Angel became interested in body piercing after a casual encounter with a woman bearing a
nipple piercing at a
Renaissance Faire in 1981. Through her encounter, she became involved with and employed by
Gauntlet, then the first and only, body piercing studio in the United States. While employed by Gauntlet, she worked at the Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco branches. She was the first recipient of a Master Piercer certificate, from Gauntlet founder
Jim Ward, which she received on December 1, 1992. Her technical contributions to the field of body piercing include the invention of several placements, including the
fourchette and the
lorum piercings. In December 1993, Angel opened her own studio, Rings of Desire, in the
French Quarter of
New Orleans, Louisiana. Rings of Desire was the first body piercing studio to receive state licensing from the Health Department in Louisiana. Angel has been involved with the crafting of regulatory legislation regarding body piercing in Louisiana, as well as the training of the professionals who enforce those laws. In this capacity, Angel distributed the research study for the
University of South Alabama on the relationship between female sexual satisfaction and vertical
clitoral hood piercing. Positive results were published in the
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. While in New Orleans, she established, with Justine Roig, a store catering to accessories for small dogs called Chiwawa Gaga. Following
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Angel closed her New Orleans studio and relocated to
Mérida, Yucatán,
Mexico. In March 2009, her book
The Piercing Bible--The Definitive Guide to Safe Body Piercing was published. Although Angel lives in Mexico, she works primarily internationally as a guest body piercer and piercing educator. Since 2005, Angel has been writing a column on piercing for the body art industry trade publication, Pain Magazine. Angel helped popularize
tongue piercing. ==Personal life==