And then being black and me being young, a lot of the older shop owners in the surrounding area, or in the tattoo industry in Milwaukee they’re not going to respect me because I’m new, so they think I don’t know anything and stuff like that.

It’s tough because everybody wants like a discount, or something just because you’re black, or they know you. I just don’t want to do everything the “black” way – how people consider black people to be unprofessional and stuff like that. On what makes his shop different from others, and what it’s like to be a black business owner in Milwaukee

I always wanted my own, and then an opportunity was given, and I had to take it. It’s pretty much an opportunity that was right in my face that I couldn’t really pass up. And how I came up with the name, it was just about me at the time, you know, I couldn’t really think of no other names so I’m like my Instagram name is Inked by Shorty, so I might as well just call it Shorty’s Ink. So my last option was either to get my own or go back to like a job, and a job ain’t for me. How I started was – I tried to work in other shops in the city of Milwaukee, but they wasn’t like messing with me. On how he started Shorty’s Ink and what inspired him to create it I like calligraphy, which is scriptwriting. Right now, I’m all over, but what I like the most is like lettering. I’ve been tattooing for about seven years, but I’ve been professional for the last two. On growing up in Milwaukee and his tattoo experience: Milwaukee Magazine sat down with him to find out more about what we can expect. His is the first shop in Milwaukee to do so. Milwaukee’s Teon “Shorty” Hollins – tattoo artist and shop owner of Shorty’s Ink – recently signed a deal with Black Ink Crew. Now, it seems like the franchise is branching out to a new location, Milwaukee. The popularity of the show created two spinoffs in two different cities: Black Ink Crew Chicago, featuring the daily operations of 9mag tattoo shop Ryan Henry and his staff, and Black Ink Crew Compton, which features Danny “KP” Kirkpatrick and his staff at his shop in California. He eventually went on to own three more tattoo shops in New York, Atlanta and New Orleans.

The show made its debut on VH1 in 2013, and chronicled the Harlem-based tattoo shop Black Ink, owned by Ceaser Emanuel. If you’re a fan of tattoos, you’re probably familiar with the television franchise “ Black Ink Crew,” which features the daily operations and staff at African-American owned and operated shops in the United States.

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