Whang-od started tattoing at the age of 15, a traditional artform that she learned from her father, considered a master tattooist or the region, Onggay. Traditionally, only men with special tattooing ancestry were allowed to learn the art. Whang-od was an exception due to her talent and potential seen by her father. In later life, Whang-od's chosen apprentices constituted of only women, breaking the patrimonial tradition for the first time in recorded Kalinga history. Despite breaking tradition, her community accepted her decision. She has been doing the batok, the traditional hand-tapped tattooing, to male headhunters who earned the tattoos by protecting villages or killing enemies. She also applies tattoos to women of the Butbut people in Buscalan, Kalinga, primarily for aesthetic purposes.

As a traditional Kalinga tattooist or mambabatok, she did fortune telling and chants while doing tattoos. Every design she creates contains symbolic meanings specific to the mambabatok culture. For example, an eagle tattoo indicates that the warrior successfully killed an enemy upon his return from a battle.

She herself was tattooed when she was a teenager, and her first tattoo consists of a ladder and a python.

Fatok is the term used for tattooing women to show beauty and wealth. When an arm of woman is tattooed just like Whang-od's own tattoos, the family of the woman is obliged to pay the tattoo artist a piglet or bundle of harvested rice.

On the other hand, fi-ing is the term used for tattooing of male Butbut warriors on their chests and arms. Whang-od used to practice fi-ing until headhunting was discouraged by the government. Fi-ing was last practiced in 1972.

Though headhunters no longer exist, Whang-od still applies the tattoos to Buscalan tourists. However, she would no longer do chants when tattooing tourists, as the chants are only for the beautification of Kalinga women and for the celebration of Kalinga men's victory in battle.

Like other indigenouism artists, her tattoo ink is composed of the indigenous materials, which are mixture of charcoal and water that will be tapped into the skin through a thorn end of a calamansi or pomelo tree. This ancient technique of batok that dates back a thousand years before her time is relatively painful compared to other conventional techniques. She uses designs found in nature and basic geometric shapes. She has numerous signature tattoos, but since 2017, her signature tattoo is composed of three dots, representing herself and her two apprentices, depicted as a continuation of the art form from the older to the next generation.

Whang-od was formally nominated to the National Living Treasures Award during the 66th Manila Fame event on October 21, 2017. The nomination was accepted by the NCCA through a ceremony within the event. On June 12, 2018, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts announced that the prestigious Dangal ng Haraya Award “for her lifetime of achievements and noteworthy contribution in preservation and promotion of the Kalinga traditional art of tattooing.”

According to en.wikipedia.org