Taylor Steckman calls herself a “hold-my-beer human.”
“If you tell me I can't do something, I'm gonna tell you, ‘Hold my beer, here I go,’ ” Steckman said inside the tattoo parlor she co-owns in Cincinnati’s O’Bryonville neighborhood.
Steckman, 34, says she has always been a creative person. In college, she created and sold paintings to students who wanted to fill up the white walls of their dorm rooms. Later, she worked as an apprentice at a tattoo shop in Indiana.
But she set her sights on pursuing a career as a firefighter and first responder.
When she first started working as an EMT, she got a rush of adrenaline every time a call came in. But after roughly two years in the field, she found herself in need of help instead. “My legs went numb while I was trying to load a patient into the squad,” Steckman remembered. She knew something wasn’t right, so she went to
the hospital to understand why.
She discovered she had multiple sclerosis (MS), a lifelong disease that affects the body’s nervous system.
“I would say that I felt, when it first happened, very angry,” Steckman said.
“I have so much of my life in front of me, and not knowing enough about MS, you just assume it's a death sentence. And then you just come to a realization that you can treat it as a gift and motivation to be better.”
The diagnosis pushed Steckman to fully pursue the passion she had since her days drawing designs in her dorm room. Now, she co-owns Soul Rage Tattoo with her wife and business partner, Brittany Wagers, and investor Shelly Okura. Together, they have cultivated a woman-friendly space for their clients and staff since 2022.
What is MS?
Nearly 1 million people in the United States have MS, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The condition disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the rest of the body, and it can make it difficult for someone to walk, talk and see.
“When I got diagnosed, they showed me my brain scan, and [looking at it] was the worst decision I ever made,” Steckman said. “From then on, I’ve never looked at it again because there's just something about looking at your brain like that that you can't unsee.”
Now, Steckman’s wife researches the details of the disease.
Over time, Steckman says her own perspective of her diagnosis has become more positive.
“I think MS is a huge part of who I am,” she said. “I used to never tell anybody because I didn't want anybody to give me ‘that look.’ But it really is a big part of who I am because it helps me take care of my body better.”
Steckman gets MRI scans every year and has no new lesions developing in her brain. She tries to resist doing deep research dives about the disease and instead focuses on what she can control — being a tattoo artist.
Life at Soul Rage Tattoo
On a sunny July afternoon at Soul Rage Tattoo, Steckman leaned over one of her staff members, Saint St. George, while carefully tattooing an elaborate circus on her back, complete with an old-school circus tent, curtains and crystal balls.
“I think [tattoos] can have such deep meaning, but they can also just be super fun and fun to play around with,” said St. George, who moonlights as a clown. “It's self-expression. It's jewelry. It's fashion. It's how you represent yourself, which is super awesome.”
The feeling that St. George has with her new design is exactly what Steckman hopes to achieve with every client. She specializes in large-scale designs, including back pieces, legs and arm sleeves.
“Black and gray realism with color pop is probably my bread and butter, and then after that would be neo-traditional, like [this] back piece, with very bright, bold colors,” Steckman said.
Steckman believes tattooing helps people, but in a different way than her work as an EMT. Now, she spends hours talking with clients about their struggles and helping them feel beautiful in their own skin.
Despite her personal challenges, she doesn’t let fear stand in her way. She says she hopes to be an example for her children.
“I have a 12-year-old daughter,” Steckman said. “I really want her to know that she can do absolutely anything in this world, no matter if it's as far out as owning a tattoo shop.”
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