My family is from the Appalachian Mountains of northeast Tennessee. I'm going to begin with two sets of great grandparents by way of my parents' mothers. On Dad's side, my great grandpa was Henry Keller. He was a bootlegger and farmer, who I'm told hauled moonshine with a wagon and mule. Henry married my great grandma, Lotus Moore. She was a farmer and mother. Lotus gave birth to my grandma, Mildred, who married my grandpa, Rubel Williams. They were both farmers, and Rubel was also a musician. He played in a band with his father and other members of the family.

Mildred and Rubel's son is my dad, Roy Williams. He served on a ship when he was younger. He is old fashioned, and raised me to be tough (he was expecting a boy). He enjoys "acting fool" with people or "getting their goat", but I've also witnessed him putting many men "in check". For a few years, he assisted my mom as her roady, while she performed as a country singer. I've known him to be carpenter and a mechanic, always paying attention to detail. He has an artistic manner, which he applies to whatever he does.

On Mom's side, my great grandfather was Louis Cline. He, too, was creative, doing photography and carpentry. He worked both as a barber and for the railroad. He married Margaret Beckner, who I knew as "Mammy". Mammy was a stern woman who worked in a knitting mill. She and my grandmother Elnora Marie, also known as "Memaw", lived next door to us when I was young.

Meemaw, like Mammy, was a stern woman. She married Eldon Earl Woods, and together, they opened a Krispy Kreme shop in the 1930's. In later years, while living next door with Mammy, Memaw also worked at the knitting mill. She was a part of social groups with other creative ladies, and kept busy selling her crafts around town.

Elnora Marie's daughter is my mother, Karen Alene Woods. She has always been sweet, petite, reserved, and kind. She loves things more "whimsey" and "delicate". She's a southern bell inclined to tradition, yet, she and my father have remained open minded to my less traditional interests. I've known her to be a cook, artist, seamstress, and singer.

Dad asked Mom to marry him three weeks after they met. To this day, they remain very loving and strong. I was born in 1972. Though there was never much money, my childhood was always eventful. I grew up on a motorcycle running through the Smokey Mountains and across to the east coast. As a kid, I loved playing in barns while visiting relatives, and eating half of what I would pick from the garden. I loved exploring the old houses and playing by creeks. After living in major cities as an adult, I only wish to return to these ways. In 1981, Dad was out of work. Through a friend, he and Mom were offered a job in Miami, Florida. We had never heard of it, but made the move. That was culture shock! We loved the big city and all the amazing people and experiences that came with it. Regardless of the fact that I maintained status on the superior honor roll and was offered an art scholarship, I could no longer handle the knots school tied in my stomach every morning. Everyday I fought those who had a problem with my appearance. In 1988, when I was sixteen, my parents agreed to let me quit high school.

I quickly acquired my G.E.D. and was accepted early into art school, where I completed a degree in Advertising. During this time I had numerous art related jobs, from making mass production paintings for restaurants and hotels to renovating beach condos. While still in art school, I turned eighteen and got my first tattoo. In West Palm Beach, at Paradise Tattoo, ED Lombie tattooed a dragon around my arm. This experience determined what I wanted to be.Through a friend of a friend, I bought some equipment with money I'd borrowed from a friend of my parents, who had a nearby motorcycle shop. My first machines were aluminum with electrical taped coils, etched with the name "Crazy Wayne". Dad was my first tattoo client. He wanted a dragon on his chest. I copied from a Boris Vallejo image with a three liner and a four flat. I pity all who assisted me in my beginning for the pain I inflicted so that they could receive their scribbles. My parents remained supportive and humorous with each questionable character that passed through the door. Dad has still only been tattooed by me. Getting into the business as a young girl was not easy. I was lucky to gain an apprenticeship at Irezumi Ink in Fort Lauderdale, owned by Bruce Bart and Bruce Kaplan from New York, and began learning there under Damien Bart and Joey Desormeaux.

In March of 1996, I met my husband, Brian Ramirez. He was in Florida on vacation from California. We spent a week together, resulting in our decision to work towards marriage. I looked at him sitting on my couch, playing guitar as I cooked dinner, and I realized he was who I was looking for. Brian flew me out to visit him in Huntington Beach, California in April 1996, and in July, he moved to Florida. He proposed in August, and we were married in March of 1997. After all of his hard work moving to Florida, I convinced Brian to take me back to California! We moved in November of 1997. While there, I worked in multiple shops, but only a few I feel were positive influences on me as an artist. The first of these shops was Inflictions in Covina. While working there in 1999, I gave birth to my son, Angel. We then moved from Covina to Huntington Beach where I stayed at home for the majority of Angel's first years.

When I was ready to get back into a shop full time, I was hired at HB Tattoo. I was there about 3 1/2 years before moving on to All American Tattoo, in Fullerton. I spent a short, but very sweet, year there from 2005 to 2006. I was feeling that California was a difficult place to get ahead, and was sick of its rat race atmosphere. Brian and I had visited a good friend in Austin, Texas for a couple of SXSW festivals. Being a musician, Brian loved it, and I wanted an easy-going life in the South. As soon as we decided to move to Austin, something seemed to emerge and take the wheel. We have been along for the ride, and have experienced more since coming here than ever before. Life did not slow down! I had a job waiting for me on 6th street at The Golden Apple. They were in a time of transition, and after a few months I agreed to enter a partnership with co-workers, Alex ( Pineapple) Arevalo and Justin Vickers. Together, we opened Shaman Modifications in south Austin. Some discoveries within that first year lead me to open my own shop. Even though I had no plan, old and new friends came out of the woodwork excited to get Dovetail Tattoo rolling. Overnight, Brian became enough of a carpenter to do the majority of renovations in our 1920's house, and our friends donated their time and hands to all kinds of projects. Throughout many years of working with all kinds of characters, I've experienced very positive, talented, and hard working artists. I have also experienced those who turn my stomach, having no respect for the trade we are all blessed to be apart of. I am definite in only having artists at my shop who value the basics of right and wrong. We utilize our time in art and we strive forward. I am lucky to have the artists I do. I prefer to look to the ways of the past while continuing to build our shop. I don't care for neon and abrasive music, nor do I like minimalism or pretentious egos.