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.

 

Donathephoenix

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue music as a hiphop artist is when I was writing lyrics and winning local talent shows in my neighborhood in Brooklyn . years later I signed my first record deal to Cormega independent label Legal Hustle in 2003. I released six songs on the Legal Hustle compilations album. I began to do tours in Spain and spots in NYC! Fast-forward to now I decided I wanted to start my own label DNA. I released the first song The Phoenix after my long hiatus of 10 years. I reinvented myself as an artist and named myself Donathephoenix because it was the rebirth of my rap career and I released my first music video during the pandemic titled the Phoenix. Following up with several singles such as O.T.I.S, seasons change. Read more>>

Nayelly Rodriguez Baez

I found my calling on the stage, something I never thought could happen. I was shy as a kid but found an early fascination with music. I especially liked how singers would emote and express complex emotions; one could say anything if it had a melody. They would sing what I could not put into words and show up with an open heart, no fear in sight. I wanted that. Read more>>

Liat Freidberg

I actually knew from a really young age. I was singing and dancing as a kid, performing in front of my family, participated in school performances and later at 11 years old started writing my own songs. I would give credit to my mom and sister that always had music playing in the house. Both of them loved dancing. My mom, till not long ago, had a dancing partner who she used to go ballroom dancing with for many years. During grade school I was mostly in dance classes but in middle school i started talking guitar classes and focused a lot on song writing with my best friend who also played guitar. In high school we started performing in bars and eventually started a progressive rock/grange band. Read more>>

Bao Li

The moment I realized I wanted to become an artist came when I discovered that language alone wasn’t powerful enough to express what I felt. During my undergraduate years studying Communication, I had a wonderful time there exploring the meaning of media, left me with a lasting question: how do we truly understand it? Language is one form of media, and so are photos, videos, sounds, fragrances, even humidity—everything carries the potential to communicate. What I learned is that communication isn’t just about “demonstrating” or clearly stating something; it’s deeply influenced by the perspective, emotions, and background of both the sender and receiver. Read more>>

Kevin Vora

I first realized I wanted to pursue music when I was 15. Around that time, I began to drift away from the idea of living a conventional life. The traditional path—going to school, memorizing facts just to regurgitate them later for a steady paycheck—felt empty to me. I couldn’t help but feel that true understanding and learning were often overlooked in favor of rote memorization. Many of my teachers seemed to be there just for the job, lacking real passion for what they were teaching. Read more>>

Maxine Hoover

There was no one moment, it was a very natural process. Growing up I was obsessed with drawing, storytelling, and experimenting with my own personal style. Creating made me feel alive. Luckily I had family and people in my life who noticed this, encouraged it and gave me space to explore it. When the time came to make choices around my direction in life, I always knew that I was meant to do something creative and entrepreneurial. Read more>>

Nicolas Nadja

In the beginning of my artistic journey, like many struggling artists it starts with the trying to survive art school. When deciding to go to an art school I knew my funds would be limited or almost depleted completely, compared to going to a state school or community college.
The test of real life came when you get hungry and all your money went to art supplies, paper and canvas. Every moment is for creating, so working a 9-5 or even part time was hardly an option when there is so much to create. My first experience with hunger came, and had no resources financially, it was this hunger that drove me to get all my paintings together that could fit in a portfolio case and went to the streets. I found an art fair on a block that was going on , and knowing I could not afford a cent to fair to enter, I asked a local storefront owner if I may display a few paintings in their window for the afternoon. Read more>>

Christina Williams

If I’m being honest, I think I’ve always had the performing ‘bug’ within me. But it was never something that I, or anyone in my family really thought about or put any interest in pursuing. So, in school I followed the ‘traditional’ and ‘sensible’ business path. I did love math and accounting so I thought that’s what I should be doing. I spent some time at a community college right after high school and when I was signing up for classes, a math class I needed was full and there were only 2 open classes available – one of them was an Intro to Theatre course. I was so terrified even signing up for the class. But from day ONE, I was in love. I was 19 and this was really the first time that I was really taking chances and going outside my comfort zones. For one of our final assignments, we had to do a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire” (one of the plays we had been studying in depth). Read more>>

Samantha Anne

Before the pandemic, I found myself in a job that left me feeling unfulfilled and disconnected from my creative passions. My home was filled with art supplies, yet my busy schedule made it difficult to dedicate time to my craft. When the pandemic hit, I was presented with the opportunity to finally explore my artistic interests and develop my skills.

Although I never attended formal art school, my passion for art has always been a guiding force in my life. Read more>>

Heidi Zin

I came in on the planet knowing and exhibiting an aptitude for the visual arts. I was always tuned into patterns in nature, shadow and light and texture. I had a love for nature, collecting bones, feathers, sea shells and the like, and then sitting down to draw them. I had two favorite artists at the time Georgia O’Keeffe and Salvador Dali. My talent was noticed by peers and teachers. Towards high school I became more involved in stream of consciousness drawing. Here I would turn off the judging part of the mind and just start channeling with pen and paper. Then be amazed at what was presented before me. Read more>>

Youran Tang

In 2020, I was in my second year at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and happened to take a course in the oil painting department. Through this course, I completely fell in love with painting, even though my major during my four years of undergraduate study was graphic design. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I was in a state of lockdown at home, and the environment was very quiet, which was perfect for focusing on painting. I created a series of illustration works and posted them on social media, which helped me gain 30,000 followers within two months. This gave me tremendous confidence, and I considered it a positive feedback for my creative career. I had the passion and ambition to develop painting as my profession. Read more>>

Kyle Leatherman

You know at first I made music for fun. It was something to do when I was bored or something I did with my friends. I guess over time I started to use music to vent my emotions, writing about them over a good beat really worked for me – it still does.
I never took it seriously until one day something just popped and I locked in. I think it was heavily influenced by the issues I was dealing with at the time and my hope to make something better of myself. I went to work immediately on an album and a few months later I actually put out something that I was proud of. I hope to continue this streak and can’t wait to make the next one even better. Read more>>

Brandon Wright

Although I was probably always dramatic. I was not always interested in a career as a performer. I wanted to be a lawyer (some might call them performers too). I took it very seriously. I went to lawyer kid camp. Yes, that was a real thing. Then in high school I went to see my first professional play, Gem of the Ocean, by the unparalleled August Wilson. Phylicia Rashad was the lead. What I thought was a trip to see, “the lady from the Cosby show” turned out to be a life changing event. I’d made my way down to an empty front row seat during intermission, right before the lights went down. Act 2 begins with a bright white light flooding the whole stage; its about the closest thing I could imagine to what it would look like if Heaven opened up. Through the light, like the regal figure she is, Ms. Rashad emerged and began the second half of the show. Read more>>

David Bluefield

My mom bought a baby grand piano when I was 13 and as soon as I hit a C major chord the vibrations went through my body. Then, as luck would have it, my next door neighbor, only a semester ahead of me, had a teacher who had taught him the 12th st rag and I knew right then and there I wanted his teacher to teach me that Ragtime piano favorite. The rest is history. I went on to be in bands from High School onwards and we always ended our set with 12st Rag. Read more>>