about The artists
Karina Michele started her tattoo journey in 2016 but she’s been an artist her whole life. She attended Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion University receiving a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2014. Her unique skill quickly became her obsession with realism and attention to detail. Shortly after starting her areola tattoo services she started to see a bigger issue with the system. Many doctors and nurses were providing the service with no tattoo training or artistic ability to create a 3D nipple resulting in a poorly done tattoo adding to the trauma these women have already endured. The other option was going to an artist who charges a hefty fee after already haven gone through costly surgeries and medical care. There was no option for women to have their insurance cover an actual artists work. This is why Karina had the idea of starting a non-profit for these women to receive beautiful areola tattoos done by an artist without having to front a large expense. While starting a non-profit is a long process, in the meantime she has just been providing the service for free, swallowing the costs on her own. This selfless act is what got the attention of the filmmaker…
Cetre Pegues is an award winning filmmaker with a passion for using the heart throbbing medium of film to change the world. His success in story telling has brought him Emmy nominations, numerous awards for directing, and lead to producing and directing documentaries for the City of Virginia Beach. After being inspired to create a documentary highlighting individuals scars and the stories behind them, he found Karina. Once discovering what Karina was doing for her community he knew this was a story that needed to be told. His goal for the documentary aligns with the higher purpose of starting a non-profit for this service while creating an artistically unique film to help promote the foundation and bring awareness.
