More Than Survival: The Unexpected Power of Restorative Tattoos

Welcome to the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We're your hosts, Erika Radis and Marie Lifschultz, a realtor and lender here in San Antonio. But most importantly, we're working moms just like you.

This podcast is all about creating a space where we can come together, share stories, and learn from each other. We love connecting with local moms in business Hearing about their journeys and how they're balancing it all, because let's be honest, it's not always easy, but it's so worth it.

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Now on to today's episode. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's get started.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. I am here today, um, joined by two amazing local women, Courtney Delgado and Crystal Yang, co-founders of Perky, a restorative tattoo studio here in San Antonio. Um, they left their nursing, uh, to create a business that helps breast cancer survivors feel whole again through 3D nipple tattoos and scar camouflage. Um, and now I'm gonna turn it over to them to sort of share about their journey and kind of how they got here.

Yeah.

Well, thanks Erika for having us.

Yes, thank you.

Um, so a lot of our clients know, but Courtney and I started in nursing school together. So we graduated in 2012, but we went here to UTSCA, the UT Health Science Center of San Antonio nursing school. And I guess we had clinicals together and we just resonated with each other, I suppose.

Yeah, Krystal was my only friend in nursing school.

Aww.

Yeah, we did kind of reflect on that. We were like, who did we hang out with? But yes, then we went our own ways after graduation. I immediately went into a doctor's office, like a clinical nurse with breast reconstruction. My mom had had breast cancer. She was a patient there. So that really stuck with me in choosing what I wanted to do with my nursing career. Courtney went into the hospital for a few years and then I think she was over it.

Definitely burned out.

Mm-hmm.

So then, um, she was able to be, uh, hired where I worked. So then we ended up working together.

Oh.

And then around the time of COVID COVID hit and there was definitely a shift in my mentality, lo and behold, and hers as well. And we decided to start something on our own.

Yeah.

And help the community in our own way. And that's how Perky came to be. It was a conversation with my husband and my parents in my kitchen with me wanting to change career paths and change how I help the community with utilizing my nursing degree. And I knew that I wanted to ask Courtney to come along with. So that was the, you know, the initial stages of Perky.

Yeah.

And Krystal, did you mention your family history of breast cancer?

Yeah, so my mom had breast cancer. So did my, well, to start, my grandmother did in her 70s.

Yeah.

Years ago. And you know, she was in her 70s, so she did chemo, radiation, mastectomy. I highly doubt she was offered breast reconstruction. So it was kind of there. And when I look back at her diagnosis, it's like she was still like cooking my grandfather like meals while getting chemo radiation.

Yeah.

You know, that's just like that era. Um, and then my mom was diagnosed right before her 45th birthday. And then while I was working, um, as a nurse with breast reconstruction, I had two, uh, I think like two aunts were diagnosed and a sister-in-law. Oh my gosh.

Wow.

So a lot of women in my personal life have been affected. So it's really humbling. Um, it was so great to be able to be a nurse, to be able to help them, like give them showers and stuff. Um, remove their drains or be, you know, a 9:30 PM phone call. Like, is this okay? Is this normal? So that was really great. Um, but then it's also so great to be able to be at Perky, to know that we founded this safe space created for breast cancer survivors and help women every day.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. You guys really, your story is so like touching and oh, I just love that. I too, my, my grandmother later on in life was diagnosed with, um, breast cancer and she, it was just on one side. Um, and she had the mastectomy, but, um, she wasn't offered any, you know, she was 85 or something like that.

Yeah.

Um, but it's interesting and I always thought, um, I always think about her because it really did affect, um, how she felt about herself even at that later age. You know, um, at that point my grandfather had passed away and, you know, and I, she was happy to just be alive, you know, and that they could take care of it. But it having that and not looking the way she had looked her whole life, I feel like really did emotionally affect her even at 85. Right.

Sure.

I think that's what Coming out of the hospital, I had like a revolving door of patients. It was, you know, you had your patients for that shift and the next day they were different. But working in the reconstructive clinic, we got to meet these women at diagnosis and often be with them throughout their entire breast cancer journey. That really showed us a lot of like the woman behind the diagnosis and all, everything they go through, all of the things that tie into survivorship. So sort of why we focused and, and half the services we do at Perky.

Yeah, amazing. Um, and so what does it look like when these women come to see you? What does it look like initially? Like, there must be some sort of a consultation that you do, and you must talk about your services and all of that. How does that go?

Well, thankfully, a lot of, uh, local surgeons, oncologists, you know, general surgeons, reconstructive surgeons, they've hopped on the Perky train.

