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.

Lee Ferguson

I knew that I wanted to tell stories … specifically, comicbook stories … from the age of four or five, I guess. Some of my earliest memories are of taking copy paper, Read more>>

Hana Zacpalkova

I knew I wanted to go down the creative path when I realized music was more than just a hobby for me – it’s how I express myself. Read more>>

Grace Leonard

I like to think that art has always been pushing its way into my life in a variety of ways, trying to send me signs, signs I kept ignoring for years! Read more>>

Mia Klinger

I was actually born into an artistic family. My grandmother and my mother both taught dance so at 3 years old I was taking classes. Myself and two other siblings carry on our family’s legacy. Read more>>

JUST ZERO

As long as I can remember, creating is what I wanted to do. Not so much in a professional sense, but more so that creating has always been my #1 choice for spending my time. Read more>>

Moriah LeFebvre

I have known since my earliest memories that I wanted to pursue a creative path. Creativity and art have always been innate and irrepressible parts of me. Read more>>

Topher O’Foolery

I knew very early on that I wanted to be a clown. My aunt and uncle took me to see Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and I participated in a pre-show gag with the clowns. Read more>>

Korey Pollard

I have been obsessed with movies and TV shows since I first saw the original Planet of the Apes on TV when I was six. Read more>>

Jingrao Guo

When I was a child, I had a passion for drawing. I loved using my paintbrush to narrate the stories in my heart and to express my emotions through art. Read more>>

Jessica Lamarre

I decided at a very young age that I wanted to pursue entertainment. It chose me I guess. Whatever realm it was, whether dance, music or acting I always took the opportunity to perform in front of friends and family. Read more>>

Becky Dawson

From my earliest memories, I’ve had a desire to become an artist. My journey began in childhood, influenced by my mom, a talented painter who pursued her art degree while I was still in elementary school. Read more>>

Luc Jacquemetton

I’ve harbored a passion for pursuing a creative path for as long as I can recall. It all began with filmmaking during my childhood when I yearned to compose music to complement my visual creations. Read more>>

Andy Estrella

I think this was when I had picked up an instrument and saw someone using it beyond the normal boundaries of playing chords and singing over them. Read more>>

Joseph Lanyo

I think I’ve always known, but growing up in a traditionally African household (mostly abroad), posed its own challenges. I had my mom’s voice in my head telling me “We did not bring you to America to be a Musician”, so that made me really take the time to do some soul searching. Read more>>

Khya

Creativity has always sort of followed me around. When I was really little, I would always be making up fantasy worlds, writing songs, making my sister and cousins put on plays, making pop bands with my neighbors…the list could go on forever. Read more>>

Rebeca Culbreth

I think photography has always been my constant, even before I was aware that this is what I would be doing with most of my time. Read more>>

Sarina Freincle

I realized that I wanted to pursue becoming a full-time artist after I ran for a local office in 2022. I didn’t win, but it gave me a different outlook on myself and my community. Read more>>

Aaric Mychal

I’ve known since I was a small child that I wanted to have a career in music, it just took some time to figure out exactly where I fit in. Read more>>

Darian Poe

I was raised playing music with my dad and brother from about the time I could hold a pair of drumsticks, sing, and play guitar. As I grew up I started playing saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, drums, and guitar. Read more>>

Liam Brock

I realized I wanted to pursue a career in music when I was in high school. At this point, I was playing drums in a punk band with my friends. Playing music live with others is really what sold it to me. Read more>>

Ashley Stewart

When I first started going to local live music events back in 2010, I knew that this was exactly where I wanted to be. In the heart of music, art, conversation, and entertainment. Read more>>

Sasha Davydova

Growing up, I was enchanted by every encounter of making art, playing music, writing, taking pictures, devouring any opportunity to try out all possible means of expression. Read more>>

Quentin Terrentee-Nose

As soon as I was evicted from my internal infant dwelling, I knew I wanted to be a writer and cartoonist — which Is why there was so much graffiti left behind in my mother’s womb. Read more>>

Alex Henry

Since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed with movies and TV shows. I loved making my own animated films and attending acting school. Read more>>

Goran Popovich

I believe that artistic/creative path revealed itself to me at a very early age. But the moment I realized the ever breathing life of arts in general, Read more>>

Adrián Genesius Barrón

I had always been an artistically driven kid, recreating scenes from movies at parties with all of my parents’ friends’ kids. One that we recreated the most was the ending of Sleeping Beauty, Read more>>

Alycia Earhart

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally when I was about 7 years old. It was always my answer when someone asked “what do you want to be when you grow up” but of course I didn’t know what that actually entailed. Read more>>

Shaylon Venney

I knew that I wanted to pursue my music full time, when I was in high school. I experienced so many opportunities and meet so many people that inspired me to see the possibilities that were capable within music. Read more>>

Lila Holler

I think I sort of always knew that music was something I wanted to pursue. Music has always been something for me that I do because I need to. Read more>>

Konn Lavery

I’ve known from a young age, watching my parents. The idea of a regular job didn’t entice me because you didn’t have control over your day-to-day activities. Read more>>

Caly Bevier

I was always singing when I was little. Whether it was singing along to Jewel CDs or acting like Annie when I was doing chores. Read more>>

Chenice Branquinho

I had been welcomed in a way that I never have before by the electronic dance music community so the community and music made me feel like home. Read more>>

Bob Smith

I grew up in an idyllic upstate New York suburban town. Most of the families in Queensbury live cozy upper middle class lives. We did not. Read more>>

Jana Lee Hamblin

Ever since I can remember. As a kid, I was always performing. I would put on neighborhood talent shows with the other kids. It would always turn out that I was the weird, creator, director and star of them. Read more>>

Keyi Liu

Since I was young, my dream is to be an artist. I dreamt every day, and when I woke up, I could vividly remember everything that happened in my dreams. Read more>>

Dreaprende

Ever since I was young I had interest in music. I remember when I got my first iPod Shuffle (the blue one), it changed the game for me. Read more>>

Denny Glasser

A couple moments in my childhood and young adulthood stick out to me when I first knew I wanted to pursue comedy professionally. Read more>>

Iman Gadalla

I like to think I got the best traits of my parents to make me an artist. My mom loved to write and create beautiful stories and poetry, my father draws amazingly, being able to create landscapes in a manner of minutes. Read more>>

Trevor Wiest

When I was in middle school, end of 7th grade. I had been playing guitar since around age 8. I really started getting inspired near the end of 7th grade. Read more>>

Amber Synnett

I’ve loved drawing since I can first remember picking up a crayon. My mom would always be crafting different projects both for my brother and I, and herself. Read more>>

Rodrigo Ramos

From my earliest memories, music has been an integral part of my upbringing. Raised in a household where church hymns and harmonies filled the air, it seemed as though melody was woven into the very fabric of our lives. Read more>>

Robert Sherer

A. I have been a prolific creator and nature lover since early childhood but I seldom ever thought about the visual arts as a viable career path. Read more>>

Dorren Lee

I was always curious about acting growing up but I didn’t have the opportunity to explore it or think it was a possible career path. Read more>>

Paris Dwyer

Throughout my life, art has been the most comforting force in my connection to myself and the world. Books, poetry, films; storytelling. Read more>>

Sadequi Houssam Eddine

In a year 2014 I was at the photography institute in my town, and here I began to admire photography and films. From that day on, this feeling was implanted that when I grow up, I will be a professional photographer, because photography is an art. Read more>>