Katrina Jackson quickly became a fan favorite on VH1’s “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” when the series debuted in October 2015, and it’s easy to see why. Kat Tat, as she’s more commonly known, was never one to back down, always stood in her truth, and was certainly entertaining.
From heartbreak and happiness, trials and triumph, the 31-year-old has evolved immensely since becoming a reality television star almost a decade ago. In the past few years, she’s opened her very own tattoo shop in Beverly Hills, California, become a mother of two young tots, and got engaged to Jamie Collins of the News England Patriots.
When Jackson started as the only female tattoo artist at 9MAG in season one, she was extremely clear about wanting to be a business owner and trusting that it would one day happen. REVOLT caught up with Kat Tat to discuss life, becoming a boss, “Black Ink Crew” and what fans can expect next. Read the Financial Literacy Month exclusive below.
Congrats on being the first Black woman to have your own tattoo shop in Beverly Hills. Was that something you set out to do, or did it just happen that way?
Honestly, I started tattooing when I was attending college. And I had to make a really big decision to either stay in school, get my degree and take that path or take the tattoo path. So once I decided that I wanted to tattoo full time and left school to pursue that, having my own shop, and making it as big as it could possibly be was always on the radar for me. So once we got the TV show and that gave me a platform to move away from home to an even bigger city and do it even bigger, I just wanted to take full advantage of that opportunity.
How has the reception been in Beverly Hills? Were they welcoming?
It’s been great. It’s honestly been great. It took some time, though, just moving to California period and not being from there. I had a misconception that once I first moved there, I was gonna be on and popping immediately because we were on a national TV show. But it took me years just to let people know that I was out there and to get clientele in California to where I could even sustain myself enough to open a shop. So it wasn’t an overnight thing. It wasn’t like I just went from Chicago to Beverly Hills and had overnight success. It was definitely a marathon for sure. But now, I can say it’s definitely been worth it. And we get people from all over. It’s not just residents of Beverly Hills walking in the shop every day. Fans from all over are flying into town and making a whole vacation out of getting a tattoo. So it’s not snobby or anything like that.
After spending some time away from “Black Ink Crew: Chicago,” you’ve been involved with the Compton spinoff. How was diving back in?
Yes, so I left in 2017. And a little while after, they decided to do “Black Ink Crew: Compton,” and then things just fell the way that they did to where they were looking for something different. And then they kind of leaned on me to hop in the franchise. With all transparency, I said that they should have paid attention to [it] all along, but they felt like Chicago was such a big show. And me walking away from it — that’s not really how TV works, you know? They don’t reward you for quitting the show. So I just let everything kind of fall how it did. And then years later, they transitioned it. One of the artists from Compton came to work at my shop, and it kind of transitioned. We actually just finished filming 10 really great episodes that are gonna show the transition of “Black Ink Crew: Compton” and what it is now. So I’m just happy to be a part of that shift.
When you were in the process of getting your shop together, what did the road to becoming a business owner require?
One of the main things that was important to me during filming was I want all my TV money at once. I wanted that at the end. So it didn’t distract me from what my everyday job was. And that was tattooing. I didn’t want to slow down working and get caught up in the five minutes that is reality TV. So once I had enough saved up, I did enough research, and knew that I had enough for the down payment and the initial opening costs, but from there, like the grind and stuff, I had to literally tattoo every single day just for every piece of furniture in my shop in the beginning. I couldn’t even afford the lounge room furniture; I had to rent furniture for my grand opening just to have it. And then I just kept grinding and piece by piece it came along.
So I would say, if you have enough, don’t let the thought of opening a brick-and-mortar business scare you. People probably think that it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or all kinds of money — you can literally start from nothing and just work your way up. It doesn’t have to be top of the line on the inside in the beginning. You can get there. So for me, it was definitely a slow pace. Like okay, boom, I got enough for the down payment. I got enough for the first couple months rent. I got enough for a couple of tattoo stations in here. Boom, that’s all I need. In the beginning, people were walking into an empty shop, just a couple of booths, and a few artists. And now, five years later, it is beautiful. And I can sit back and reflect on the hard work that I put in to get me there.
Sometimes people will think, “They’re on TV, so they got it like that,” but don’t realize that hard work goes into it.
Absolutely. Yeah, it was definitely a big eye-opener for me. It was like starting from the bottom all over again. Once I quit TV and moved to California, you would have thought I was never on a TV show. It was literally starting from the bottom and working my way up.
Well, you’re doing amazing! How do you manage it all with two young kids?
