Roland Page

Before there was Black Ink there was a minority own and operated business out of St. Louis called the Pearl Tattoo Gallery. Established in 1996 then founder Roland Sato Page was rebounding after a stint with the federal system. Roland previous career before the tattoo industry was in law enforcement. He was a St. Louis police officer for over eight years before his demise because indulging in criminal behavior. Sound harsh like another case of police corruption? Not exactly. Roland conviction was due to his affiliation to his childhood friends. The inner battle between loyalty for the badge and streets left him unemployed. As a man should the Midwest native picked himself up followed his life long passion. A business in urban art, body art that is. He created the first tattoo studio in the midwest thus the birth of the Pearl located in downtown St. Louis Mo. 
Years of success has blessed him with a celebrity and community support unit that any business proprietor would envy. The pearl boast of clientele such as NBA David Lee, rap pioneer Brand Nubian, Nelly, NFL Rams, WildNOut Spanky Hayes, Legend Buswick Bill, and many more. Besides immense blessings, Roland was enjoying spending time with his family something law enforcement couldn't deliver with all the debt Roland had have. So with tragedy comes blessings after his demise Roland resurrection was sweet. He was working on becoming a good husband and a Great father. He mentored two of his four children to captain the Pearl legacy. Yung Ro and Jiro Page lead the charge welcoming the family dynasty. It was only fitting since Roland is a second generation tattooist after his grandfather who was a artist in Osaka Japan gifted with the form of Irezumi. 
The Pearl expanded into other entities, Runway2Empowerment not-for-profit and BPENT which umbrella a recording studio and indie music label. How did they fare? Well the music label with Yung Ro holding the mic charted the Billboard Music Charts 4x. R2E is a pillar in the St. Louis community following the motto "You have to give Blessings to receive Blessings". 
After years of prospering again fate reared it's head. Roland was diagnosed with Lupus so his tattoo career came to a complete halt. The sons once again came to their father rescue encouraging him to not give up or give in to depression. So Roland traded from visual art to literary art thus introducing "Eating the Forbidden Fruit"  a fiction tale loosely based on his trial and tribulations of the past.