Professional Background

I was President and founder of Rings of Desire, Inc., in New Orleans--The French Quarter's only licensed body art studio for over 12 years! I am the former Manager and Vice President of Southern California Operations for Gauntlet, in West Hollywood.
In my earlier years I worked as a Sign Language Interpreter, Script Supervisor, and in the Medical Field as well as in the Fashion Industry. I am renowned both for my lengthy professional piercing career and expertise in body piercing as well as for my own extensive collection of body art.

In my career, I have performed over 40,000 piercings! (And have about 40 of her own.)

I was the manager of Gauntlet in Los Angeles in the 1980's, when it was the first and only Body Piercing specialty studio in the United States. At times I also worked at the Gauntlet branches in San Francisco, and New York.

I received my Master Piercer Certificate from Gauntlet Founder, Jim Ward, in December of 1992. It was the first such certificate issued by Gauntlet, and all the more an honor that it was granted after announcing my upcoming departure from Gauntlet.

A native of Southern California, then resident of French Quarter in New Orleans; I ran Rings of Desire piercing specialty studio there for over 12 years.Closing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I now reside in the peaceful paradise of Merida, Mexico, in the Yucatan.

Affiliations/Contributions

I am known as a pioneer in the field for piercing techniques and after care as well as placements. I am credited (by Gauntlet, and others) with the popularity of the tongue piercing and inventing, naming, and popularizing a number of specific piercing placements including the Fourchette, and Lorum.

I am a long-standing member of the Association of Professsional Piercers (APP). In my ongoing involvement to advance the field and to promote piercing safety, I served a three-year volunteer term as the Outreach Coordinator. Following that I was elected to a second three-year term with the organization as Medical Liaison. After a three year hiatus, I am again serving on the Board of Directors in that position. I was honored in 2006 with the President's Award for a Lifetime of Contributions to the industry.

While working for the APP, I produced a number of brochures for the organization that have helped to professionalize the field. These include the Aftercare Guidelines for Facial and Body Piercings and Aftercare Guidelines for Oral Piercings, which have become the industry standard for piercing care. Also, I penned a brochure entitled Troubleshooting for You and Your Healthcare Professional, which provides valuable information for piercees and for medical professionals, who othen have no piercing-specific training.

Yet another important brochure I produced is Oral Piercing Risks and Safety Measures, which I wrote to debunk urban myths and provide vital, accurate health and safety information on oral piercings.

I also re-wrote/edited the APP Procedure Manual, which is used throughout the industry as the definitive guide for safe, sanitary piercing practices.

I undertook additional volunteer duties with the APP by being the Editor of the APP's quarterly newsletter (THE POINT) . I produced four issues per year, from issue # 17- # 31.

Further, in my capacity as a Board Member for the APP I have attended Quarterly Board meetings, and the APP conferences in Las Vegas and Amsterdam. At Conference, I have taught classes to piercers on topics such as Grounding and Bedside Manner, Anatomy, Aftercare and Healing, Basic Techniques, and Advanced Techniques.

I have appeared to speak for groups of medical professionals about body piercing, such as Association of periOperative Nurses (AORN), and HIV/AIDS Health Educators of Louisiana. I have also presented to both students and staff at Student Health Centers in Colleges and Universities.

In addition to efforts in my own studio and the community of piercing professionals, I have contributed to the state of Louisiana by assisting in the promulgation of the laws regarding Body Art for the state, and also by assisting in training the health inspectors who enforce the laws I helped to create.

I have also participated with Doctors at the University of South Alabama in a fascinating new research study, specifically about the Vertical Clitoral Hood piercing (VCH) and female sexual satisfaction!! Positive results were published in the prestigious American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

I am renowned throughout the industry as a pioneer and as a consummate professional, revered for knowledge, skill, and ethics on the job.

Media

To quote August, 2003, body art industry magazine Pain Magazine, featured artist section: "Elayne is not only credited with bringing piercing to the mainstream, she is also responsible for developing much of the industry that's now taken for granted--including tongue piercing."

I was featured in the 2003 MTV special, "A Social History of Body Piercing" in which I spoke extensively about genital and oral piercings.

Creating a new chapter in her series of "firsts" in November 2002, I became the first wearer of body art to receive a registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. For details see an article in Skin & Ink Magazine andAngel's tattoo page

My picture has appeared in a numerous books such as The Illustrated Woman, and Modern Primitives. My image has also appeared in virtually every tattoo magazine published in recent history. I have been interviewed in many varied publications from The National Enquirer and Sun, to Rolling Stone and Us magazines. I've appeared on many television shows including news broadcasts like CNN, shows such as Inside Report and After Hours and various cable television shows as well. I have even been interviewed about piercing on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

I have also received press for being the piercer to popular rock star, Lenny Kravitz. I have been his piercer for years, and even went on tour with him, and pierced his entire band and crew!

