Tattoo artist Tiffany Perez \u201909 has a vision. As the owner of the largest tattoo studio in New Jersey, Ink Gallery Tattoo Studio, Perez sees a world of opportunity that goes well beyond the typical tattoo business.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy shop has 20 employees and 13 booths,\u201d she says with pride. \u201cI have 5,600 square feet of space. I am thinking of offering tattoo seminars, painting events, poetry nights, and live music.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez has a history of following her heart, and her art, into unexpected directions. \u201cI have always loved drawing,\u201d she says. \u201cI knew I wanted to go to a New Jersey college. I remember that someone from Montclair came to visit my high school in Wayne. The University\u2019s staff helped guide me through the application process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez enrolled at Montclair as an Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) student but didn\u2019t declare a major right away. \u201cArt felt like a hobby to me,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAlso, I was a bit shy and wasn\u2019t sure if teaching would be a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining the Lambda Tau Omega sorority and performing in a campus-based hip-hop dance group helped Perez build confidence. \u201cThese activities helped me break out of my shell,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey also kept me entertained and involved. I loved the interaction \u2013 and the parties! There was always something going on at the Student Center.\u201d<\/p>\n
EOF holds a particularly special place in Perez\u2019s Montclair memories. \u201cEOF prepared me for college before I began my first semester,\u201d she says. \u201cI met so many amazing people who are still like family to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the end of her sophomore year, Perez was ready to commit to a degree in art education.<\/p>\n
A special gift she received for her 21st birthday had her re-thinking her path, however. \u201cMy father gave me a tattoo machine \u2013 my first \u2013 and I fell in love with the art form,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
After earning a bachelor\u2019s in Fine Art with a concentration in Drawing, Perez built on her high school and college work in portraiture, mural painting and graffiti design by training as a tattoo artist. She apprenticed at Riders Ink in Newark and further developed her craft at Chico\u2019s Marked 4 Life in Miami, before returning to New Jersey to open her first studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes time to work out of your nervousness,\u201d Perez says of becoming a tattoo artist. \u201cBut it is also very exciting. Every tattoo is a totally new piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez specializes in black and gray and modern fine-line tattooing. Her growing clientele includes R&B singer Omarion, hip hop artist Maino, television personalities Nicole \u201cSnooki\u201d Polizzi and Justina Valentine, NFL players James Ihedigbo, Ray Lucas, and Nate Burleson, and NBA Knicks player Cleanthony Early. She has also filmed for season 1 of Oxygen Channel\u2019s reality television show Best Ink<\/em>, season 5 of VH1\u2019s Black Ink Crew<\/em>, and seasons 1 and 2 of MTV\u2019s How Far is Tattoo Far?<\/em> Her designs have been featured in Urban Ink<\/em> magazine and she herself has graced the cover of Tattoo<\/em>, the world\u2019s largest selling tattoo magazine.<\/p>\n These days, Perez is grateful for the education classes she took at Montclair. \u201cWhat I learned about teaching has really helped me in bringing apprentices up to speed,\u201d she says. \u201cI was able to create a curriculum that includes a workbook, reading material, videos, and homework assignments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMontclair helped me to become more resilient and versatile, which is important as a business owner,\u201d she adds. \u201cI use everything I learned to build a more complete business.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of her apprentices are Montclair students, a connection that Perez values. She is staying connected to her alma mater in other ways as well, even organizing and hosting an alumni party for her Montclair friends.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a great turnout,\u201d she says. \u201cReuniting is exciting and inspires us all to make a difference. We will definitely do this again. Some of us are looking for other ways to get involved with the University.\u201d<\/p>\n Perez has taken notice of today\u2019s students\u2019 use of social media to build community. \u201cI like that students are connecting with each other and writing about the University,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is so much going on today. It is important for them \u2013 for all of us \u2013 to work on having strong relationships and a strong and positive mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tiffany Perez \u201909 is a highly regarded tattoo artist whose clientele includes celebrities from television, the music industry and professional sports. Now the owner of Ink Gallery Tattoo Studio \u2013 the largest tattoo studio in New Jersey \u2013 Perez is building a successful business while also building a community fueled by the arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":212742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76_alumni-news-and-events","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212740"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212753,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212740\/revisions\/212753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}