Page 57 - AVN September 2017

FEATURE
who pretty much is my rock and holds me down and helps guide me through life. That’s also on my
right forearm and I got that one about four years ago.
“On my right hand, inside of my middle fingers, I have the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘strong’ on them.
Whenever I’m writing or something or whenever I feel down on myself I always remind myself I’m a
strong person and can get through anything.”
One of Valentien’s most unique tattoos pays tribute to her mother.
“I have a cupcake and needle and thread because I grew up home-schooled and my parents made me
learn how to sew,” Valentien explains. “So I have the needle and thread for my mom teaching me how to
sew, and the cupcake for her because my mother is a baker. I got them together.”
Valentien uses her sewing skills to this day, making a lot of her own clothes for feature dancing as
well as her outfits for AVN and Exxxotica conventions—she even sewed a couple of the dresses she
wore to the AVN Awards Show.
“It’s just something I always remember doing,” Valentien says. “I learned how to do it at a very early
age.”
Marley Brinx, the Toronto native who was a 2016 nominee for Best New Starlet, tells AVN the Native
American woman tattooed on her left arm is in honor of her grandmother, who has been in cancer
remission for about a year.
“She battled breast cancer and lung cancer in the last few years and recently just had a stroke and she
is one of the strongest women I know and is a true warrior,” Brinx says. “That’s why I got the Native
American woman, because she all those qualities.
“All those hard times she’s been through these past five years, powering through it like a young
23-year-old woman. The lesson is to never give up and live life to the fullest. Don’t take life for granted
and cherish any second chances. She is definitely my inspiration when it comes to a lot of my tattoos.”
Brinx collaborated with her artist—@kellrosetattoo on Instagram—by showing him a photo of her
grandma and an original drawing she found on Google.
“I really like the long hair and braids because my grandma had them when she was young—I just
wanted the face to look more mature to have my Nanna’s features, like the big Native American eyes,”
Brinx says.
“My grandma is full Native American. My mother is half, and I’m a half that. It’s called Metis—one
parent is of British and one parent of Native American descent.”
Brinx continues, “On the opposite side is my very first tattoo I ever got—my Nanna’s husband passed
away 10 years ago, my Papa. It’s a sparrow, just a black and white sparrow—a little bird on my hip. He
had three strokes in a row and became brain damaged very soon after the third stroke and was in the
“I NEVER REALLY PLANNED OUT ANY OF
MY TATTOOS.”
—KATRINA JADE, 2017 AVN AWARD WINNER
Opposite page, Joanna Angel, photo by Chris Streams; this page, Riley Reid (top) and
Katrina Jade; photos by Jeff Koga/@KogaFoto.
hospital for three months on machines.
“I was close to both my Nanna and Papa growing up. When he passed it was definitely a traumatic event,
so this was in memory of him. The funny thing is when he passed away they had two sparrow birds—for
some reason it was one of his favorite birds—in a box at his funeral and they let them go and fly away. So it
was something very meaningful, that he’s going to always be beside me.”
Gia Paige, a 2017 nominee for Best New Starlet who was born and raised in Detroit, has a large tattoo
on her right upper leg but says despite its many layers, “that one to be honest doesn’t really have any
meaning, I just thought it was pretty.”
“At the time most of my friends were getting these skull tattoos and I wanted a girly one,” Paige says. “It
has a raven inside of it holding a strand of pearls. It’s like a theater skull, like a flapper’s ’50s-themed skull.
Like the flapper dancer girls with big boas, pearls and accessories. I got the skull one when I was 22. I’m 27
now.”
But Paige’s Woodstock tattoo is a different story.
“I have a Woodstock on my chest, because my Papa used to read me the Peanuts comics when I would
come over,” Paige says. “Woodstock was my favorite. And when he passed away I got Woodstock over my
heart.”
Woodstock was best known as Snoopy’s sidekick and best friend in the iconic comic strip by Charles
Schulz. He was named after the 1969 music festival in New York.
“Snoopy was his favorite, he was Snoopy,” Paige adds, noting she was 18 when she got it.
She also has two interlocking hearts on her wrist.
“Me and my best friend both have those,” Paige continues. “She’s actually the only person who I stayed
close with. I met her in elementary school in third grade and we’re still best friends to this day.”
The three flowers located on Paige’s left side are for her sisters.
“They are birth month flowers for each of my sisters,” Paige says. “I let them pick their favorite color and
I went and got them done. I have two older sisters and one younger.”
Gina Valentina, the 2017 Best New Starlet nominee who grew up in Miami and Brazil, has two tattoos
on her legs. On her right leg, it says ‘Amor é minha religião cristo’ in Portuguese.
“In Brazil we’re really religious, in Rio specifically,” Valentina tells AVN.
“It’s such a big thing in Brazilian culture and with Brazilian people. Every Sunday and Monday
everything closes. I’m not a really a religious person, but I say love is my religion. I feel like religion
and what I believe and what I’ve seen when I was in Brazil was lots of love. That’s what I believe in
ultimately—it’s love over everything. If someone hurts you, you still have love for them in your heart and
9.17 | AVN.com | 57
FEATURE