Amanda Myers
AGE: 42
SHOP: Infinity Tattoo, Portland, OR
If you can't find tattooer Amanda Myers at her Portland shop, Infinity Tattoo, look for the San Diego-born, tree-hugging “nature girl” in the great outdoors. When not tattooing, she likes traveling, scuba diving, growing medicinal herbs and food in her backyard, and getting her hands tied up with fiber arts: “Sewing, designing, crochet, and making weird stuff with fabric.”

Tattooing remains one of her top passions and she has 17 years in the industry. “I was trained by Don Deaton of Sea Tramp Tattoo in Portland, the city's oldest shop and with our most revered master tattooist.”

Infinity Tattoo has five female artists (out of eight total). “In this heavily male industry, where dude shops abound, I'd say this is pretty unique!” Amanda says. “But we don't tout ourselves as a women's shop. There's no heavy feminist identity or anything. We all get along as a big ol' family.” Amanda describes her own work as “big, bright textile-inspired flowery pretty stuff with unique and contrasting colorways.” She's tattooed all sorts of people, but it's the world of the rich and famous that she still doesn't get. “I keep waiting to see some fantastic art done with celebrities, but it seems that all we see are tiny butterflies and tribal anklets. Not that I'm dissing the artists who do these, but I really don't get America's obsession with the whole thing.”

Her top priority: family, friends, coworkers, and her mother, who stands as Amanda's biggest influence. “Make your loved ones and family your number one focus. Helping people transform their lives by the simple act of a tattoo is amazing … but at the end of the day it is my husband, kids, and friends that give me the inspiration to live life to the fullest.”