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.

Chris Huff

I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in this field when I was around maybe 10 years old. Making people laugh is therapy for me. I’m able to set aside whatever i’m going through in my personal life to help someone else. I could be at my lowest point and I am able to help someone else feel better through laughter. Read more>>

Chance Lanham

Chance lanham was a young guy with nothing but dreams. While as he grew older most dreams seemed more out of reach and started dying off. However, as he started getting into social media and seeing how that could grow quickly, he knew which dream had the most potential to be achieved. Chance lanham started writing music around the age of 15. No support, no way to start recording, he continued writing. His lyrics were like poetry. He was very heavy in his faith and still continues to be but doesn’t let that define his creative direction. Chance started making Christian Rap music around the age of 16. He had a whole catalog full of songs written down and decided it was time to put the words into song. Read more>>

Ashlee Elease

I was a 5 year old kid who had a very creative father figure who was a self taught bass player, piano player, artist ,singer and an amazing writer. Being around this kind of creative expression inspired the artist in me. I knew I wanted to have a career within the arts very young .I started to show my artistic talent when I joined in on my dad’s jam sessions at home.I would grab the brush and start singing as my dad played the keys. He taught me how to write my first song verse , hook and bridge .Music will always be my first love but it didn’t stop there, my bedroom became my oasis for creativity. I would sketch, draw, write short stories , poetry ,read astrology/self help books and made collages out of magazines for hours. I enjoyed the peace art gave me, I wanted to just express my personality through my creativity. I did grow up wanting to become a singer, but I was always interested in making art with my hands as well. Read more>>

Emilygrace Piescki

Two passions have accompanied me since childhood: the captivating wonders of nature, and self-expression through art. I have always been certain that I wanted to work in the arts; to try my best to capture the delicate details of nature or express the personality of the animals in my paintings. As a child, my pockets would be filled with stones, feathers, and other treasures I’d find, and my backpack would be weighed down with field guides from which I’d copy the diagrams. My family always nurtured my creativity and curiosity and has encouraged me to follow my creative instincts. It was never a question of if I’d become an artist, only a question of how. I began with community mural projects, photography gigs, and selling my paintings at local punk shows. Read more>>

Jamieson Wolf

I have written all my life. I always told stories as a child and won competitions in school for my writing. I have had a live long love affair with writing and stories and my room was always filled with books. I loved to lose myself in stories and the worlds that they created in my mind. It wasn’t until I was nineteen that I looked towards writing as a career. I had written a couple of Harry Potter fanfiction stories and wondered what it would be like to tell my own tales in a world that I had created instead of a world created by another writer.  As soon as I turned away from fanfiction, I felt a sense of freedom. It was a heady experience writing my own characters in my own worlds. I’ve been writing ever since and that was over twenty years ago. Read more>>

Trami Cron

In 2016, I was hired by the San Jose Museum of Art to serve as a liaison between the Vietnamese community in San Jose and the museum, with the aim of bringing art into the community. During my time there, I was introduced to the art industry for the first time and quickly noticed that the Asian community was underrepresented in San Jose’s arts scene. This gap was particularly striking given that the Asian population makes up about 27.9% of the Bay Area, making it the second-largest racial group in the region. Read more>>

Malen Reyes

From a young age, I felt a strong urge to pursue a creative path, despite living in a country where creativity wasn’t encouraged. I often found myself sketching outfits and envisioning designs. I explored both hair artistry and fashion, taking classes in each. However, fashion ultimately captured my attention more, as it allowed me to express my passion for detail and design. Read more>>

Tony Gerber

Early points of inspiration on my creative artist path was at 6 years old when my grandfather gave me a Gibson acoustic guitar. My parents that same year gave me a french easel filled with oil paints and supplies that also launched my visual art career. As we were driving home from my grandparents house I asked my dad to stop at the mall in Fort Wayne, Indiana so I could goto the music store there and get the Mel Bay Number 1, blue book and taught myself to read music and play the guitar. I also created a series of portraits based on the great classic composers. Music and visuals have kind of always been together for me. Read more>>

Jesse Lee

I’ve always been inclined to the arts in every shape or form. I became a musician because I love music, I became a painter because I love drawing and painting and now I’ve been modeling and fashion designing. It all feels like branches on a tree for me Read more>>

Seulah Noh

The moment I realized my future lay in music was in middle school. Growing up in a church, I played with professional musicians who were much older than me. Being the youngest in the band, I eagerly absorbed everything around me. One Christmas, we were preparing a musical theater show, and watching the music director/band leader rehearse everyone and conduct the live show changed my life. He exemplified musicianship, leadership, and creativity. Witnessing how all these talented individuals collaborated to create a big show was mesmerizing. That’s when I knew: I want to do THAT when I grow up. It didn’t necessarily mean that I wanted to do just the musical theater, but in a broader sense, I think I wanted to lead my own band and work with lots of talented musicians to create something exciting and big. Read more>>

Aleya Antoine

I think I’ve always known that I wanted to do something creative, but I never knew what it would entail. As a young child, I wanted to be an artist, singer, or dancer. However, I quickly realized that I was a terrible drawer, my voice couldn’t reach a single note, and finding the rhythm for a dance could take me years. I then thought, “Well, how can I be creative if I’m not any of those?” So, I tried acting, which I also didn’t excel in, mostly because all of the roles involved singing. Read more>>

Ankita Palit

I have been knitting and crocheting since childhood. It feels like it’s something that is part of my life. I learnt this art from my mother. Growing up it faded away with giving priority to studies, job and other things in life. After my marriage and moving to a new country, the USA, I had to leave my job. Life changed drastically from being a full time job earner to a homemaker. So, it was my hubby who suggested I should be doing the things I love to overcome my boredom. Read more>>