That's great.

We hear so many women say, yeah, during my last visit with my doctor, they pulled up your social media.

Wow.

And were showing me, you know, what to look forward to and like, go to Perky, go consult with Perky. So we are like, that's amazing. So then that makes us ensure that we're putting, you know, good content on our social media.

Yes.

For these doctors to be doing that. Um, but basically they come in, we offer complimentary consultations, we go over their history, um, and what, what, what Perky can offer them.

Yeah.

Uh, when we were planning Perky, you know, we offer restorative tattooing. So we were like, what can our tattoo pen do? How can we help a survivor through tattooing?

Yeah.

You know, the initial, so, you know, when it comes to eyebrows, scar camouflage, uh, nipple reconstruction, Those are all aspects of where a survivor could have been affected. So we are really excited that our tattooing can help provide some sort of closure in, in that regard.

And most of our ladies, this is their first tattoo. They don't know what to expect. So the consultation's great. We get to kind of calm them down, chat through the process, and make sure they're physically ready for the actual services.

I see. Okay. Well, that makes sense. Yeah. Coming from a nursing background, Um, those, you obviously have some skills, but like, I feel like probably art and tattooing and that kind of thing, that those things don't necessarily go hand in hand. And so what does it look like for you guys to kind of get to this point? Like, what is the training like for something like this? And like, do you feel like you're very artistic and that kind of thing, you know, in order to be like tattooing and these like hyper-realistic things?

Yeah. I'm so glad you brought that up because. So many reconstructive clinics, they just force whatever nurse they choose, or maybe all of them, to do it.

Yeah.

And that doesn't mean that they're going to be good at it.

Yeah, sure. I mean, it's art in the end, really.

Yeah.

And most of them don't want to be doing it.

They don't enjoy it. And you want to enjoy what you do or you're probably not going to be good at it. So acknowledging, yeah, you can have, you know, a nursing background, you can be a great nurse. Maybe you're a nurse who has some artistry.

Sure.

If you do, then awesome, you know?

Yeah.

I think for both of us, we did, and we also had an appreciation for the service. We also understand what it means to the survivor. So we really put our 100%.

Yeah.

But yeah, on the flip side, there's a lot of people out there that perhaps are forced to do it as part of their job. Role and they're not good at it and it shows.

Yeah.

I can't imagine. Um, my background is in art. I have a degree from UTSA.

Amazing.

Thanks.

Um, and so it's graphic design. So like if I mess up, I can just like erase it and like no one is the wiser versus you guys.

That is why this place is so cute.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And so, I mean, I can't imagine being for— like, art is hard. I mean, it's hard. And so I can't imagine being forced into something like that where you're like, permanently tattooing somebody's body. And like you said, maybe it's not your forte, or maybe you're not into it that day, and maybe it shows in the work, and that's just rough.

Well, and when we started, we were doing a really old technique that was not, um, it was sort of passed down from nurse to nurse. Um, again, these nurses not really loving it and passing it down. So initially I really disliked doing the tattooing, but when we sought additional training and I actually learned the artistry behind it then I absolutely fell in love with it and now I couldn't imagine doing something else.

Yeah. Oh, that's great.

And then you feel like you have more autonomy and like opportunity to try new things. You know, at Perky, I feel we're always changing up our technique or like, man, we wonder if this would be better or let's try it, you know, or yeah, hey, let's utilize these different resources. So it's so awesome that we have that autonomy to do so and to grow and expand the craft. Versus feeling limited and like you only have this to use and you can only use this ink line. And yeah, you're like, oh shit, if I try, if I try something new, like, yeah, am I going to get in trouble?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and having the humility to realize, like, my tattoos from 4 years ago aren't as good as my tattoos now because we grow totally. And with each lady we tattoo, learn new things. Yeah.

And everybody's— I mean, everybody's skin is different. There's one of my best friends, like I mentioned before we were here, Um, she does eyebrow tattoos, mm-hmm, permanent makeup. Um, and she's always telling me like, this lady came in and her skin just like wasn't taking the ink or it, you know, mm-hmm, it, it didn't react how I thought it was maybe gonna react. Or, um, or how maybe that patient had hoped it was gonna react.

Mm-hmm.

She maybe knew what was going to happen and gave some advice and, you know, you gotta listen to your patient and stuff too. And so, um, everybody's skin is so different that you may have a great technique, but maybe it doesn't turn out., you know, how it might have on the person before.

