Valerie is one of the newest members of the team here at Into The Woods Tattoo.

She is a veteran of the United States Army and served as a combat medic and firefighter from 1999-2002.  After her time in the service Valerie found  her sense of individuality and a creative outlet in the tattoo industry.  Like most children growing up , Valerie did her share of arts and crafts.  It wasn’t until her introduction to the tattoo industry that she was able to hone her creative and technical skills as a professional artist.

Valerie had a traditional apprenticship in tattooing, learning  the old school techniques and tradition.  Learning the craft at the time she did left her with fond memories and appreciation.  Witnessing the rapid growth within this industry, Valerie has made efforts to stay current on new techniques and artistry.  Her passion for the craft continues to grows with time.  Early on in her career she was able to combine leadership skills and attention to detail  learned in the military  with her creative mindset and passion for the industry.  This led her to successfully own and operate her own tattoo studio in her hometown of Rhode Island from 2008-2015.

As rewarding as it was for Valerie to understand the business side of things, she decided she was ready to push her career  further and enrolled in college at The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).  Valerie feels it was one of the best decisions she made for herself.  The skills she learned in school have directly helped her within the tattoo community and as an artist.  She graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Printmaking.  After school Valerie was ready for pina coldas and digging her toes  in the sand at the beach and made her way to the Sunshine state.  Lucky for her there was an amazing tattooer that she looked up to named  Frank LaNatra.  He was looking to add a new artist to the crew, so she jumped on the opportunity and never looked back.

Since being here at Into The Woods, Valerie has focused on learning as much as possible from the incredible artist that work here.  She has been able to expand her knowledge of the art form and fine tune her technical skills, while leaning new approaches to design and execution.  Valerie prefers to work In a variety of styles, some of her favorites include realism, ornamental, and minimalist designs.  Valerie holds each client in high esteem and approaches every tattoo with the respect and creativity it deserves.  The customer experience to her is as important as the artwork.  She believes working as a team between artist and client creates a rewarding experience and lifelong piece of art that both can be proud of.