Anthony Perez

From a young age, I always found myself drawn to creative things and art. Whether it be through the films I loved, the music artists I found myself interested in, or by the talented people around me. My mom is one of those people who helped put me in front of a lot of art. She went to school for art when I was a kid, and would do art herself. Being around that, and her taking me to art shows or stage plays, really helped to give me appreciation for art. Outside of that, I eventually found myself playing music myself and wanted to do that for a living for a long while. While that didn’t pan out and I eventually found myself discouraged in that world, I eventually found myself in love with film criticism through YouTube. The ability to turn on a camera and share your passion for film enticed me. I sat on the idea of a channel for many years, and eventually dove in. I had a lot to learn about editing my own videos and formatting my reviews in a digestible way, but the skills I’ve gained and experiences I’ve had since starting my journey have been worth it. Read more>>

Linzy Collins

I’m not actually sure what the *first* moment was, but I do remember wanting to be known for what I was passionate about from a young age. Before middle school, it was more acting related – I grew up a Disney kid and was practicing my best “I’m Linzy and you’re watching Disney channel” voice and my complimentary imaginary wand waving in the mirror several times throughout my elementary school years. Read more>>

Taylor Elizabeth

It was sort of always with me. I have no idea where I got the idea, but I remember being in first or second grade, and the entire class did this sort of shared project in which we drew ourselves in our dream jobs on that giant brown construction paper roll, and then they taped it up to the wall. I remember looking down at mine when I finished, and I had drawn myself with a beret on my head, a paintbrush in my hand and an easel beside me. I wanted to be an artist as long as I can remember. Somewhere that changed, while I was still young. I would draw these portraits of imaginary people and I would find the person closest to me and begin explaining to them the imaginary person’s entire life story and the current struggle they are facing. Read more>>

Johnathhan Caprietta

I grew up in the church and my mom was a worship leader. So every week growing up, I was surrounded by gospel music, jazz bands, and in and out of recording studios. Watching my mom perform and locked in while creating her albums was my favorite thing to do. When she would perform, I could feel her presence in the way she commanded the band and resonated with the audience. It was a surreal feeling for me and it’s a feeling I knew I wanted to experience. Read more>>

Og Jonah

I never grew up dreaming of making music. Like most people, I just loved listening to it. Back in high school, though, I’d find myself freestyling with my friends—at parties, in the car, wherever we were hanging out. We’d rap over instrumentals of our favorite tracks, and I’d get hyped hearing my words flow. Friends kept telling me to start recording, but I had zero clue where to even start. Read more>>

Geek Girl

I think I knew as a kid. I’ve always known somewhere in me I was destined for stardom. I can remember performing as early as kindergarten for my classes at school. I’ve always loved the stage and performing but didn’t take it serious until my adult years. Read more>>

Zachary Collins

I honestly didn’t know I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally for a very long time. I was just always an artistically inclined person, mainly because I grew up an only child so I was forced to cultivate hobbies and interests and was always in my head, creating and imagining things. Even as I entered into an art college after high school (Cleveland Institute of Art), I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I honestly only enrolled because my parents really wanted me to go to college and not only was I into art, I didn’t want to have to take math or science classes, so art college made sense for me at the time.  Read more>>

Olga Woźnicka

I first thought about knitting many years ago. I was looking for clothes for my daughter, I didn’t find anything nice corresponding to my sense of aesthetics in stores. Then I thought … Hey! Olga, you can knit, just do it yourself. I made my first little sweaters for my older daughter, then when my second daughter was born, I made my first hats. My friends had children, they wanted to make hats, scarves for them as well… And that’s how it started. I made hats for children, and later also for adults. My dream was to make sweaters and other things and now this dream is coming true. Read more>>

Romina Ustayev

I’ve always known I wanted to be a singer and fashion designer, but it was when I actually started making money that I was able to pursue my dreams. Certain creative professional paths require a good amount of investment up front! I wasn’t sure that I would be able to pursue my dreams until after college. I actually went to college for pharmacy, failed then switched to early childhood education thinking one day I may open a day care. Instead I joined my brother in his home care business. I came on as the marketing director and helped our company rise to one of the biggest agencies in Philadelphia area. Thats when I started working on my music. Read more>>

Grand Gulla

I always had a creative mindset on building new ideas. It all started With my love from music and learning everything about it how to Write a song, Mix a record create Album Covers and market them to the world. Investing in myself was Key to success and working hard every day towards it now I have my own brand call SALUTE that provides all kinds of creative merchandise And a music library by the name of Grand Gulla that is Making Me a indie artist on the rise! Read more>>

Mara Francesca

I always knew at such a young age that I had so much love for the arts. Apparently it started at age 3 when I discovered a standing fan and started singing to it as if it were a mic. I liked how it sound, the vibrato, so I started mimicking it without the fan. Whatever it was in the arts, drawing, writing, dancing, singing and acting, I am in love with it. I taught myself mostly how to play the guitar and the piano, as I always had a penchant for writing random songs when I was a teenager. I do have very crafty and artistic parents, but they also grew up in an era that working for the arts is not deemed successful. Though both are very supportive with music, and arts, I also knew that they thought of it as an extra curricular activity and not a career. But here we are now. Read more>>

Omarion Burke

I knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally at a young age. I was about nine years old when I performed in my first off broadway show downtown in Manhattan and just something about the stage excited me. Having the opportunity to dig deeper into a character and find new ways to do a show over and over without losing sight of the show’s intention. Now I dance at The Juilliard School, but still having that same fire and excitement about the arts is why I keep going. Read more>>