Totally. Every case is different. That's one thing. It's great that we have our nursing background in that we understand the canvas that we're tattooing, their scar patterns, what's underneath the skin. Because these women, they've had, you know, when referring to the nipple tattooing, they've had mastectomy and breast reconstruction. While there's so many different types of breast reconstruction, there's also different treatments. Like, did they have radiation? Did they not? Is their skin really thin? You know, is that implant right under that skin? So we just have to be mindful of all of these other factors when we're tattooing, i.e., to be, or to be safe, but then also to, to give them an optimal result.

Yeah. And after some of these women have had some of these treatments for their cancer, it does change like the skin makeup and that kind of stuff.

Yes. Especially with radiation, because it, it burns the skin.

Oh.

So we give them time to heal, but that burn is permanent. And so it does tend to make the tattoo take a little lighter on that side, but it's just something you approach with a little more TLC and maybe they need an additional session. It's important to be like upfront about those things with them so they know what to expect and they don't think there's something wrong with them when the tattoo doesn't take exactly how they imagine.

Right.

Sure. And my next question was going to be after, after these ladies have these procedures and treatments, like how long do they have to wait usually before they can get this kind of procedure done where they start to feel more like themselves again?

Mm-hmm. Allowing that skin to fully heal.

Yeah.

We usually say like 3, maybe 4 months.

Okay.

But then again, you might have an outlier who you're like, you know what, your lymphedema is really not where it needs to be. Your scar, your scarring's not where it should be for you to take the ink well. Let's work together, let's come up with a plan, maybe a massage, maybe go see a physical therapist. Let's do things actively so that you'll be ready in the near future. But most of the time, like 3, 4 months.

Okay. That's actually not as long as I thought it would be. I would think it would be, yeah, like maybe like a year later or, or more. So I mean, that's, I think, exciting for these women, a silver lining that it doesn't have to take so long to get back to feeling, you know, how they wanna feel.

And maybe if they're doing like scar camouflage, Maybe in those scenarios we're going to wait 6 months to a year depending on their type of scar.

Yeah. Well, on the other side of it is, are they emotionally ready? So they may be physically, medically ready, but they've been through so much. Sometimes reconstruction can take a full year to complete. Even adding in radiation, it can take even longer. So sometimes they just aren't ready yet and they want to wait just so they can give themselves a break.

Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. Um, I'm curious, how much of, how much of what you do do you feel like is this, you know, what you're doing and how much are you almost even like the person's like handholder and like almost maybe a little bit of a therapist and all of the, even in a job like mine, which is not as serious as the things that you guys do, you know, when people are buying a house, a lot of times I hear about emotional things that are going on.

Oh, I bet.

And this is a very emotional thing that these women have gone through. How much of it do you feel like is being. Even just that support?

A lot.

Yeah. Yeah, I imagine.

Well, and we created Perky to have that because when you have these doctor's appointments, you're like a number. You're next, next, next. They don't have time to talk to you about your side effects and how you are emotionally feeling. So we really give the ladies that kind of time with us. I think it's super helpful for them to have someone to even just verbalize things to. Yeah. That can understand.

And authentically be heard.

Yeah.

Because how many times did they have a question or a concern on the tip of their tongue, but they weren't given the opportunity to speak, or, you know, their appointment ran out of time and then they left. Maybe they forgot about it, but it was just something that kept coming back. You know, we consult complementarily, but we still, we don't put like a time crunch on them. We let them speak. And a lot of times we're talking about things not tattoo related.

Yeah.

It's more survivorship related, just offering guidance, you know, counsel. And now we're kind of going into a nurse coaching role where it's not therapy, but it's working with them where they can, you know, with our guidance, create positive change in their life to where they can navigate survivorship or their diagnosis. Better.

Yeah. Well, and I think we have to too point out that a lot of their side effects, survivorship, like once you finish your treatments, that it's not over. Then you have the whole hurdle of survivorship and the medications you're on create side effects that maybe you're not comfortable speaking to your doctor about. So we're hearing things intimacy related or just things that they're uncomfortable even talking to their doctors about.

Yeah, no, that makes sense. We talk about it here sometimes, like we'll have a workshop that's maybe like female health related and that kind of stuff. First of all, I feel like research has not gotten where it needs to in terms of any of that women's health. Yeah. Women's health in general is just a little bit rough, but you know, the, the general consensus that I have found, and I don't know whose fault it is, but the general consensus is that you go into these doctors and tell them things like that. Um, And sometimes it's like, well, that's normal. That's just like a normal part of like being a woman. It's like, but it doesn't feel normal to me. So why can't we have that conversation? But to your point, maybe they're strapped for time and they've got a bunch of people to chat with. Um, and so I feel like that's like something that women feel, um, that really hasn't been properly addressed, I don't think anywhere, you know?

