Attending the annual Association of Professional Piercers Conference in Las Vegas is a dream of most piercers. Every year we see the photos of packed classrooms, interesting presentations, stunning conference-exclusive jewelry, and of course all the parties, hangouts, and awesome networking and connecting that happens at conference. But for many, the cost of attending conference can be a major barrier to entry. To help with this, there are many different scholarships one can apply for to be able to attend. However, piercers as a group struggle with imposter syndrome, anxiety, and being our own worst enemy (just being honest). I wanted to sit down with a rising young piercer who managed to overcome the self-doubt, put themselves out there, win a scholarship, and have a career and life-changing experience at conference.
Yana was born and raised in New Jersey, their parents a mix of Afro-Caribbean heritage. “For me – growing up seeing piercings on TV shows, my mom got her eyebrow pierced…it was like woah! Just seeing random blurbs and bits of piercing I was like oh, this is fucking cool. I was in middle school and obsessed with piercings. So being able to get an apprenticeship and work full-time as a piercer is just the bee’s knees. It’s just me, I’m out here trying to do the thing and give more Black people the experience of having a Black piercer.”
With a year and some change under their belt, Yana pierces at Seven Souls Tattoo and Piercing at the Ramsey location. In the winter of 2024, they were selected as the recipient of the Black Piercer Party scholarship, and that summer attended their first APP Conference. The Black Piercer Party, founded in 2022, is one of many independent organizations running scholarships for the piercing community to help folks attend conference.
“My favorite part of conference was the classes. Just so much knowledge that I had no clue about. Like needles, learning the anatomy of needles and bevel theory. Even just talking to people around conference or the instructors. Making those connections felt like a good community to be around. Everything was awesome but my favorite part was the classes. I’ve already been bringing this knowledge into my studio. Another thing that was so impactful was actually a convo I had on the expo floor. It was about crowd control in your room, especially with kids. I’ve already changed how I work with children and families to focus on the kids, but keep the family in the loop. There were some times before conference I didn’t know how to redirect from a parent wanting to make the experience about themselves and not about the child. Now I feel like I do have to tools, and the clients I’ve seen since leave feeling happy and respected, and I think the experience is better for the child.”
Most folks who have attended conference can relate to this feeling. Learning something new in class or at the bar, bringing it home, and immediately seeing a difference in our practice as piercers. Some folks take home their first pieces of quality jewelry from conference and begin their transition. Others can offer a piercing they previously couldn’t, update their sterilization practices, or step up their social media game. And beyond that, the connections you make at conference often turn into real, deep friendships and impactful relationships with your peers. As Yana says “There’s been like a big follow game at conference after. All these new piercers I’ve met. And now there’s this community – people are messaging me happy birthday and making plans when they are in town. I didn’t expect to come out of this experience with so many new friends, but it’s like I have this whole community now. It’s been so awesome.”
It’s no stretch to say that conference does change the life of many people who attend, it certainly changed the entire course of my career. It’s also accurate to note that historically the APP has been a very white, cisgendered, able-bodied organization and had focused on folks who fit those demographics. Kookie, creator of the Black Piercer Party says “When I began piercing in 2010, I was enduring relentless Misogynoir trying to navigate and find my footing in the industry. As a young piercer, I was chasing the common career escalator of working in a reputable member studio and becoming an APP member myself. Since there weren't any Black women within the organization for me to look to for guidance and support, I eventually found myself creating the spaces and opportunities that I was searching for early on in my career.”
These days many of the official and unofficial scholarships are designed to uplift various groups who have been historically overlooked in the piercing industry to help make education and opportunity more accessible to more people. Yana speaks of her experience with the BPP scholarship saying “I have to say thank you to the Black Piercer Party scholarship, as that’s how I got into my first conference. The process was just amazing. There are so many ways I could describe it, there’s so much emotion when I talk about it. I still tear up just thinking about it. It’s one of those moments where I never thought I’d be able to go to conference, especially so young into body piercing. To get to attend, especially on a scholarship, especially to represent my community, everything about it was incredible and I feel so blessed to have been there.”
