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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Photo courtesy Azha Tattoos

Azha Sanders has worked as a licensed tattoo artist for 11 years and currently works at Forged True Tattoo in Brookhaven. The Kosciusko, Miss., native moved to Jackson when she was 13 years old, and she has held a passion for art her whole life.

View the Jackson Free Press’ gallery of her art at https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/photos/galleries/2020/nov/25/azha-tattoos/.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.