Are artists born or made? To help answer this question, we asked some of the most artistic folks we know to tell us about how they knew they were going to pursue an artistic or creative path. We’ve shared highlights below.

Kennedy Ketcham

As far back as I can remember I’ve always been interested in expressing myself creatively. When I was in elementary I would make comics for my family to read, and by the time I was in middle school, I had sketchbooks that I would take everywhere with me. In high school, I filled my schedule with as many art classes as I could, but when it came to applying for college I was too afraid to pursue art so I entered college as a Psychology major. After only one semester I realized I didn’t want to waste my time or money on something I wasn’t fully invested in, so I immediately shifted gears to become an Art major. Read more>>

Lavell Clayton

I would say around age 10 ,I would play madden and instead of playing the season with a already existing team I would create a whole new team and take the Cleveland browns out and replace them with my team. Not only the team but I created all the players using family and friends names and place them in positions that suited them best Read more>>

Lulu Baker

I have always had a passion for beautifying through hair and makeup but I was getting really bored with the norm. I had no idea how to go on but I knew that just doing hair commercially was not going to make me happy. I met my friend Taniiah (@theyungtea) in 2022 and she would post all of the cool things she was doing with hair. She had fashion shows and photo shoots going on and eventually I decided to try my hand with it. I did some long multicolored braids on a mannequin and wrapped the braids into a heart. Read more>>

Maegan Philmore

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was during a quiet evening at home, watching Steel Magnolias with my dad. It was a simple, yet profoundly significant moment. As the credits rolled, I found myself fixated on the various roles listed, particularly the UPM (Unit Production Manager). I had no idea what a UPM did at the time, but I knew I wanted to be involved in creating something as impactful as what I had just watched. The funeral scene with Sally Field blew me away. Read more>>

Marko Palushi

I was always the type of kid that was drawing or making doodles in empty pages and margins. I have many memories of that growing up, sketching things out like characters and monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh with a box of cheap off-brand sharpies from the dollar store on copy paper. Though out middle school, and high school I would keep to this habit, always having a new obsession from another TV show or video game that I could reference from. I really wanted to do this my whole life, had dreams of making art for games or creating my own comic. But I didn’t grow up with many creative people, and was heavily discouraged from pursuing the arts. Read more>>

Mayu Cho

When I was a teenage girl, I began to aspire to become an actor. I was very shy and had difficulty speaking to others in the classroom. My family’s issues at the time had affected me deeply, leading to a loss of speech and communication skills. One day, I happened to visit a drama club and saw their performance on stage. The way they expressed their feelings through acting opened my eyes. One of the students suggested that I audition, so I did. To my surprise, I passed the audition for a spring stage event. Read more>> 

Mike Dillon

From a young age I was enamored with drums and always would watch the drummer of any band that my parents to me to see, I particularly remember see the jackson 5 cartoon series when I was 6 and thought that when Tito play percussion that was the coolest … I started drum lesson at in 5th grade and by the time was a junior in high school I had decided that music was my calling. I went to North Texas State University and studied music. My dream at 17 was to be a professional drummer. To have become a band leader, Vibraphonist and composer has been beyond my wildest dreams. Music is an endless well.. Read more>>

Moesha Foster

From a young age, I was always drawn to creative expression. One of my earliest memories is setting up my mom’s cellphone to film my own YouTube videos, long before I even knew what a vlog was. I would spend hours scripting scenes, directing my siblings and friends, and editing the footage to create “mini movies” that I proudly shared with my family. Alongside these video projects, I found joy in writing songs and plays, imagining entire worlds and stories that I could bring to life. Read more>>

Nefeli Christou

From a very young age, I was immersed in the arts, whether it was music, visual arts, or any form of creativity. Artistic creation is my way of conveying what words cannot express and connecting with my own experiences. The arts have always been a part of my life, as my grandfather and father are both painters. Family trips to nature, where my father painted landscapes, along with visits to theaters, concerts, and operas, deeply influenced my artistic growth. In kindergarten, I started playing the piano. By elementary school, I began learning visual arts and took up the cello. This period marked the beginning of my profound journey into the arts, especially music. Read more>>

Pete Wheeler

One of my most memorable exposures to music at a young age was a show called “Hee Haw”. For those of you that have never seen it, I highly suggest you head over to YouTube at some point and search out some of those clips. The show was chock full of comedy skits and musical numbers. As a kid, I can remember the whole family sitting around and watching, and there was something innocent and honest about the show. The show starred Buck Owens and Roy Clark. I found myself drawn to Roy and his ability to play the heck out of pretty much anything with strings. Read more>>

Quentin Hagewood

I originally started playing music in 8th grade band. I started on the alto sax. At the time I thought Kenny G was a total rock star and that if I could only play as good as him, all the girls would love me. Fast forward through the years and that love of music progressed into high school and into my early 20’s where I always tried to balance a full time career with being in bands and writing original music. I really tried to put in the work to get “signed” with some kind of label, but it never happened. Read more>>

Ryan Sadler

I think I gained my sense of creativity when I first found and used my dad’s Hi8 camera growing up. The camera fascinated me—the way it could capture seemingly mundane moments and let you watch them back over and over. Throughout my adolescence, I made funny skits with my friends, and as time went on, I became increasingly interested in the storytelling aspect of filmmaking. I truly began my artistic journey with my good friend Mitch Glass, who has written and directed most of the narrative films I’ve made. However, it wasn’t until I got my first internship during college at Diamond View Studios that I realized how much of a career I could make out of creating art with a camera. Read more>>

