Today we’d like to introduce you to Noelle Mosby.
Hi Noelle, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always known I was meant to build something of my own. I just didn’t know what it was yet.
At 20 years old, I was attending university and quietly realizing I wasn’t happy. When the world shut down, I made the decision to come home. I worked shifts at a coffee shop and took college classes online. From the outside, I was doing everything I was supposed to do. But when everything slowed down and there were no more distractions, I had to face what I had been avoiding. I was chasing a life that wasn’t truly mine.
My mental health was struggling, and I was putting enormous pressure on myself to “figure out my passion.” I was constantly asking myself what kind of life would actually make me excited to wake up in the morning. I’ve always been independent, so the idea of building something of my own kept tugging at me, but I didn’t know what that could realistically look like.
I was working with a therapist at the time, and I remember saying out loud in a therapy session, almost joking, “I’ve always wanted to learn how to tattoo, but that’s not realistic.” Even admitting it felt vulnerable. My therapist told me about a small boutique tattoo shop that had just opened near my house. I sent a message, not expecting much, and then I waited. Six months later, I opened an email offering me an apprenticeship. I can still feel that moment. It felt like the first time I chose myself.
The apprenticeship was not glamorous. It was sweeping floors, scrubbing stations, answering phones, setting up other artists’ equipment, and proving day after day that I was serious. I spent about a year doing everything except tattooing and not making any money. I was investing time into something that had no guarantee. I drove home exhausted, questioning myself more than once. But underneath the doubt, there was something steady. A quiet knowing that this was mine.
The first time I tattooed real skin, I was dripping sweat out of nerves. And then one day a first time a client came back to me for a second piece, I sat in my car afterward in disbelief. Someone trusted me again. That was the moment it shifted from dream to reality.
Tattooing gave me more than a career. It gave me my first apartment. It gave me financial independence. It gave me creative confidence. It gave me a community of people who trusted me with their stories and their bodies. I specialize in black and gray fine line work and I work with many first-time clients. I’ve always been told my linework is strong, but what means the most to me is when someone says they felt safe and fully informed throughout the experience.
Two years into my first shop, I felt that familiar sensation of misalignment creeping back in. Creative burnout and a negative work environment has a way of dulling even what you once loved. The environment no longer felt expansive. It felt heavy. So I made another leap and moved to Black Clover Tattoo Collective in Kernersville. That decision felt like breathing fresh air. I began booking my own clients, building my own schedule, shaping my work around the kind of art I wanted to create. I was surrounded by artists who genuinely supported one another. It felt collaborative rather than competitive
Around that same time, I started practicing yoga more seriously. What began as a way to manage stress slowly turned into something much deeper. I was doing a lot of inner work, trying to clear out old patterns and create a healthier headspace. I went on my first retreat alone, surrounded by nature, movement, ancient practices, and true presence that invited me to look inward. Something softened in me there. Something opened. I felt connected in a way I hadn’t before, not just to other people but to myself.
I came home with a different awareness. I felt a renewed sense of connection; to people, to nature, to purpose. I realized how short life is, and how easy it is to drift through it on autopilot. That retreat sparked a deeper curiosity about healing, about how lifestyle, environment, and mindset shape our well-being.
That curiosity led me to Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a 5,000 year old system of holistic medicine that teaches that each of us has a unique constitution and that balance comes from aligning our daily habits, food, digestion, sleep, and environment with who we naturally are. Instead of suppressing symptoms, it looks for the root cause of imbalance and works gently with the body through herbs, breathwork, routine, and intentional living.
At 24, I made the bold decision to put tattooing on seasonal pause and moved to Asheville to study Ayurveda full-time at The Ayurvedic Institute. I’m currently immersed in a rigorous program, learning how digestion, nervous system regulation, and daily rhythms influence long-term health. As well as the subtle ways our bodies communicate imbalance long before disease sets in. During school breaks, I return to tattooing at my home studio in Kernersville, and I hope to begin tattooing part-time in Asheville soon.
Tattooing and Ayurveda may seem like two separate worlds, but to me they are deeply connected. Both are about intention. Both are about transformation. Both ask someone to sit in discomfort for the sake of something meaningful. My vision is to one day create a space where art and healing coexist. Where getting tattooed feels ritualistic and grounded. Where people leave not only with something beautiful on their skin but with a deeper awareness of how to care for the body they live in.
If there is one pattern in my life, it is this. Every major shift in my life has come from being honest with myself about what isn’t aligned and having the courage to choose differently. Even when it is uncomfortable. Even when it means starting over. I am more afraid of looking back one day when I am older and realizing I played it safe and ignored my dreams than I am of taking the risk to follow them.
For anyone reading this who feels stuck: be honest about whether your current life actually excites you. Passion doesn’t always arrive fully formed and the quiet desire you keep dismissing might be the doorway.
We get one life. Choose courage over comfort and trust that the path will reveal itself when you are willing to take the first step.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Leaving college without a clear safety net was scary. I stepped into an apprenticeship where I worked for over a year without pay, cleaning and answering phones just for the chance to tattoo. Watching friends move forward in traditional careers while I was starting from scratch tested my confidence more than I expected.
The tattoo industry can be mentally demanding. You are constantly proving yourself, absorbing critique, and learning to separate feedback about your work from your worth as a person. Also, turning art into income changes your relationship with it, and I had to learn how to protect my passion while still making a living.
Moving shops and later moving to Asheville to study Ayurveda were both leaps into uncertainty. Each time meant choosing growth over comfort.
It hasn’t been easy, but every challenge has pushed me closer to alignment.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a black and gray fine line tattoo artist based in Kernersville. I specialize in delicate florals and smaller, detail focused pieces. I’m drawn to work that feels subtle and intentional, something that can be both personal and timeless.
I’m known for clean linework and for creating a calm, comfortable experience in the studio. I try to move slowly, communicate clearly, and make sure people feel at ease throughout the process.
What I’m most proud of is the trust my clients place in me and the fact that many choose to come back. That kind of trust means everything.
What sets me apart is the intention behind my work. I see tattooing as more than decoration. It’s an intimate process of trust and a special moment for the client as they are choosing to mark there body with something of meaning. It’s important that I understand how much trust goes into this and how no matter the walk of life or meaning behind the peace, this will be something they look at for life.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I don’t live in Raleigh, but I really admire the creative energy there. It seems like a city that supports artists and makers and gives people space to build their own thing.
As for the downside, I haven’t spent enough time there to really say, but like any growing city, I imagine it can get a little crowded or hectic at times.
Pricing:
- Tattoos are priced per piece depending on size and detail.
- Current tattoo minimum : $100
- Ayurvedic Consultations coming soon
- Sound Healing offerings coming soon
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/berryblue.tattoo?igsh=ZHEzMXR4Y3g2aDF3&utm_source=qr
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/mindbodymo?igsh=MWNmbXg0bjVjYWc0aQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
