FLORENCE – Jo Martin’s first impulse was to cry when the laser equipment critical to her non-profit tattoo removal business broke down.
Instead, she prayed.
“In less than an hour, I got a call from a man who donated a machine,” Martin said.
“Then I cried,” she added, triggering laughter among the audience at a recent meeting of the Florence Rotary Club.
The donation meant her entrepreneurial venture into free tattoo removal former jail inmates, former gang members and victims of human trafficking had a chance to survive, Martin said. Her Florence-based business, Tattoo Removal, Inc., now also provides some commercial tattoo removal for fees ranging from $50 to $200, depending on the size of the tattoo.
Martin’s interest in tattoo removal arose from volunteer work at the Kenton County Detention Center about five years ago. She had retired from AT&T after a 30-year career and had begun tutoring prisoners who were trying to earn a high school equivalency degree (GED).
She said she soon learned that a lack of education wasn’t the only impediment to landing a job and improving one’s life after incarceration. Really offensive tattoos were, in effect, a red flag to employers, Martin said.
“You’re not going to get employed” with gang, racist or vulgar tattoos, she said.
“When you get rid of that, job prospects improve immediately.”
Martin did a ton of research, consulted with medical professionals and visited a re-entry facility in California for gang-involved and previously incarcerated men and women. A widow, she then spent monies from her husband’s life insurance policy to buy the used laser and a chiller and to open shop in January 2017.
Martin said tattoo removal not only improves employment prospects, but also opens the door to enlistment in the military. More important, the experience often serves as a catalyst for personal growth, enabling the person to leave a gang identity behind and gain acceptance in the community.
“You don’t look like a criminal anymore,” she said.
Martin was selected for a 2017 Greater Cincinnati Foundation Women of the Year award for her work. Her immediate goal is to put tattoo removal equipment in the Kenton County Detention Center. Long term, she wants to expand to Boone and Campbell counties, then all over the state.
That will take a few more prayers, and perhaps a few more tears.
