We asked some insanely talented artists, creatives and makers to tell us about when they know they were going to pursue a creative career.

Ari Fine

I knew I’d always wanted to dance since I was little, however, I knew my Junior year of high school that I wanted to make dance my full-time career. Read more>>

Bassam AL NAHARI

From an early age, I discovered my passion for pursuing a creative path. Growing up surrounded by my father’s repair tools, such as screwdrivers, pliers, electrical and carpentry tools, ignited a sense of excitement and joy within me. Read more>>

Alison Stolpa

When I was an undergraduate, I worked at my college radio station, which was the most exciting, fulfilling, and fun thing imaginable to me. Read more>>

Trinity Minteer

I think ever since I first knew I had a voice. In first grade I remember going around the class and being asked the imaginative question “Who do you want to be when you grow up?”. My reply was always a singer. Read more>>

Beibei Champagne

I’ve always loved drawing since when I was a kid. Growing up, my teachers and classmates noticed, I had an affinity for art. Due to this, my drawings were always used to decorate the classroom and I was always asked to help with other art related projects. Read more>>

Latesha White-Carter

I always knew what I wanted to be growing up. From the little girl in middle school doodling on her classwork to drawing on her parent’s walls to drawing on myself. Read more>>

Jimmy Tang

I first knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally right when I graduated from college. I realized I was going down a lonely path because cultural your asian parents didn’t come all the way from the motherland for you to become an aspiring actor. Read more>>

Novo Dé

I guess we could say that my career in the arts began when I started giving a lot of thought to my mortality. That this could all be over one day. Read more>>

Heartbreak Hutch

Pursuing music professionally wasn’t even a choice for me; the feeling to create comes naturally every day. Whether it’s music, design, or building something from scratch, I’m someone who was born to make music! Read more>>

Fabien Gravillon

From the beginning of my career, about 24 years ago, I knew right away that I wanted to pursue a professional artistic career. I found talent agencies at the age of 18, then I had my first castings and I worked straight away. Read more>>

Christi Leigh

I came to this realization later in life. I often feel I barely existed until my thirties. I had my first child in my teens and barreled onto the hamster wheel of responsibilities and jobs and bills and didn’t slow down until fifteen years of mindless toiling and building a life unconsciously came crashing down on me. Read more>>

Court Taylor

I have always been a creative person. I grew up dancing competitively, performing in plays at church and school, drawing and painting, etc. Read more>>

Katherene Garry

While living in New York, I didn’t have much money to do a lot of fun stuff, so I would sleep on the sidewalks for stand-by tickets just to watch a live taping of Saturday Night Live. Read more>>

Braylen Rembert

It’s really crazy to know that I live my life through my music career. I first knew I wanted to do something music related when I joined band in 4th grade. Read more>>

Liz Griswold

I I knew from a young age that I had strong, artistic abilities through art class, home projects and always practicing hair & makeup trend. Read more>>

Bryn Gleason

I’ll never forget the moment when I knew, with absolute certainty, that I was dedicating my entire life to my Artwork. I was seventeen years old, taking an introduction to traditional printmaking course at the University of Minnesota, when I was introduced to intaglio printmaking for the first time. Read more>>

Sean Robledo

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a musician. However, the biggest turning point that I can remember was when I was about 10 or 11 I was in the truck with my dad and Hells Bells by AC/DC came on the radio and I just remember thinking it was one of the coolest things I had ever heard. Read more>>

Melanie McNulty

As basic as it sounds, I’ve known I wanted to be an actor for as long as I can remember. Where it really solidified as a possibility for me was after I booked my first paid acting job, I was 17 years old, and I booked a commercial that landed me my SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) eligibility. Read more>>

Bailey Weaver

At the age of 8, while seated in my living room watching an episode of Hannah Montana, I was struck with a profound desire to create the joy and emotion that my favorite movies and shows evoked within me. Read more>>

Gabe Mayfield

When I was 12 years old my cousin give me a Casio keyboard that they didn’t want anymore. I had an old fashion tape recorder that I would use to record musical patterns that I made with the keyboard. Read more>>

