Do you remember the moment you realized what you wanted to do professionally? Was it magic? Was it scary? We wanted to hear from some of the most talented artists and creatives in the community and so we asked them to tell us the story of the moment when they knew they were going to pursue a creative career path.

Stephanie Ryann

From being a young child handing out handcrafted tickets to performances in my parents living room, I’ve always had an interest in being a singer/songwriter. Read more>>

Janiah Del Rio

Throughout my life, music has been a constant presence, shaping my upbringing within a musically inclined family. Both my parents, John Del Rio and Victoria Del Rio, natives of Oahu, Hawaii, were deeply connected to music. Read more>>

Nathan B Phillips

I think from a very young age I definitely knew that my hand would be fused to some sort of artistic medium, At first I went down the path of a draftsman working for Architects, Engineers, kitchen designers and even worked for a Tyre and Exhaust Company partnered with Continental Tires. Read more>>

Jeanette Greenwood

I began performing when I was just five years old in kindergarten. I was given the opportunity to sing “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” at Mitchell Blvd. Read more>>

Xiaohan Jiang

When I was about 19 years old, this idea gradually took shape. In the second year of my high school, I decided to study fine art. In the beginning, I painted in the school’s studio, but there were few art students in ordinary high schools. Read more>>

Connor Query

Around 2018, about a year into my last full-time corporate position, was probably the time I felt ready to take the plunge into making this art thing work. Read more>>

Callum

Since I was a child! I started falling in love with music as a child, I started with humming along to songs from the crib which turned into singing pretty quickly. Read more>>

Fritz Dannemiller

We competed in the Tri-C high school rock off at the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020 just before the pandemic, and we ended up winning first place out of all the bands that competed. Read more>>

Anna Puchalski

I knew I wanted to follow an artistic path from a very young age. I am dyslexic and struggled to learn to read. One of the things that really helped were comics — all sorts, actually. Read more>>

Kelly Nicolaisen

My mom told me I would always make a rectangle frame through my hands when we were driving. Putting little scenes in my head wherever we were, framing things. Read more>>

Elaine Michele

My journey into the world of creativity and entrepreneurship started with a rebellious streak and a longing to break free from the constraints of my conservative upbringing. Read more>>

Pretti Emage

I started in performing arts when I was 7 years old, I knew them I wanted to be an entertainer. When I turned 14 that’s when I pursued my music career full-time. Read more>>

Akilah Brown

I think I knew I wanted to become a writer after reading my first Sweet Valley High (Francine Pascal) book. I had always been a voracious reader, and my entrée into series fiction had been The Baby-Sitters Club (Ann M. Martin) Read more>>

Jeremy Phelps

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue music was At a very young age, I was always surrounded by instruments. my cousin was a drummer, and I would even hop On his drums when I was a Toddler. Read more>>

Sivan Maya

I knew I had a creative spark when I ran around playing Lord of The Rings and Star Wars as child and built my own pod racer. We were a big fantasy and Sci-Fi family and between elves, werewolves and Jedi there was always spirited debate about whom was best, Read more>>

Olajuwon Orenuga

I knew I first wanted to pursue a path in the creative field when I was in middle school! I was in class and I noticed to these two kids who were drawing at a very high level, and I honestly thought you had to be very old to have that level of skill. Read more>>

Scott Womer

Growing up on 40 wooded acres, outside of Albany NY, all I had to keep me occupied was my bmx bike and my drum set. Fortunately, my parents were both musicians, and my father was a local school music teacher and church choir director. Read more>>

Keith Brown

Many encouraged me to pursue this career, recognizing my fervent passion for modeling. This enthusiasm was evident early on, as I was voted “Best Dressed” in my middle school yearbook. Read more>>

Debbi James

Iv been in to music/dancing and performing my whole life Ever since I can remember myself I always love singing and performing for my mother and every time I’ll see a stage I will jump on it and start performing my own show that creat in my head Read more>>

Matt Rogers

After I graduated from college with a Biology degree, I continued my education obtaining licenses and certification for the medical field. Read more>>

Tracy Spadafora

I fell in love with visual art as a child and as I continued to focus on art in my youth, I knew it was my calling. As a visual learner I was always drawn to visual images, and I seemed to have a natural facility for drawing, which helped to feed my passion for art early on. Read more>>

Phobik

I was always told that art was a hobby growing up so my ambition and motivation to be an artist was never encouraged. It was embedded that Work was meant to be hard and tiring but safe Read more>>

Teresa Coleman-Wash

The impact Diana Ross had on me when I first saw her in The Wiz was profound and life-altering. After that experience, I found myself consistently performing songs from the musical in every pageant or contest I participated in. Read more>>

Hails Joseph

I knew young, but it took me a while to figure out what my title was. My story begins in middle school. I attended Meyerland Middle School (MPVA) in Houston, TX when it was still called Johnston and it’s where for three years I fell in love with creating art. Read more>>

Milli Banks

I first feel in love with music when I first experience Sunday funday with a low rider crew in my hometown Los Angeles, it was a Sunday evening and we drove from Crenshaw to Long Beach and down to Pacific Coast Highway. Read more>>

Adriana Reyes Vázquez

In my childhood, I noticed that I had a distinction for seeing things in a beautiful and aesthetic way, I paid attention to each of the details of objects or common places, for someone small what I sought was to portray them, in drawing, painting. Read more>>

Jiwon Rhie

I received my two BFA degrees in South Korea, in Visual Communication Design and Painting. During my first degree in design, I was eager to express my own story rather than fulfill clients’ requests. Read more>>

Dennis Trochez

I went from barely passing english class to getting paid to write songs for people Read more>>

Richard A. Delgado

I became an artist at an early age, and have been ever since. After watching my dad and siblings paint murals and awesome paintings. I knew right there and then that I wanted to be an artist too. Read more>>

Scarlett Ssu-Chia Chen

I’m Scarlett Chen, a US-based Taiwanese motion designer. Before my artistic journey in the US, I pursued a major in Economics during my undergraduate studies in Taiwan. Read more>>

Carmen Dianne

I have always dreamed of pursuing a career as an artist, but I took a detour for a while because my family encouraged me to go to law school. Read more>>

Ettiene Botha

It was only during the pandemic, when I was still working as a Web developer for an Agency, that I happened to came across a very familiar show I grew up watching. Dragonball Z, in this case I saw Dragonball Super. It was thrilling seeing such a childhood favorite years later. Read more>>

Ellie Platt

As a little girl, I grew up making headpieces with my mom, for every Mardi Gras luncheon she would attend with her friends. That’s where my love of headpieces began! Read more>>

Josefina Fernandez Moran

Late in my adolescence I knew I wanted to be an artist. In my early teens I knew I wanted to work in film. I went to Europe and visited a friend that was studying to become a Make Up Artist. Read more>>