Syndesi Best

(He/They), Lead Piercer, GIA AJP

Syndesi Best joined the Evolution team in 2018, but has been piercing since 2013. Together with Noah Babcock, Syndesi helps fabricate Interstellar Jewelry Productions. He is passionate about facilitating positive change through body piercing, and he is particularly skilled at doing so by creating beautiful curations.

I was born in Everett, WA in 1991, moving to Taos, NM when I was 10 years old. I was raised in a very conservative religious household, where self-expression through the means of altering your physical appearance from body modification to dying your hair was considered a taboo, making it all the more enticing to me from as early as I can remember. In 1997, I was out with my father, walking down the sidewalk in the city. From the opposite direction, there was a man heading towards us that was covered in piercings and other modifications. I stopped dead in my tracks in amazement when I saw him; I didn’t know what piercings were, but I loved how they looked. At that moment, all I knew was that I wanted to look like him. This experience left a lasting impression on me that would set the course for the rest of my life.

Over the next ten years, my interest in piercing did not fade, and I eventually realized that not only did I love piercings, but that I also wanted to do them for other people who felt just like I did. Later on, when I was 16 years old and living in Taos, I walked into my first professional tattoo and piercing studio. When I walked through the doors, I felt an instant sense of “arrival.” I looked through their portfolios and saw clients come and go as they were getting pierced and tattooed. I then asked for a job at the counter, which I was promptly denied. This did not deter me, and I continued to hang around the studio over the next few years, eventually securing a job there when I was 19. 

While I had been pierced earlier on at retail stores that used inappropriate equipment such as piercing guns, my first experience with being pierced in a professional body modification studio was when I got my septum pierced at 18. For me, this experience was nothing short of a total “rebirth” for me. I felt like through this experience, my true self was finally allowed to emerge after many years of suppression. From that point, I was pierced several times until I became the front counter/receptionist for the studio.

After a couple of moves and false starts, I finally found the opportunity to become a body-piercing apprentice when I returned to Taos in 2012. Once I finished my apprenticeship, I finally realized my dream and became a professional body piercer. Over the years, I have worked at studios in Taos, Santa Fe, and now Albuquerque, as part of the team here at Evolution Body Piercing. My love of body modification has only grown over the years, driving me to want to learn as much as I can while developing my skills as a body piercer. 

Outside of being a piercer, I am happily married to my wife Amber, and I’m a very proud father to our amazing daughter Ivy Willow Cisneros-Best, as well as our 4 dogs. We love to paint, do arts and crafts and cook together. We both practice a vegan lifestyle and consider ourselves advocates for animals. I enjoy reality television, sitcoms, and basically any other good television or movies, as well as playing video games such as The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. Working at Evolution has provided me with the team and environment that I have always dreamed of since I set my heart on being a piercer many years ago. My role here is exciting, and I look forward to working with the clients who walk through the doors at Evolution and hope to facilitate positive change through body piercing.

Kevin Hopper

The power of words and pictures has always been immense. From cave paintings and stained glass to the advents of the printing press, photography, television and of course, the Internet.

Words and pictures are everywhere. Lucky for me, I have a talent for crafting and combining them into powerful and effective communication.

I grew up fascinated with photography, then fine art and graphic design. I also stumbled upon my writing talent when a college professor accused me of plagiarism (the highest form of flattery?). A career in advertising seemed the obvious track, so that was my initial route. However, my diverse skillset and ravenous appetite for learning new applications, tools and programs pushed me into journalism, art direction, digital publishing, UX/UI, AI, etc. This constant technological multiplicity keeps me both engaged, challenged, and admittedly, a bit overwhelmed.

Yet what remains constant? Words and pictures.

Regardless of industry, words and pictures are important. This is something that every successful company demands, and armed with the ability to craft both into effective communication, it is a thrill for me to perform.

My career path has been far from standard, but it has opened my creative mind to a multitude of applications and perspectives. Along the way, I have worked with and for some extraordinary people from all walks of life. I celebrate diversity in all forms and continue to seek and solve new communication problems via my design entity Hoppervision.

When time allows, I create artwork, take photos, cook impulsively, collect vintage furniture and snowboard when possible.

Let’s talk creativity in terms of solving your communications issues…

…over a taut espresso, of course!

https://hoppervision.com
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