Sabrina

Sabrina grew up in what she calls the “cold, dark” Midwest. But she’s always fought to fill her life with color. 

“I went to community college thinking I was going to become a dietitian because I thought I needed a ‘real job,’ and that seemed like a tolerable thing to me. I very quickly realized that I was going to be so miserable doing that. And then pottery came along. I fell in love.”

She moved from Illinois to Fort Collins a few years ago to work with her favorite artist. Six months later, the artist’s studio closed. 

Still, Sabrina doesn’t regret the move. Colorado’s her home, her safe place. She feels alive here in a community that grants people “permission to enjoy life.” 

“[Moving here] taught me to live my life more accordingly with what I actually want.”

Plus, losing her job led her to chase another long-held dream.

“I always thought tattooing would be a good fit for me—at probably 12 or 13 years old, it first occurred to me. But it always seemed too good to be true. It seemed like such a cool job and such an incredible opportunity, I never really believed that it was meant for me. . . . But, you know, I was always collecting tattoos, so I was never too far from it. And it just made sense. Like, ‘Well, I’ve made it farther than I ever dreamed I could. I might as well try the one thing that never seemed possible, because maybe it will be.’”

Now, Sabrina tattoos at Solana Tattoo Company. Her favorite tattoo rests on her upper right bicep: a woman’s hand holding an open envelope. Inside is a slip of paper that reads “you’ll be fine.”

“I got that after I got fired from the United States Postal Service. I worked for them for, like, three months when I was younger—again, thinking that I needed to get a ‘real job.’ And it was very, very hard work. But the guy who was training me—he’d been delivering mail for decades—and I’d be freaking out about something, and he’d be like, ‘You’ll be fine.’ And I’d go get in the mail truck and cry my eyes out the whole day. But I was always fine.”

“I [used to feel] like there was a huge difference between me and the people I saw doing the things that I wanted to do. I was like, ‘They got some secret hint from the universe, or there’s something that they have that led them here.’ And then I was like, ‘They literally just believed in themselves and found the opportunity.’ So once I realized it was as simple as that, it all worked out.”

Solana Tattoo Company

1119 W Elizabeth St, Fort Collins, CO 80521