Samantha Spellman

After a car accident left me injured, my boss fired me. This left me with all the time in the world to start submitting to background work on the TV shows that film here in Chicago. When I first got on set of Chicago Fire in 2017 in a Molly’s Bar Scene (I’m seen all over the first episode of Season 6), I got bit by the acting bug. After seeing the way things worked on set production wise as well as the actors on the show (Miranda Rae Mayo and Jesse Spencer) being friendly and fun, I decided that this is where I actually belong in life. Jesse Spencer made me laugh so hard on that set. This was when I decided that I need to be a part of this creative storytelling! Read more>>

Shuang Chen

When I was a child, I used to go for walks in my neighborhood with my parents. I was always attentive to the buildings lining the streets. Over time, this early interest became a fascination with exploring cityscapes during my travels. I enjoyed observing the dynamic interplay between people and the urban environment. My interest in photography also enriched my understanding and appreciation for architecture and space, allowing me to capture the nuances of light, texture, and form in architectural spaces. These experiences sparked my passion for architectural design and guided me toward an exciting professional journey. Read more>>

Sonora Mindwerl

It was the summer of 2016 and my gap year was coming to an end- I had spent the past months working in a city, followed by realizing that both the work and city were draining my soul away by the day, which was followed by scraping together my savings and buying a one way ticket across the ocean. I had wandered the moors and highlands, tripped on ancient cobbled streets, lost my breath at volcanic glaciers and midnight sun, and now I was back in Washington, walking down a mountain with my dear friend Andrew Kearns- a photographer who I had met on my travels. Read more>>

Stevie Marie

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path back in 2016. My father passed away in January of 2016 when I was only 25. It was a devastating loss. It completely changed the way I viewed the world. I was in the depths of my journey through grief when I started watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. I was drawn to the creativity and charisma of the people I was watching. I’ve always been a very outgoing person and I love to engage with people. I was inspired to start posting beauty related content on Instagram and YouTube. I was lucky enough to be able to completely dedicate my time to creating content and interacting with my supporters. Read more>>

Taj Poscé

When I was around 20 years old, I made a decision about my career choice. Prior to making that decision, I was a college athlete, I worked as an intern at a law firm in Center City Philadelphia, and I was burning myself out at both ends. I had been engaged in the arts since I was a child, but it was never presented as an option to pursue. I had always had art teachers take a special interest in me, doing things such as giving me tips about different media and entering my work into competitions, but I never understood what it meant to make a life as an artist. Read more>>

Tenesha Carter Johnson

As a Kansas City native, I was exposed fairly early to local museums and creative spaces such asThe Kemper Museum, Nelson Atkins, and a plethora of galleries across the KC metro. However, it was summer 2019, between my junior and senior year of high school, that the American Daughters summer program would take my fellow cohort colleagues and I to Nelson Atkins to see the 30 Americans traveling exhibition, showcasing a range of Black artists reflective of their essence and being as African Americans through art. Read more>>

Tom Callahan

I knew I was going to pursue the arts and entertainment since my earliest memories. I have always had 2 loves since I was 6 or 7 years old……Sports and the Arts. Music was always in my home as relatives on both sides of the family played professionally, and I was always involved in playing sports which led me into the martial arts Read more>>

Trevor Rain

Well I can’t remember exactly when but my parents would always ask what I wanted to be when I grew up and maybe from around 13 or 14 on I would say a rapper and it just kinda became like a thing. I never realized it was what I wanted to do until I was about 17. I tried to start pursuing it but I gave up once i realized how hard it is to record and mix music. I always sucked with technology and computers so it just seemed like the most frustrating and confusing thing to figure out. Read more>>

Vic Rodriguez Tang

Before shifting to higher education three years ago, I worked as a designer and art director for 15 years in the Dallas and Austin areas. Even though teaching is my full-time job, I have continued to foster relationships with freelance clients to continue my creative practice. I have always considered myself a creative person. Since I was little, I have been interested in dance, theater, arts and crafts, etc., but it wasn’t until my first year in college that I realized I could make a living as a creative. I tried different mediums, such as photography, drawing, painting, and sculpture.  Read more>>

Vicki Johnson

I was literally born into the world of creative works or medicine. My grandmother who raised me from the age of two, was a noted Poet with accolades, and she had me on blankets under the oak trees at home in Texas rhyming words at about four years old. Writing and creative arts were passed down through the generations in our family. Everything from Singing, Writing Poetry, Dancing, Acting, Performing, etc.; always lead me back to the pin. Read more>>

Wildlord Domingue

When I took my college typography class, I immediately knew that I wanted to become a graphic designer. My professor mentioned successful designers, which inspired and motivated me. Growing up in a low-income community, I didn’t know that becoming a successful graphic designer was an achievable goal until I went to college. I wasn’t exposed to this possibility. Even though I always loved art, I didn’t realize that I could make a living as a creative. Taking my typography class reignited my love for art and design, and motivated me to strive to become the best designer I can be. Read more>>

Melanie Byron

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue an acting and musical career goes so far back that I can’t even remember. My parents told me that they named me after the character Melanie, played by Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, in the movie “Gone with the wind”. Apparently, they were watching the movie at home and my mom, who was pregnant with me at the time, felt my first kick during the scene where the character of Melanie is giving birth to her child in the film. Read more>>