"I did not create a business. I created an art project. Something that is living, breathing, giving artists the opportunity to pursue it as a career, and having them work in a safe place where they can feel fulfilled. It’s taken on a life of its own, and it keeps evolving. I could not be prouder of what I was able to create.” For Mason Atlas, the founder of The Hive SLC Tattoo & Aftercare, tattooing has always been more than ink on skin. It is a dialogue between art, culture, and the human experience - a collaboration that changes both the artist and the client.

“I was adopted from China when I was a baby. They brought me back to Utah when I was about one and a half, and I have been here ever since.” Lili Deforest is the only adopted child among six siblings in an LDS family. Some of her sisters now have tattoos, and her mother, once unsure, has become one of her biggest supporters - offering quiet pride and praise for her designs. Lili’s story begins softly, but with certainty. In 2025, at the young age of twenty eight, she is the proud owner of Eminent Ink Tattoos, an all-female studio. She is a single mother, a self-taught artist, and a quiet force who wants every woman who walks in to feel safe and seen.