Kamloops women vie for coveted INKED cover spot

Ketlo is a financial accountant in Kamloops, but her photo spread in INKED is light years away from the buttoned-down accountant stereotype.

She says she has never modeled before, but is in the contest to win it.

“One of my girlfriends messaged me, telling me about it. I didn’t know anything about it. I entered it, just because I get compliments all the time on my tattoos,” said Ketlo. “So I said, ‘Why not, right?’”

Ketlo credited her favourite tattoo shop, Sakred Skin and Studio, and Motiv Photography for helping her along the way.

While Ketlo eased her way into the contest, a second Kamloops entrant, going by Rebel Wilde, was gung-ho from the start.

Wilde got her first tattoo on her 18th birthday — the first opportunity her parents would allow.

“I skipped class,” she said with a laugh.

“I was so excited. I had been waiting to get tattoos from when I was really little. I set up the whole things weeks before and went and got my first piece which was something really tiny on my ankle. My mom was completely against tattoos, so the next couple of tattoos I had to sneak. She didn’t even know that I had them.”

Wilde works part time as a tattoo model, spending the rest of her working hours as a contractor cleaning residential and commercial properties.

She believes winning the INKED competition would open doors for her to more modeling opportunities.

“I’ve always been the underdog because I’m quite short. So I was always told that, ‘You can’t do runways. You can’t really do modeling. It doesn’t look good on you. You’re a little bit different.’ So if I was able to win (this contest), it would be a huge thing for me because I don’t have the absolute model image,” said Wilde, who credits Rocky’s Tattoo and Eye Candy Ink as her favourite local studios.

Wilde estimates 30 to 40 per cent of her body is tattooed, while Ketlo says more of her body is covered in ink than not.

Both women say they are not finished getting inked.

To vote for Brandy Ketlo, click here.

To vote for Rebel Wilde, click here.

by James Peters

Kamloops women vie for coveted INKED cover spot

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