Additionally, but less happily, my photos have been used extensively without permission on book and album covers, and in print media ads for music CDs, computer products, cars and more.

I amcurrently a regular paid contributor to the industry publication Pain Magazine.

Angel's Personal History

I grew up in California's San Fernando Valley (where "Valley Girls" come from!) my M.D. father would bring me to the hospital and his medical offices in my early youth. My fascination with things medical is life long. I can recall assisting nurses (usually with paperwork) in the Hospital Emergency Room as far back as the mid 1960's!

After two years of relentless begging and pleading with her parents, I got my first ear lobe piercings in 1967. They were performed by my father, the doctor, via stud gun, with Frankenstein-esque steel studs. I was hooked!

I began to pierce additional holes in my own ears and held piercing parties with my friends starting in 1972. Back then I was using sharpened earrings and various and sundry mostly inappropriate instruments acquired from my father's medical offices. (Ok, so maybe I am not proud of all of it, but it's the truth, and you can benefit from my prior experimentation, mistakes, and later successes!)

During High School, desiring body piercings, but not knowing the possibilities, I pierced a pinch of tissue just below the prominent bone of my left wrist. In it I placed a small gold hoop (yes, an earring). Afraid my family would see it and have me committed, I removed the tiny ring after a few weeks, but continued to experience the desire to wear piercings and jewelry in places other than my ears.

In 1981 I met a pierced couple at the Southern California Renaissance Faire. My fascination was piqued at the provocative sight of a pierced nipple. This was what I had been waiting for! They told me about Gauntlet, the first (established in 1975) and only (at the time) professional body piercing studio in the United States.

I rushed home, locked herself in the bathroom, and pierced my own right nipple with a sharpened small gold hoop earring. I knew it wasn't quite right, but was certain this was what I had always wanted. I removed the askew little earring from my nipple, and resolved to have it done professionally.

The next day I went to the Gauntlet, and had both nipples pierced. The rest, as they say, is history. I continued to return regularly over the years for a wide variety of piercings on myself. Ever the piercing advocate, I brought in multitudes of my friends and associates to have piercings done with her support and encouragement (while I learned as much as possible through observation and asking annoying questions). Over the years I enjoyed piercing friends in the privacy of my home.

I am the proud bearer of an Associate of Arts Degree in Sign Language Interpreting from: (no kidding!) Pierce College, in Woodland Hills, California. (I decided against hanging the diploma in Rings of Desire, thinking folks might mistake it for a specious piercing certification of some type).

Following a serious bout of tendinitis in both forearms from my five-year career as an Interpreter at California State University, in Northridge, Ireturned to school. In the late 80's and studied Marketing and Management at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Subsequent to my Summa Cum Laude graduation I donned a business suit and with great anticipation applied for the position of Manager at Gauntlet's original (and at the time, still only) Southern California location. After an interview with Gauntlet founder, Jim Ward, he pronounced my hired. Following that he inquired, "By the way, how are your piercing skills?"

"Better than most," was my accurate (if somewhat evasive) reply.
Jim returned to San Francisco, and I used her natural affinity, prior medical background, and some luck to continue building my skills and experience.

During my tenure at Gauntlet the company grew from its single, small L.A. shop, to a larger location, and added stores in San Francisco, and New York. A separate Mail Order Location opened, as well as a jewelry Manufacturing Department, and finally, Corporate Offices.

My open, enthusiastic, and joyful attitude about piercing helped to bring the subject before the public eye, and to truly diverse populations of ultimately interested parties. I have been instrumental in the field blossoming from a single modest studio to the bona fide industry that is now part of our modern culture.

After living for thirty-something years in Los Angeles, I decided to travel for a year, and then move from Southern California. I toured and pierced around the country and New Orleans selected me! I opened Rings of Desire in December of 1993 in the French Quarter, and lived there happily for over 12 years. Following Hurricane Katrina the next chapter is unfolding as I moved to Merida, Mexico, in the Yucatan to write The Piercing Bible.

If you would like to be notified when the book is ready and have not yet signed up for my mailing list, you can do so here.
If you are interested in watching me perform piercings, clips are available here.
Piercers may also be interested in my monthly "Ask Angel" column in Pain Magazine.