It’s definitely just managing the work and mom life. When I had my firstborn, Jackson, I tried to jump right back into it, like, a balanced thing. And then four months later, I was pregnant again. And that’s when I said, “Okay, look, I really need to slow down and focus on what God is blessing me with right now.” If you asked me that question a year ago, I would be like, “Oh, it’s so easy. Like, I just do this, I do that. Balance that,” but now, I’m really trying to be in both places. I feel like as a woman in this industry, especially in the tattoo industry, I was just myself, independent and single for so long to where my whole mindset was just business, business, business — like, make your stuff as big as it could be.
But now, mentally, I can honestly say, I’m here with my kids. My babies are both under two. And I struggle to have the same ambition when it comes to my shop. Right now, my brain is with my kids. So it’s an everyday journey to write down stuff, like now you got to do this for your business, or you got to work on this for the shop or order this. It takes a lot more effort to try to be in both places at once, but I can say I’m balancing, and I’m managing pretty well.
You’ve also got your fiancé. Does that mean wedding planning?
Yeah, definitely. We’re gonna have a wedding soon. We see ourselves as spontaneous. Kind of like spur of the moment. I don’t know if we’re gonna have a big wedding or go down to the courthouse. But that’s definitely coming soon. I’m just not putting too much on my plate — like the stress of planning a wedding, filming, being in multiple locations. I’m just taking everything day by day.
Congrats on the fiancé, the babies and the business. How does it feel to have it all now? Especially since you’ve dealt with domestic abuse in the past.
It feels great. I thank God every single night for my blessings, and I really just try to be present in the situation that I’m in. Having a wonderful fiancé, having beautiful babies. It’s just that transition from when you are alone. This is the first time I’ve ever even lived with a man. So this is, I would honestly say, my first real relationship. It’s definitely a transition. I have to allow myself this type of love; that didn’t just happen overnight. I was very set in my “I don’t need a man” ways, and over the years, he and I have had such a good relationship, and we understand each other. He’s where he is in his career. And I’m where I’m at in my career. And I feel like we got together at a time when we both understand each other and understand what this industry is like. So it’s good. I’m just very, very blessed. And every day is a learning experience for sure. It takes a lot of work.
That’s beautiful. With your tattoo shop, how do you vet your employees?
So with my shop, I feel like 10 years ago, or really 13 years ago, when I first started tattooing, so many people had such negative things to say about this industry — like, it’s not a real career. It’s just a hustle. Or you see tattoo shops, and they’re all just kind of little holes in the walls. And I always wanted mine to be elite. Black eliteness. Black tattoo artists weren’t really respected in this industry. People thought we were just scratchers. And that’s because it was so hard for us to get apprenticeships in professional shops. So for me, once I got the opportunity and the platform, and people started discovering me, it’s always been my vision to have the top of the top. I’d become obsessed with other amazing Black tattooers who have really put in the legwork and were just killing the game.
So when I opened my shop, I literally had a dream team of artists that I wanted to be a part of it. So as nervous as I was, I just wrote them an email inviting them to lunch, asked them to hear out my vision and asked if they would come along on this journey with me. And I was shocked that they were down. I felt like it was an honor for them to want to work with me. So it was a dream. I didn’t post “Now hiring” and even really pay attention to the masses. For me, it was like scoping out the starting team. I look for the top of the top. Enigma isn’t filled with, like, 25 artists that are gonna take on the tiniest of little walk-ons. I really look for people who are on top of their craft. We got Kevin Laroy, Bookie — every artist in there, I admire their work so much. And I look for people that I can learn from. So I guess that’s part of my vetting process.
You recently posted about a Paramount deal. Is that separate from “Black Ink Crew” or is that under the same umbrella?
It’s under the same umbrella. With me coming back to the network, it was them kind of recognizing my hard work and my perspective as a female business owner, and finally giving me a seat at the table. So it wasn’t just me coming back as a talent. It was putting me in the driver’s seat, letting me make more decisions, hearing more of my vision and really respecting what I’ve created. So it’s a great partnership and a great deal. That was just another blessing that came along.
Awesome. We’ll let you get back to your empire. Anything else before we go?
These last 10 episodes of “Black Ink” really give you a deeper look into Enigma, into my life, my family, my fiancé, and everything that we have going on. So that’s going to be airing very, very soon. I can’t give the exact date, but it’s coming out very soon. And this June, we’ll be celebrating the five-year anniversary of Enigma Tattoo. We do a big celebration every year, but this is going to be a big one because it’s a big milestone for us.