It’s rare to find a profession that lets you explore your true passion of helping others while using your unique skills. Luckily for Jody Stoski, Founder of Jody Stoski Paramedical Tattoo Academy and owner of Cinnamon Girl Clinic, her career allows her to do just that.
Jody began her journey as a professional make-up artist. Her love of interacting with people and being on the move made this a perfect fit for her, and her experience in cosmetics allowed her to improve her clients’ self esteem. She found this aspect of her work incredibly rewarding, and she eventually branded herself as “Cinnamon Girl”, freelancing in film, fashion, print, television, and weddings, growing to become a trusted brand within her local market. Eventually, she became involved with one of the few permanent makeup providers in the area.
“I trained extensively with the best trainers in Canada for the time, and was well received by the industry for the unique brow stroke technique I developed to provide natural looking brows for alopecia patients. I began to realize my true passion was not necessarily just makeup, but helping people feel confident in their own skin,” Jody says.
Jody then opened up her own practice, Cinnamon Girl Clinic, and went on to treat over ten thousand paramedical and cosmetic patients, quickly becoming recognized as an industry leader. She’s served as a board member of the American Academy of Micropigmentation and has partnered with doctors and plastic surgeons, offering information sessions at local hospitals regarding the various options available to those recovering from injury or trauma.
In 2013, Jody was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent a thyroidectomy. Now a member of the community she had been helping, with a large neck scar after surgery, she put her skills to the test on her own body, incorporating the scar protocol and revision that she offers to clients today.
“The profound transformation I experienced first-hand made the terms paramedical tattoo and healing tattoo interchangeable to me. My doctors could not believe how I was able to camouflage the scar, and I was finally able to move forward and put cancer behind me. Through the illness and healing, I was able to redefine myself and my business in the paramedical tattoo field. Now cancer-free, my goal is not only to continue healing others through Cinnamon Girl Clinic, but to make medical tattoos more widely accessible while elevating standards in both medical and cosmetic tattooing,” Jody outlines.
The next chapter in Jody’s journey comes with her recent opening of the Jody Stoski Paramedical Tattoo Academy to provide training to other artists in order to help more individuals feel confident in their own skin. Training is available online to provide the greatest accessibility of Jody’s experience and teachings.
In the coming year, Jody has a lot of exciting new opportunities in the works to look forward to. Namely, she’ll be launching a new areola course, Areolas Uncomplicated. Unlike other areola courses Areolas Uncomplicated will include in-dpeth coverage of transgender-specific needs, a market that is significntly underserved. In addition to new course development Jody will also be launching a paramedical tattoo mentorship program in the Spring of 2021.
“This is an amazing service I want more PMU artists to be able to offer. I have found most of the existing training offerings to be very complicated and not leave artists feeling confident to implement the service into their practice. Existing courses also focus mostly on breast cancer, but not the other reasons that people may want these services, for example after a top surgery as related to gender affirmation. The transgender community is one I believe to be underserved and I would like to be a part of making these services more accessible globally to anyone who needs them,” Jody states.
For Calgary locals, visit Jody’s Cinnamon Girl Clinic. For paramedical artists worldwide, Jody is online, on Facebook, and Instagram.