21-year-old Haley Steen, a piercing artist at Heroic Ink on Main Street, found a passion and career in the art of body modifications at a young age.

“It’s so awesome that I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life at age 16; I knew I wanted to be a piercer,” said Steen.

Steen says that her passion for body modifications stemmed from her relationship with her oldest brother, Jason “Cookey” Smith. Smith honors his nickname with a leg sleeve tattoo of Cookey the Clown severing the head of Bozo the Clown.

Steen has three older brothers, but was always closest to Smith. He has a tattoo of the Grateful Dead’s “Steal Your Face” in the middle of his back and she now has one to match. Smith is covered head to toe with ink and Steen has always looked up to him and found comfort in their shared interests.

Smith helped Steen get a job working the front desk at Expo Tattoo and Body Piercing when she was 15. Working the counter gave Steen the opportunity to familiarize herself with different kinds of body jewelry. She helped customers pick the right types for their desired piercings.

“Right when I started working at Expo, I fell in love with all of it,” Steen said. When Steen started working at Expo, she received her first significant piercing. At age 15, she got her belly button pierced and within the next six months she had 16 piercings. She began to practice working with the jewelry to learn how to work with the tiny metal pieces.

When she was 17, she wanted to begin an apprenticeship under a piercer at Expo, Nick Roberson. After much work to achieve it, she finished her three year formal apprenticeship under Roberson. This would later help Steen land the job of her dreams.

Steen had to pay $1200 for her apprenticeship. She worked hard to complete and pay it off and did so through piercing customers. In the first nine months, she gave 600 piercings that paid off her debt for the apprenticeship. She quickly realized that there are many guidelines and codes that had to be followed, she picked up a copy of Elayne Angel’s “The Piercing Bible.”

“Elayne Angel is a piercing god. I just love her,” Steen said. “I taught myself most everything that I know with her book and the process of trial and error.”

Angel is on the Board of Directors for the Association of Professional Piercers, commonly known as the APP. The APP is a nonprofit international health, safety and education organization. The organization sets standards for the piercing industry including cleanliness, quality jewelry and professional behavior.

After leaving Expo, Steen came to Ames and worked for Lasting Impressions as a temporary position. She stopped into Heroic Ink and asked if they needed a piercer. After a day of working under Scott “Mump” Mumper, partial owner of the store with Jayson “Hugo” Kenemer, the company decided that she would be an asset and hired her with the understanding that she would be making changes to improve business. 

“The best part about my job is that I learn at least one new thing every day and based on that I implement new changes daily,” Steen said. She has made changes to all aspects of the process. Sanitation and sterilization are a couple of her main concerns. She says that everything is put into the autoclave and steam sterilized before being pre-packaged.

“She is very accommodating and makes you feel more comfortable,” Hannah Paul, a student studying to be an emergency medical technician at DMACC, “they have a very clean set up.”

Steen refuses to use a marker in shop to mark piercing locations on the body, but instead uses a toothpick and inkpad as this helps prevent bacteria from spreading. She has made it mandatory that whoever is piercing needs to change their gloves at least three to five times during the process to ensure that every implement, or tool, remains sterile.

Another major change that Steen is bringing to Heroic is a step up in quality when it comes to jewelry. She is switching to implant and surgical grade titanium. This type of metal is safe to remain in the skin and has other features that make it superior to other body jewelry.

APP-approved companies such as NeoMetal and Anatometal are just two companies that feature threadless jewelry. Inner-threading is safer to use for piercings because it causes less tissue damage. These companies ensure quality metal, stones and fastening methods.

Steen hopes to soon be carrying mainly titanium and organic pieces in Heroic for her piercing business. She is constantly looking to make changes that will boost herself and Heroic Ink closer to the standards laid down by the APP.

“Heroic Ink is one of the best things to happen to me. I feel as if I’m finally at home,” Steen said. “Hugo and Mump are good people. They really care about the art more than the money and they care about us too. It’s like a family; we hang out outside of work all the time.”

Steen plans to stay in Ames and become established in time. She plans to keep improving the company and her own skills. She hopes to become a proud business member of the APP. 

“The best part about my job is that I learn at least one new thing a day and to know that a piercing makes someone feel more like themselves,” Steen said. “Knowing that I can give that to them is an amazing feeling.”