Yeah. I do think a lot of them feel dismissed.

Yes.

Um, just with a lot of their concerns. And then that was another thing, like with the nipple tattoo, they felt that it was an afterthought, that not a lot of attention was put on it.

Yeah. Um, like why do you need this? It's like, well, right. Because I always had them. You know, I'm sure some of it is that.

Yeah. Because like it's gonna have a psychological effect, right? On me, on potentially every aspect of my life. Yeah. Um, but yeah, not a lot of thought was put on the quality of it. Who did it? Like who cares? Oh, it's not, it's not great, but. 'At least you got one done,' you know? Yeah, move on.

Yeah, how wild.

Yeah, I think we hear a lot, 'At least you don't have cancer anymore.' That's kind of the sentiment, but there's so much more to it than that. Quality of life matters.

Yeah, 100%. Oh my God, I can't believe that that is the reaction that some of these people get.

A lot, sadly.

Yeah.

And it's doctors that are amazing at what they do, and you know, they probably mean no harm.

Totally.

But they don't realize what they're doing.

Yeah.

Well, that's great. I mean, that, that to me, it makes me feel like your medical backgrounds, that's even just like the sprinkles on the cupcake. You know what I mean? You're good at your job. You're making these ladies feel better. But on top of that, when they do have these questions that you might ask a nurse, well, you are asking a nurse, you know? Yeah.

Right.

So it's like, they can be like, okay, well this person really does know, like, is this normal? It's like, yeah, it is. Or no, it isn't, but this is what's going on. So I love that for you guys and your, and your patients.

We like to say the cherry on top.

Yeah. Oh, there you go. Yeah, that's good. Um, because you guys are kind of dealing with people that have gone through some trauma and stuff, whenever we do interviews with folks that maybe they're a therapist or maybe they're this, I often wonder like, how do you guys keep from bringing that stuff home to your families? Like, do you have tactics that you use or, or ways where it's like you can't let that weigh you down? So I'm, I'm always curious what people do to try to kind of navigate that?

I think that's a really interesting part of it. I do like to bring some of it home, but in a perspective way. Like if I'm having a tough time with my young children because they're being infuriating in that moment.

Sure.

I'm super lucky to be in the position that I'm in and not be dealing with a life-threatening disease or having to worry about my children growing up without me. So that's, or going through surgeries and having to try to explain to them that, you know, mommy has cancer or something along those lines. So I think it's important to bring bringing a piece of it home, a perspective that can help. But on the flip side of that, our social media is full of stage 4 women, women with untreatable, you know, terminal breast cancer, a lot of them young with children. So it's very challenging to absorb yourself in all of that as it should be shown and seen. But it's hard. Sometimes it does weigh you down.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, ditto. Yeah, but, and then you just, you teach your family also that perspective and that, um, that way of thinking and appreciating your health and, you know, being your number one advocate. If you notice something, especially with my family history, go get it checked out. Don't wait. What's the point of waiting? Even if you know, don't let the cost, the financial, like, don't pay for the appointment if you can, or figure out a way to get it paid for, or, you know, just seek guidance because your life is worth it. So yeah, advocacy and just acknowledging how blessed we are each day that we're alive and, you know, the health that we have, the family that we have. So I do think it brings positive perspective to things.

Yeah, no, I mean it must. Uh, and I think that's great advice, especially for many of our listeners, um, who are working moms. We are the ones that take care of ourselves the last, right? You know? And so it's really easy and I'm guilty of it, super guilty where it's like, okay, well I don't feel well. And even my mom will be like, just go to the doctor. And I'm like, no, I'm fine. It'll go away. You know what I mean? And, but then sometimes something serious could be happening. And so I think it's important to take the time, you know, do what I, do what I say and not what I do, you know?

Right.

Yeah.

Well, and a lot of times it's like you have intuition. So you know, like, A lot of times you genuinely know when it's just, I'm just congested. Yeah.

It's just a cold.

Yeah.

But sometimes your body is really telling you something and you know it, but you're dismissing it.

Yeah.

Don't dismiss it when your body's speaking to you. Listen to it.

Yeah. That's great advice. Um, I'm curious now too, let's talk a little bit about the entrepreneur side of this, this endeavor that you're doing. So coming from a nursing background where you were working for others, now you guys have thrown yourself into business owners. Um, and so what has that been like for you?

Fun. Yeah, it's been fun.

That's good.

Challenging.

Yeah.

Um, we've grown a lot.

Yeah.

Lots of, uh, life lessons learned.

Yeah.

