Reese Hilburn is a Tattoo Artist, Tattoo Shop Owner, and Spiritual Bisiness Mentor, & Meditation Queen. Her work focuses on helping heart-led intentional tattooers heal their wounds, shadows and traumas, while simultaneously growing and scaling their tattoo business on Social Media.

In this episode of Chats and Tatts with Aaron Della Vedova, tattoo artist Reese Hilburn shares her inspiring journey of overcoming a significant mistake in her career. Aaron highlights the importance of owning one's mistakes and turning them into opportunities for growth and self-expression. Reese's story serves as a powerful example of transformation and resilience in the face of adversity and is a reminder that embracing our vulnerabilities can lead to unapologetic self-expression and empowerment.

Tune in to hear how Reese's experience led to her healing, forgiveness, and the positive impact it had on her life and work.

Chat Breakdown:

[00:00:45] Transformation through embracing mistakes.

[00:06:00] Portrait tattooing and artistic evolution.

[00:07:24] Warrior women in art.

[00:14:37] Struggles with self-identity and social media.

[00:20:24] The gift of rock bottom.

[00:23:38] Turning shame into power.

[00:26:15] Authenticity and self-discovery.

[00:30:17] Finding forgiveness after abuse.

[00:35:31] Healing through tattoos and trauma.

[00:40:09] Different types of meditation.

[00:43:37] Seeking the meaning of life.

[00:46:40] Visualizing future memories.

[00:51:23] Embracing all parts of yourself.

[00:59:44] Life as energy and possibility.

[01:00:58] Personal responsibility and karma.

[01:06:50] Turning grief into creative power.

[01:10:14] Permission and meaning-making.

[01:13:27] Embracing the full human experience.

[01:20:26] Patience and urgency in growth.

[01:21:47] Importance of setting boundaries.

Quotes:

"Owning our shit and how scary that is and walking with our fear and changing the relationship we have with our fear is actually going to turn your insecurities, your shame into power and into unapologetic self-expression."

"This is my alter ego. And so I've really fallen into that love for accentuating someone's own life, almost like their face and putting it on their bodies in the way that they're just like, this is how I see myself almost."

"To get hate, you know, DMs or whatever, some of which were like, you don't deserve to live, you're a lying piece of shit, at such a young age in tattooing, now you're questioning, should I even be here? Do I suck?"