Rising Stars: Meet Kayola King of Raleigh

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayola King

Hi Kayola, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Art has always peaked my interest. It was something I was just natural good at. As long as I could remember I was pretty good at drawing. I would draw on paper , shoes, clothing…anything I could get my hands on lol. Never in a million years did I think to draw on skin , let alone did I think it would take me this far. At the age of 17 I got my first tattoo. At the moment I didn’t think this was a career path at all, the only thing I thought was “oh this is cool, I feel cool with this fresh tattoo on my arm” lol. It wasn’t until a few years later when I thought I’d try my hand at it. A friend of mine knew I guy that was tattooing out of his home (which is totally illegal) and we decided to get some tattoos from him. I drew some things for us to get done and my friend went first. I seen how he’s was coming out and decided to not get mine done. He’s was terrible lol, it looked nothing like what I drew. What I did do was observe what the artist was doing and what he was using, which was a home made machine. I asked questions about what he was using and he totally spilled the beans. Me being the crafty guy I am I took it upon myself to try to recreate what he was using. I went to the store and bought everything I seen he had and I begin crafting this “machine”. The first machine attempt didn’t even power on lol. The second one powered on but was moving how he’s machine was. It took me tinkering around until I made my 5th machine which worked like the guy. I was nervous to try it on anyone else so I began tattooing myself. I quickly learned that I was using the wrong type of ink. When the tattoo healed it was almost completely gone lol. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about what ink to use , what needle to use , all I knew was dip the needle and draw. So I began researching and learning more , but then people started to hear about me doing tattoos through mutual friends and they started contacting me to do there’s. By now I finally figured out the basics but I was awful lol. I thought I was doing something special back then. It wasn’t until I had a guy trade me a real tattoo machine and set up for a set of car speakers is when I started to understand how this truly worked. By now I had a buzz around the city and I started doing house calls (please do this, totally illegal) . I later on had a mentor who seen my potential and introduced me to a shop owner. I was super nervous. I didn’t know anything about being in a real shop. The owner gave me a shot and helped me get licensed as real tattoo artist. I stayed with him for a year until he decided to close down which lead me to want to open my own shop. I partnered with a friend to open my first shop and that went well for a couple years until we fell out. I left and partnered with another artist to open the first Tatu Therapy and that lasted for about a year until him and eye ended up not seeing eye to eye so he left. I was on my own and was super nervous about having to carry this on my own. I used social media to find new artist to join Tatu Therapy and this started the “new me”. I was officially a boss/business owner. It took a lot of trial and error. A lot of research to figure out how to run a tattoo shop but I did. Fast forward to almost 10years later my shop is now located in Triangle Town Center. Never ever ever ever thought I would be able to say that. From making house calls , to opening shops in odd locations, to now being able to say I have a store front in a mall. It’s such a blessing. Every day I walk into work and just take it all in. Like wow this has been a long 17 years of tattooing and I’m here. I have a reputable brand, a strong team, a major vision.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No it hasn’t been a smooth road. Typically a new tattoo artist would find some to apprentice under. I never did that. I had to learn from all of my mistakes. I can truly say I’m self made.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in smooth Black & Grey and I also specialize in bold color work. I kind of an all around artist. I can do anything from clean lines to realistic portraits, to bright colors in cartoon/ new school.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
With this day and age a lot of small business owners rely a lot on social media and good reviews. It would mean a lot of new clients would give me a follow , a like , a share , or even a comment. Booking with me would definitely be an awesome way to support.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yoladavinci.setmore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yola.davinci