Uh, personal, professional growth. I mean, you just, you're just resilient through it and you figure it out. Like, don't let fear hold you back of doing something really amazing. Yeah. That's not only gonna help I feel better about myself doing this, but how many people am I positively impacting?

Yeah.

And I wouldn't have been able to do that if I let fear of the unknown hold me back.

Well, and I think Krystal and I had to learn to navigate these new roles and figure out what fit my personality versus her personality. So I think we've done a great job of learning each other throughout it as well. And, um, taking our own, wearing the hats that we can wear.

Yeah. Yeah. What do you feel like, if you could name something, what do you feel like is your biggest, like, lesson learned so far? We all have these lessons in entrepreneurship. Sometimes, like, for me, the biggest ones are always like financial ones. It's like, okay, that was a big hit because of this dumb thing I did. And so I'm never gonna do that dumb thing again.

You know what I mean?

So I'm curious if you have anything that you can share, cuz our learner or our listeners always like to hear that kind of thing. They're making those same mistakes sometimes.

What I view as mistakes, I look back at the social media posts that I used to make and I laugh at how, um, how much I would change it now.

Yeah, I think they're all great.

Some of them cheesy, or the font was really not, uh, what I would do now. Yeah, so just learning a better visual.

Oh man, how do I word this? Um, I think ultimately, like, to depend on ourselves, like, because when we put things that growth or things that we wanted to do in the hands of others, a lot of times we were— we failed. It failed.

Sure.

But when we're— when we take charge of that growth or what we're trying to manifest, we succeed.

Yeah.

Well, and I think if we— if those things had grown the way that we had anticipated them, we wouldn't be doing the services that we are now. So it's actually, it worked out for the best truly. But in those moments it felt crushing. Of course.

Yeah.

Everything happens for a reason.

Oh, totally. I'm a big advocate of that as well. And it, that's such a tough line to walk. I feel like as an entrepreneur, because we are told like, be the CEO of your business. Like you've gotta hand this stuff off to other people, you know? And then, but it's tough because then you let it go and it's like, maybe that's not how I would've done it. Oh, I should just take it back. And, and so it's kind of, I think finding a balance there.

Totally.

That's a part of it. So totally.

Yeah.

Well, this has been great. Is there anything else that you feel like you want to share about your journey or, you know, how things work with you guys or anything like that?

I did want to touch on, we have a partnership with a really wonderful local organization. They're called Pink Warrior Advocates. They are a sisterhood for women diagnosed with breast cancer. They offer a lot of emotional support, but also financial support. And we have a grant program a program with them where they provide grants for services with us for local women who can't afford the nipple tattooing, scar camouflage, or eyebrow tattooing. Through the month of October, we'll be fundraising for that. So if anyone feels able to donate even their morning coffee to, you know, $5 to help someone get a life-changing service like this, but also if anybody needs the service and can't afford it, on our website there is information about the program and also a way to apply or donate.

Oh, I love that.

Yes.

That's amazing.

That's exactly what I was gonna say. Yeah.

Oh, I'm so glad you did.

Yeah.

I mean, everyone deserves, you know, to have these types of services available to them regardless of their financial situation. So I love that you guys are doing that. Yep. Um, and then, you know, as we get towards the end, we always ask if you guys can share, um, with our listeners how they can get ahold of you guys for these amazing services.

Absolutely. So you can definitely find us on social media. Um, our handle is @weareperky altogether. Um, our email is info@helloperky.com. They can shoot us an email. Um, and we're located in the San Antonio Medical Center, so we're pretty conveniently located.

Yeah.

Um, for all of our local ladies.

And our website, helloperky.com, we have everything on there that we showcase visually as healed results. So people can really, uh, take a look through and see all the different types of tattooing they can have, and they can even look through and see the different types of reconstruction. And different scar patterns and kind of see, especially if they're in the middle of this process, what things can look like at the end of the journey.

Yeah.

And then there's a lot of great information on there. We have a blog that we try to update very regularly with a lot of really great information for women going through this process.

Amazing. Okay, well, we'll put all of that stuff in the show notes for this podcast episode as well, just so people can click and kind of one-stop, you know. Well, thank you so much, ladies, for being on. This has been amazing.

Thanks, Erika Radis.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And I'll quickly also thank our listeners for tuning into this week's episode and— Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Working Moms of San Antonio podcast. We hope you loved today's chat and found a little inspiration to take with you into your week. If you have a podcast topic suggestion or a question you'd love for us to cover, definitely send us an email at hello@workingmomsofsanantonio.com. We'd love to hear from you. And until next time, see you in the community.