But when I spoke with Yana, something that stood out was how much effort it took for them to apply for the scholarship. Not that the application process was difficult (it’s actually very accessible) but how much internal work it took to overcome the little voice telling them that there was no point. She’d never get it.
“It was honestly hard applying for the scholarship. I was more talking myself out of it, trying to logic why I wouldn’t get it, and why there wasn’t any point. The applications started March 1st and I didn’t apply till March 31, like ten minutes before the deadline. Before I even applied for this scholarship, there were so many other scholarships open that I just let pass me by. I just told myself, ‘I wasn’t the right criteria, I wasn’t the right person to get it, I wasn’t good enough’. And then I saw the Black Piercer Party scholarship and I was like well….I am Black! Maybe I don’t know enough about piercing or am ‘good’ enough but Black…I got that! And looking back now that I received it, I’m grateful to Kookie, the founder of the scholarship. I’m filled with joy that I applied for this scholarship, even though there’s others out there. I feel like I found the one that’s made for me. And I’m so thankful there are a number of scholarships people can find a community to uplift them.
It’s honestly like texting someone and getting something off your chest that got me there. I just picked up my phone and filled it out and submitted it and had to put my phone down and walk away and say it is what it is.”
I think most of us can relate. I wrote a whole damn blog post about imposter syndrome because of how often I experience it. This incessant voice in my mind telling me I’m not good enough, I don’t deserve these opportunities, I’m a failure. It haunts us piercers, making us obsess over every slight angle to a piercing, every less-than-perfect transfer. And when it comes to something like a scholarship, it’s so easy to tell ourselves “Well I won’t get it anyway, so there's no point in applying.”
But…is that voice being honest?
“The worst thing that could happen – you don't get the scholarship and nothing has changed. You were already telling yourself you aren’t going to conference and this will never happen in my career right now. If you apply and you don’t get it, that’s already what you expected. But if you apply and you do receive it, then everything changes! And you get to have this breathtaking experience. There’s literally kind of no con, no negative in my mind. You are truly risking nothing when you get out there and you apply. If anything, you put your name and who you are in the minds of these people.
Now hindsight is 2020 and I can look back and say, ‘What was I so stressed about?’. Either nothing or something will be the result and it will be what it will be. I’m so glad I gave myself that opportunity because now it’s like I can do this, I can make this happen in my career. I never thought about it from the perspective of these people will see my name and my motivation, but even that can be career-changing.”
If you don’t get the scholarship, then nothing changes.
Read that again.
There is truly no risk in applying. The worst that happens is a no, and while that disappointment can be hard, it doesn’t mean it’s the end. Hell, one of the first people I was unable to accept for my Front of House scholarship became one of the people I sent the following year. But if you are already telling yourself you likely won’t make it to conference or you can’t afford it, nothing major has changed if you don’t get the scholarship. You have nothing to lose in applying. So put yourself out there! Take the leap! There are many different scholarship opportunities and I am certain there is one that is perfect for you if you can find the courage to apply.
I asked Yana about some of the technical sides of the scholarship such as financial support and the experience at conference as a Black attendee.
“Kookie is driven. She made it smooth and straightforward, how the hotel and tickets will work. And yes, both my conference pass and my hotel were covered, making it really easy for me to attend. It’s a great opportunity and I haven’t had a single negative feeling going into this process. Kookie was always accessible and answered all my questions. I’m so grateful for that, because I know if I had sign up by myself, book the hotel, and done everything on my own…I would have been so lost and overwhelmed. Having this group, support, and guidance made everything about conference easier. Now, I know how to navigate conference. And I have a community, I have peers who are there for me.