Kristin Ferguson

Growing up during the birth of YouTube content creators, I loved envisioning myself as one. I loved recording my day and replicating the edits and DIY’s of my favorite YouTubers. Read more>>

Manny Morales

When I was a young boy. I would read books to escape reality, entering into another world through imagination. Shortly after I started creating my own world, one in which I had complete creative control. Read more>>

Yunran Zhang

My journey into the world of creativity started back in high school when I first fell in love with coding and graphic design. I quickly realized how powerful blending technology with artistic expression could be. Read more>>

Alexis DeLaRosa

Back in 2000, my parents took me to Disney for my 5th birthday. I loved all things Disney – I still do to this day. Well one of our full days we spent in Animal Kingdom and on our list of plans was to go see a show … Festival of the Lion King. Read more>>

Catherine Clark

I’ve always been more of a problem solver rather than a creative person. Love, Ceil was born truly out of trying to find a solution to a problem that we had been faced with time and time again. Read more>>

Katie Crews

Imagine this, I’m a pregnant elmentary school teacher and I take a painting class with some friends at Painting with a Twist. Read more>>

Tabitha Whitley

I think I’ve always known that I wanted to be an artist. All children start out making art, I was just one of the kids that never stopped. When I was applying to college I wasn’t sure what I should major in since I was trying to find a practical art related career. Read more>>

Anashea Debraux

I knew that modeling was God’s calling for my life. They say that you are surrounded by your purpose throughout the course of your entire life, and I couldn’t agree more with that statement. Read more>>

Gaia Soia

When I was a child, my mother enjoyed creating intricate artworks with salt dough, teaching me how to sculpt and color small objects. With few tools and plenty of imagination, she was able to bring to life scenes that enchanted me and left me in awe. Read more>>

Steve Lee

I feel like need to answer this from two different phases of my life… when I was just starting out in film sound – and when I started thinking about creating my current project, The Hollywood Sound Museum! Read more>>

Mary Engelbreit

I was 11 when someone asked that classic question—what did I want to do when I grew up. Since the questioner was my favorite aunt and I knew she really wanted to know, I told her very passionately that I wanted to be an artist. Read more>>

Christopher Rhodes

If you ask my mom, she’ll tell you that I’ve known since I was born. The desire (…or need maybe?) to entertain those around me is woven directly into the essence of my being. Read more>>

Katie Nowicki

As a young kid, I always had some sort of creative tool in may hand. Whether it was a pencil, crayon, marker, anything I could get my hands on that would help me express myself, I was holding it. Read more>>

Heather Hemsley

There wasn’t a specific “catalyst” moment that made me want to pursue screenwriting; it was more of a gradual discovery. I grew up watching tons of films and TV shows with my family, namely my siblings. Read more>>

Daniela Torres

We got to a point in our set building where the music we wanted to play out, didn’t exist. On top that, we knew that if we wanted to create a sound that people will love, we had to begin producing original music. Read more>>

Luis Alonso Sanchez

Since I was a kid I’ve leaned towards creative or artistic interactions, such as drawing as a main activity throughout my school life, at the same time understanding my family’s history through their creative labor, Read more>>

Susannah Hough

I first knew a life as an artist, particularly an actor, was for me when I was six years old. My mother took my sister and me to the YWCA twice a week. Read more>>

Amanda Pasler

It’s tough to say when exactly but I believe I was about 5 or 6. I grew up laying beneath my grandmothers piano while she played, and I remember feeling completely at peace in those moments. Read more>>

Samantha LaFlamme

I’ve known that I wanted to work in some type of creative field since I was quite young – I was always inspired by stories of other professional artists and was fascinated with movies, music and books. Read more>>

Bula Barua

I knew I was an artist at the age of 2 years old! I gravitated towards performing and visual arts. I would create skits and games, which included all forms of art. Read more>>

 

Madison Evans

I knew I wanted to pursue Digital Art and Vjing ever since I started going to music festivals. My first music festival was in 2016 at Bonnaroo. Read more>>