Shawn King of Inked King and Queens

My name is Shawn King. I’m 23 years old, born March 13, 1992 in Huntington Beach,California. I have an older sister who is 25, my parents are still together and happily married. My dad is black my mom is white and I think growing up as a mixed child has given me quite a few advantages in life in terms of how I view other people and situations. When I was young we moved from Huntington Beach to Arizona,where I have spent the majority of my life. I attended Greenfield Elementary then went to Greenfield Junior High then to Gilbert High School.
I have been playing basketball since I was in six grade due to the fact that I was pretty tall at such a young age. By the time I was a freshman in high school, I was 6 foot 4 which really helped on the basketball court. I played on the freshman team my first year then was moved up to varsity for my remaining 3 years. By the end of my senior season I was named one of the top five ranked players in the state of Arizona and was also named conference player of the year. I was the first basketball player out of Gilbert high school to go to Division I college which was such a blessing. I signed with UIC, University of Illinois at Chicago and played a year out there, after some injuries I ended up leaving that school and transferring to a school in Grand Junction, Colorado to play ball.I stayed there for two years and after a few more injuries I ended up transferring to Arizona State University,which was back in my home state where my parents still lived. Due to the fact that I had numerous knee surgeries I wasn’t healthy enough to play for ASU, so that’s when I began focusing on my clothing career.
All my life I’ve had a niche for fashion always putting outfits together dressing my friends telling them what I thought would look best on them. My fourth year of college I began to play with the idea of starting my own clothing line, which was in the back of my head since I was a senior in high school. I thought now that I wasn’t playing basketball anymore I had tons of free time on my hands, what better time than now. So I began to do endless and I mean endless hours of research on what market to get into what type of clothing I should create where I could get the best clothing and gear from, what my clothing company would be called what my logo would look like etc. Due to the fact that I played basketball for three years I was never able to take a large number of classes at once. So when my fifth and final year of school hit I put my clothing line into motion. I came up with the name Inked Kings and Inked Queens as kind of a play off my last name.
I worked with quite a few designers on the logo and ended up lucky enough to find one located out in Brazil who gave me exactly what I was looking for. At this time, I was bartending to pay the bills at one of the local college bars which allowed me to meet tons of people and share with them my future plans. I ended up launching my website in mid April 2015 and graduating ASU on May 12th, 2015. Luckily being from the area I had tons of support from the locals. It was nice to see that people out here really support local business which was huge to my success in the beginning. Every night I was making sure to hit people up telling them to check out my website, walking around the streets doing promotions, slapping stickers everywhere, doing anything I could to continue to get my name out there. Social media was a huge part of it and I can definitely say I couldn’t of done it without that. I have now established my brand in five different countries including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada and Mexico.
On June 8th, 2015, I will be taking a trip to Europe for five weeks with my cousin Anthony to spread the company name and hopefully expand to many of the  other countries we visit. I don’t believe people were meant to stay in one place, to see one style of living their whole life. I think the most rounded individuals are the ones that see the world, that’s what I want for everybody.
I’m taking my clothing line around the world so that I may build a community. The Inked Community has been misunderstood for quite some time now. Tattoos have always been looked at as a form of rebellion, with my company we look at them as a form of expression, a form of art that you wish to share with your friends, family and all those that you meet. One of the things I stress most about my company is the idea that we are a family, no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter what you look like what shape and size you are, if you have tattoos on your skin you are able to relate to people thousands and thousands of miles away simply because you share that connection, the love of expressing yourself through the artwork on your skin.
If my clothing line can do one thing for this world, I pray that I can bring people together from all walks of life to show them that they are one in the same, that they are family. I have some huge things planned for this company, things I couldn’t have ever imagined would be possible. With the help of my parents and my clothing line I plan on changing the way people  see each other, and by changing that one simple thing I believe I can change the world.
All I ask of my fans is that you trust me and join me in this movement. Together is where the change begins.