The Black Piercer Party scholarship created a space for me, an Afro-Caribbean piercer. I could talk to the other recipients and the board and have them as a community to lean on. Especially when you are new to conference and don’t know anything about anything, it gives you this support system. It feels like home. Coming to conference and having these other Black piercers I can ask questions about their practices and their methods. It felt fantastic to be around people who look like me and who get it. It was a barrier for me to even think I could be in the APP conference space – there weren’t many people who looked like me. I never saw many Black attendees throughout the years, and it’s been intimidating to try to be in these spaces. This scholarship told me that it doesn’t matter- I can be in these spaces, I can take up space, I belong here. And now there’s an influx of Black piercers attending and I love to see it.”
Creating a space for Black piercers, front of house, jewelry makers, and apprentices is exactly the goal of the Black Piercer Party. “The APP has historically been a white organization and for the majority of its existence has propped up and validated cis white men and their oftentimes appropriative western histories, above all others. It has often failed to address this exclusion, beyond optics. In recent years, the APP like most organizations has added DEI initiatives to their event roster, but we have yet to see the organization's culture reflect these contributions in real time. As a paying member, I expect a non-profit health and safety organization to address the health and safety of piercing, as well as its community and events. I expect a volunteer-led association of a subculture to be accountable for the container it creates, openly address harm within its structures, make education as accessible as possible, and focus on high-impact issues happening in real-time, rather than low-impact regulations that foster elitism. Dare I say, make piercing punk again? I find it interesting that anti-oppression has never been a priority for the board despite the industry being built on the backs of oppressed communities. We look to Indigenous populations for our "sacredness", Africa for our blood diamond curations, and have Gaza to thank for the gauze that we use in our autoclaves, every day. Fortunately, like most colonized countries, North America has a rich history of grassroots movements to look to for inspiration. My personal favorite are the combined efforts of the revolutionaries, leaders and thinkers of the Black Panther Party. When systems and institutions failed, they taught us to build our own means to meet the people's needs and look after one another. Solidarity is an act of community care and it's exactly what inspired BPP.”
When asked how the community can continue to uplift Black voices, and what other Black industry members might find helpful to hear, Yana had this to say-
“I’d encourage white piercers to donate to the Black Piercer party scholarship and POC scholarship and help encourage other piercers of color to attend. Be a resource to others, be that financial, knowledge, or outreach, be someone these piercers can lean on.
And to any Black piercers or apprentices or for anyone reading this – you got this. I know how scary it is to be a Black piercer when there are so many people who don’t like you, so much against you in this industry. You want to do the best that you can – so apply to these scholarships. Give yourself the best fucking chance you can. Whether people in your life are supportive or not, you have a dream – go for it. And these scholarships are helping people do it. And why can’t it be you, why can’t you have this joy and this dream in your life? So if you are thinking about applying, do it. If you are too scared to do it, reach out to me and the other recipients and let us support you. There are so many of us out here rooting for you and cheering for you. You got this!
My biggest thing is to take advantage of this phenomenal opportunity. Apply for a scholarship. If you get it you’ll find yourself in Vegas sweating your balls off but also somehow having the best week of your life. You’ve got to take advantage of it, put yourself out there, and get there. You can ask questions, talk to people around you, network. I created a community all week, I approached people with love and got love back, and it’s changed my life. It can change yours too. “
The BPP wants readers to know “Blackness isn't a monolith and BPP represents the global African diaspora, across borders and language. If you're racially or phenotypically Black, this opportunity is for you and you're absolutely eligible! If you've applied before, didn't get it and still need assistance, apply again! The application window will be longer than it was in previous years, so don’t procrastinate, especially if you’re coming into the states on a VISA.
If this opportunity isn't applicable to you, please share it so others can find it! Consider donating if you have the means, especially if you profit from or own a sizable portion of the industry (i.e international jewelry manufacturers, gold only studios, chain studios, etc.) Donations will open December 2024. Applications will open January 2025. Keep up with specifics at https://www.blackpiercerparty.com/app-scholarship