Meet Sierra Moreno | but everyone just calls me Zombi, Tattoo Artist/Body Percier/Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sierra Moreno and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sierra, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Well, a lot of us that become tattoo artists tend to be one of 2 ways you either like traveling and going from shop to shop or being stationary and finding a place to call your home shop. After almost 15 years of being a tattoo artist I was tired of paying other people for me to be able to work. A lot of tattoo shops get a bad rap because people walk in and feel unwelcome, they feel like were untouchable or they put artist up on this pedestal just because were talented people doing what we love. I wanted to create a place that I would want to go to get tattooed, somewhere i would go to get pierced, somewhere I felt safe. I wanted to create something beautiful that people felt welcome in where they can be themselves and comfortable because these people are trusting us with their bodies. A space for everyone no matter your creed, color or sexual or personal preferences. So that’s what I did.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
my story wasn’t always fun, it was never easy, but it was worth it I feel like. I like a lot of 90s kids grew up when times were different, things were different, making a living was different. I didn’t have a good childhood to say the least, my siblings and I were split up from my mom when I was 4 and didn’t get back to her permanently till I was 13 but I was alone. The trauma I had suffered in place that I was had hurt me to the point of wanting to self-harm but not just harm I wanted to end my life. The home I came from was a very Strick Christian home, being different wasn’t allowed. When I was 13 and moved back to Colorado and to Denver for the first time seeing a big city it was all new and scary and I had no clue about anything or anyone including myself. My mom wasn’t a bad parent, she was a baby having babies and just wasn’t equipped making less than 5 dollars an hr. and trying to take care of 3 babies alone. She was a nurse at this point and worked a lot so I was alone a lot, One day I went to my school library and found one of those how to draw insect books and brought it home, I was drawing an ant on a napkin when she came home and made it seem like it was the most amazing thing in the world, she grabbed me and took me to the office depot that use to be on Colfax across from Tom’s dinner and blew it up to the size of our fridge, lol from that moment on she supported my art in all its forms because it was the first time I was able to express myself. when I painted or drew, I was able to get the feelings I couldn’t speak out of me that were killing me on to paper. Art saved my life. I knew then that I wanted to help people, I just didn’t know how, fast forward to being 20 a lot had happened, more struggles more hard times I was living in a hotel with my older sister trying to figure out a way to pay rent and having nothing to my name except a duffel bag full of cloths and the few drawing books and a few boxes in the trunk of her car to show for it. We were driving down alameda and saw a man holding a sign that said $10 basic piercings and I convinced her to stop at the shop and while there I was talking with the owner and he agreed to do a tattoo for me for a cheap price and I convince her to pay for it and while I was getting tattooed he was talking to me about how he was looking for another apprentice and convinced him to give me a shot, it was a long 2 and half years, blood sweat tears and quarter sized chuck of flesh from my hands literally but during my apprenticeship something happened that changed my life. This was before iPad and printers could do what they could for our industry, so I hand drew a lot of stuff for my mentor and hand stenciled it. One day this woman came in and had wanted this drawing done, she didn’t tell us what it was for or anything behind it just that it was extremely important, and it has to be done on this specific day and that’s when she had scheduled her appointment to get it done by my mentor. So, I drew it up and got it okayed and when the client came in he had me take her back in the booth and put the stencil on her shoulder and so I did, she turned and looked in the mirror and immediately busted into tears. Back then apprenticeships were much harder, it was hazing to make sure you were worth being taught this trade that can literally change your life. So being alone with a crying client before anything is even set up as an apprentice i was like oh f#^& I’m in trouble and was trying to console the client being like if you don’t like the design, we can change it and went to go wipe it off and she matrixed under my hand and was yelled NO! don’t take it off, so of course I was like we if it’s not the design then why are you crying? She proceeded to tell me that 11 years prior to the day of her appointment that her baby sister had been murdered, and she was so broken hearted about it that she couldn’t even bring herself to go to her funeral because she couldn’t accept that it was real and getting this tattoo was the last step she was taking in accepting it and healing. of course, by the time she was done telling me I was in tears too and I thought then I understood what we were doing and that I knew then this is what I wanted to do with my life, but I was wrong. Shortly after that one of my god siblings, my older sister died, and it was devastating to me because she had been one of the first few of my god siblings and siblings to come and support my dream and get tattooed by me even though I was still an apprentice. So one of the few times that my mentor was a genuinely good guy he had me come in extra early after her funeral and set up to tattoo the same exact tattoo that i did for her on her hand one my own, people ask me all the time if getting yours tattooed hurts and I can honestly tell them I don’t know because as soon as the needle hit my skin I was a million miles away, I wasn’t sitting there in that chair i was with her, listening to her play her cello, or listening to music and hanging out the memories of us as teens living our lives like they would never end flooded me and I was bawling my eyes out not because of the paint of the needle but that the needle made it real that my sister was never coming back that all i had was the memories and this tattoo to represent how magnificent of a human she was. I had made the full circle of what we were doing, and I knew then for sure that this is what I wanted to do, what he was doing for me for people, I wanted to help people heal, I want to help people love themselves and see themselves how they do on the inside on the outside. I wanted people like me who suffered in the way I did that we didn’t have to become a statistic. That we could live and love and be loved even though “were damaged”. So, I worked my butt off for years and years to get the reputation and put in the work to get the clientele that I have and was given an opportunity to make it a reality and I did. Now 15 years later I am one of the few Native American Woman owned tattoo shops in all of Denver.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d take them to Redrock’s for a concert for sure, Meow Wolf, The Church, Temple, Charlie’s lol also to look out to see the valley and some of the amazing cemetery’s we have like Fairmount. Theres so many amazing food places here it’s hard to pick, Chili shack cause green chili is a must and pho for sure and the taco trucks are amazing!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
To my best friend Kateri, thank you for always having my back, for never letting me doubt myself, for always supporting my dreams and pushing me to fight for what I want in life.

Website: https://zombieinktattoo.wixsite.com/zombie-ink-tattoo

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