myself that I could do hard things and overcome some of my fears. Public speaking being one of them! When I saw a “For Lease sign” in the window of a small space on Brookland Park — I couldn’t help but daydream about being more involved in my immediate community and was allured by the prospect of being able to walk to work every day like some small-town movie character. My partner and I had both expressed wanting to start a family at some point and being closer to home and fully autonomous in my work would give me greater control over my schedule and budget; things that would make having a child easier. Tattooers are self-employed but not all have the luxury of making their own rates, hours, etc. This independence was highly attractive to me so that I could pursue a work-life balance customized to my needs.
I took the plunge and opened a small, private studio space on Brookland Park in the Northside of Richmond in the summer of 2025. The occupancy of this space was unfortunately short-lived due to problems with the building. Mold, lead paint, and other hidden dangers caused me to terminate my contract early when the owners were unresponsive to my concerns. When I found out I was pregnant in Fall of 2025– finding a safer place to do my work was mandatory.
Maybe it was serendipity but a storefront a few buildings down became available just as I was requesting my lease termination. At that time I didn’t have a plan: I figured I would move out my furniture and equipment during the holidays and take some time to sort out where to work next. However, the timing was too cosmically coincidental to ignore and I signed a new lease for my current space. With this building came more square footage and I was catapulted into no longer having a private studio but a tattoo shop with room to share with other artists. After a move and renovation done at lightning speed Nostalgia Tattoo re-opened in January of 2026.
By the time I gave birth to my son in early July of 2026 I had outfitted the new space, built a website, changed the Google listing, completed all of our updated licensing requirements, hired resident artists to work alongside me on a booth-rent structure, hosted several events, welcomed guest artists and worked full-time tattooing up until 37 weeks. I spent my maternity leave managing our social media, planning a possible 2027 expansion, organizing Fall events and fundraisers, scheduling visiting artists, ordering supplies, and coordinating with our local business association from the couch while my sleeping infant snored on my chest.
It’s been a hard year to say the least! But also the most gratifying. There is so much learning and growing to come and I am trying to welcome it with an open mind and a big cup of coffee.
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?
Absolutely not! Tattooing is a hard job on its own. My apprenticeship was fairly traditional with long-hours and hazing in a male dominated environment. Learning to draw well and then applying art to skin safely and consistently is a lifelong pursuit. Mastering technical skills is one thing, but juggling scheduling appointments, consultations and drawing time outside of tattoo hours on top of, self-employment taxes, supply ordering, social media, customer service, client correspondence, studio sanitation, professional networking, etc. etc. is a circus act that goes on behind the scenes. Income is not guaranteed. No appointments? No walk-ins? No income. You are responsible for building and keeping clients. Shops can offer some support in this, but today’s clients tend to seek out individual artists based on the criteria they have in mind for their tattoo. Not to mention- the self employed do not get traditional benefits like health insurance, 401K, PTO, parental leave, sick leave, unemployment, social security, disability, etc.
Choosing this path is something you have to choose every day and it does require discipline and passion. I am learning every day from peers and trial and error. I fail. I try again. I keep going. I work more than ever. But my family is a huge motivator; my baby for one, but my partner, six dogs, six chickens, and gardens all rely on me and believe in me. I tell myself I’m building a future we can be proud of.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I do not have a formal arts background so it took me a while to learn and understand art fundamentals. Light and color, proportions, contrast, form, composition, etc. It’s hard to manipulate these things to develop a style before understanding how they work. I often say that I learned to tattoo decently before learning to draw well. Today, clients seek me out for my floral work but I also do a lot of animals, trinkets, fantasy creatures, pretty ladies, etc. I would describe my style as falling between neo-traditional and illustrative. I love combining bold and fine line weights and saturated colors but also enjoy doing textured blackwork using stippling techniques.
A lot of the tattoos I do are highly personal and driven by memory and sentimentality. That’s where the studio name comes from: Nostalgia. We all longingly reflect on the places, people, pets, and things that conjure up times-gone-by. We miss what we can no longer hold onto and tattoos are small, personal tokens that allow us to hold on to the feelings forever.
I guess I’m just proud that I endured this last year and didn’t quit. It was grueling. Pregnancy was very hard on me physically and emotionally. I was very depressed about all of the work-related changes because I doubted my ability to succeed. Financially- things were hard for a while. I had to talk myself into putting one foot after the other one almost daily. But somehow- things are going well. I had a healthy baby. I work with incredible artists who are also my friends. I am getting back to work this week and get to see the familiar faces of clients I have been working with for a while and sit in the studio I sacrificed so much to make. I get to go home to a man and pets and baby that love me and that make it all worth it!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
As a kid loved to be outside. I remember pretending to be a chipmunk and seeing how many acorns I could shove in my cheeks. I remember being fascinated by caterpillars and tadpoles, catching snakes with my cousins and daydreaming about riding ponies. I did get to ride horses for a while. My mom worked really hard to give me that experience even though it likely stretched our household budget. We treated going to the barn to see the horses as a family activity and those memories are very dear to me. I definitely was not a rich horse girl. I eventually did farm chores and exercised other people’s horses for more riding time.
I still love to be outside. I love walking my dogs and gardening and sometimes just sitting under a tree when there is a free moment. Reading and art remained lifelong interests as well. I went to school for Journalism and English so at one point I fancied myself a writer. The tortured poet type meets Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls. Think Creative Writing Journal and Newspaper staff. I took every art class available through middle and high school but the funding for these classes was far from fantastic in the public schools I went to. I enjoyed art but didn’t feel confident in pursuing it as a career and knew nothing about tattooing. In hindsight: I was obsessed with Dollar Tree temporary tattoos as a kid and in high school my friends would ask me freehand Sharpie and Magic Marker tattoos all over them at sleepovers. So maybe there was some foreshadowing along the way! Getting into tattooing after college gave me a sense of direction but I felt like an imposter for years. I am not a tough guy or a femme fatale type. I don’t fit what at that time seemed like the tattooer stereotype. Eventually I stopped caring and found my niche. Found my people.
Pricing:
- $200/hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nostalgiatattoorva.com
- Instagram: @dana.does.tattoos and @nostalgia.tattoo.rva
