Meet Stephanie Anders of Royal Heritage Tattoo & Piercing and Royal Heritage Jewelry Co. in Beverly Grove

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Anders.

Stephanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am a young woman, a wife, a mother to a small pack of four legged creatures, a body piercer & an owner of two small business; Royal Heritage Tattoo & Piercing and Royal Heritage Jewelry Co. located in sunny Los Angeles, CA.

My journey started 25 years ago in the small towns of southern Iowa. I knew at a young age that I was deeply engrossed in body modification. Whether it be piercing or tattoos, I found myself fascinated by the methods that one could choose to modify their body to enhance their appearance. Much to my parent’s dismay, I began hanging around the local piercing shop and started piercing myself in Jr. High. Looking back, it was highly unprofessional & came with a number of risks. However, I was young & dumb, fueled by the desire to engage in my passion for piercing in any way that I could. Ignorance is bliss, eh?

I began piercing at the age of 17 in Des Moines, IA. I pierced at a small tattoo shop located in one of the city’s shopping malls. “From humble beginnings come great things” can very much describe my ensuing voyage. While honing my craft, I was invited to join a more prestigious studio; one of the best in Des Moines!! I was thrilled at the opportunity for this new plateau; more clients, better jewelry & a supremely talented piercing colleague.

I had always felt a strange attraction to the West Coast & California, Los Angeles in particular. At the age of 20, the seduction was too much to bear! My future husband and I headed west. We rented a small studio apartment in the Fairfax district and I hammered the pavement in search of a new studio to call “home”.

In a very short 3 days, I found that home at Prix Tattoo & Piercing on the infamous Sunset Blvd. In the next four years, my duties increased from part time body piercer to full time body piercer to shop manager (& full time body piercer). Through hard work & meticulous attention to my clients, my reputation as a “go-to” body piercer increased, as did my client base. I even became the personal body piercer to several celebrity clients & Hollywood elite.

My husband and I had always dreamed of one day opening our own tattoo & piercing studio. Much to our surprise, we were approached by the owners of the prestigious Zulu Tattoo. Although we were not necessarily prepared, financially or otherwise, we decided to give it our all and put in the work and took the necessary steps to acquire funding to take my career to the next level.

On January 12, 2016 we opened the doors of Royal Heritage Tattoo & Piercing. Armed with an arsenal of supremely talented tattoo artists, I integrated body piercing into the shop’s daily activities & stocked my jewelry cases with jewelry of the highest caliber.

It was here, at the age of 24, having seen my dreams come to fruition that I still had a strong yearning to create. Thus, I started another business, Royal Heritage Jewelry Co. Through this avenue, I am able to satisfy my creative sweet tooth by designing elegant gold body jewelry. We have expanded from body jewelry designed for piercing to include gold teeth, engagement rings, and any other challenge that a client presents us. I take great pride in running a business, surrounding myself with talented artists & curating a professional establishment full of hard working, fun loving and genuinely good humans.

In closing, I am reminded of a quote by the famous actor & martial artist, Bruce Lee. It states:

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physically or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must go beyond them.”

It with this in mind that I continue to press onward and upward, taking victory and defeat in stride, standing on this plateau looking for the next mountain to climb.

From humble beginnings come great things.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It certainly hasn’t always been a smooth road. Everything that I have achieved has come from an incredible amount of work and dedication. I have never just been handed anything. The hardest struggle, I would say, would be jumping through so many hoops to obtain my first business and the formation of my corporation. They don’t teach you some of this stuff in school so it was all an incredible/frustrating/insane, but unbelievably rewarding learning process.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Well, I own a high end tattoo and piercing studio and a custom gold jewelry company. I personally am the piercer, and a jewelry designer/jeweler and have become known for not just providing the “run of the mill” piercings and jewelry but creating a truly unique experience/ piercing for each client by focusing on their specific anatomy and using that and custom jewelry to enhance (whatever area of the body) in the perfect way. I take great pride in the environment and experience we provide here at Royal Heritage, not just with our piercing and our jewelry but our tattoo side as well. I could not be more grateful for the staff and artists that we have.

What were you like growing up?
Hahaha. I was a bit of a rebellious child. I pushed boundaries and always had a counter argument in any situation. So in some ways I made my youth substantially harder on myself. My mother would say I spent more time grounded than not hahaha but I was heavily involved in dance and sports (even going on to set state records and be a nationally ranked sprinter in college) and spent my time outside playing with animals or riding 4 wheelers and dirt bikes. I also always had a huge passion for art so I spent a lot of time drawing or designing.

Contact Info:

• Address: 165 S. Crescent Heights Blvd.
• Website: www.royalheritagetattoo.com
• Phone: (323)782-9977
• Email: royalheritagetattoo@gmail.com and rhjewelryco@gmail.com
• Instagram: @ms_stephanie_xo , @royalheritagetattoo , @royalheritagejewelry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royalheritagetattoo/
• Twitter: @royal_h_tattoo
• Yelp: Royal Heritage Tattoo & Piercing

Image Credit:
Michael Ori