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.

Katy Hale

I’ve always had a love for music, but I think the moment I truly knew I wanted to pursue it seriously was my first semester of college. I had a private piano instructor who really pushed me to experiment with different styles of music and find my niche as a musician. Before that, music was always something I enjoyed, but it was more of a personal hobby. When I started performing with others and experiencing the emotional power of music – how it could bring people together and communicate feelings without words-that’s when I realized I wanted to make it my path. Music became a way for me to connect, express myself, and have an impact on others. Read more>>

Rey Goyos

At an early age I knew I wanted to pursue the arts. I performed in plays and was a huge attention seeker in middle school. One day I came in with full military fatigues and dropped a stink bomb in the cafeteria during lunch time. Let’s just say I missed several days of school. Around the same time, I faked passing out in PE and was rushed to the office. My poor parents took me to the hospital and I remember holding my breath while the doctor felt and heard my lungs (all to keep the bit going). The doctors hooked me up to an EKG machine and I presumably worried the hell out of my parents. I was nominated in eighth grade for funniest in the school and I actually won. I was really into Saturday Night Live and Will Ferrell was my favorite. Friends, family, and classmates would always tell me “You should be on Saturday Night Live”. Read more>>

Robert De Loza

My journey into acting began in 2018, when I enrolled at East Los Angeles College. Before that, I never even considered acting as a career. In fact, I still don’t fully understand what possessed me to sign up for an acting class, especially considering that at the time, I was a shy and reserved person. It feels almost like a mystery to me now, but something about it just clicked. Read more>>

Nico James

From a young age I wanted a creative career but I grew up in a rural area. I didn’t have many examples of what a creative career could look like. But I read a lot of books and I knew people got paid to write them. So that was the first job I wanted: writing books.

When someone in my family had a birthday, my great-aunt would choose a poem from a book for us and write it out by hand. I’d read the sort of poems that are given to children in grade school but one of these birthday poems was the first time I really caught a glimpse of what poetry could be. By middle school, I started to write my own. Read more>>

Rain Vanhecke

When I started DJing in 1998, it gave me my first taste of what I really enjoyed was controlling the energy of the dance floor. I found it a very interesting experience, the music a DJ plays can uplift a party or dance. Or the music a DJ plays can make everyone leave and not have any fun. This really appeals to me, I love to help others, to me being a DJ makes me feel like If I do a good enough job I’m uplifting and bringing people together giving positive energy to the dance floor. There is something beautiful when people are dancing and moving together, it’s a love and energy that really can’t be duplicated. It’s a group energy experience that is beautiful to be a part of but also is like welding magic to the crowd. Read more>>

Savion Perkins

I’ve always known since I was a child that I wanted to pursue something creative, or artistic in nature professionally. As I was growing up, I was always very interested in video games and technology. I also loved cartoons, movies, and just visual media in general. I remember playing the Nintendo 64, using a Joystick, getting my first Xbox, and GameCube, etc. As I grew older and became more aware of the options available to me, that led me to computers, and somehow by the grace of God, I just ended up having a knack for editing images. I would use this website called Picnik and I would edit my pictures and my friends. I was obsessed with it naturally, and it never felt like work. Read more>>

Brenden Jones

Growing up as a little boy, I was also surrounded by music and those who were experts in it. It was then when I grew an unfathomable passion for it. While in those spaces, I would watch those figures, whom I looked up to, operate in their respective positions, and I would glean from them. It was specifically in my matriculation in college, when I watched my gospel choir director, Jefferey Lampkin, conduct the choir with such deftness and skill that initiated my interest in pursuing it professionally. Read more>>

Dalona Jones

I know many singers say this, but I have been singing for as long as I can remember. Coming from a musically inclined family, music was an integral part of my upbringing and environment. Watching my mother sing in church, and the way she made people feel with her voice was what did it for me. I remember being a bright-eyed little girl with my American Doll-like Sunday dress and shiny shoes thinking to myself “That’s what I want to do with my life, I want to make people feel something.” Read more>>

Andrea (ange) Carol-libman

When I was in elementary school, my class went on a field trip to another elementary school to see a concert. There was a band of young kids on the stage. They played the song from Hawaii 5-0, which was a popular show at that time. The drummer was great, and I thought, that’s what I want to do! I started learning the drums soon after, and I spent the next 30-something years playing the drums. It was my living for many years. When I was in my 20’s, I got a call to play a gig in the south of France, which seemed like a great experience. I loved it so much there, that I ended up living in France for a year, playing gigs in Europe and absorbing everything. Read more>>

Elizabeth Rose

At 5 years old I remember wanting to sing for everybody. My parents had a madrigal group that used to meet at our house in Queens, NYC. I was able to read and sing the soprano parts and blend in with the other singers. When I was 7 years old, my mother took my brother and me to
be in the audience for the TV quiz show, “Name That Tune” It was in a Manhattan TV studio with a live audience. My uncle, Ted Raph, was the conductor and arranger of the band every week. It was a very popular show. She also took us to the live TV quiz show, “Stop The Music” Read more>>

Alisia Gruendel

I had just turned three years old, and it was my first time going to a movie theater. My mother had taken me and my one year old sister down to visit my father in Texas. He had been reactivated by the Army National Guard post 9/11 and was stationed down in Texas as an instructor at a military police academy. Now please, bear with me as this a retelling of sorts. We were spending time together as a family and my parents decided it would be a fun idea to take me and my sister to see our very first movie in theaters. Dreamworks had just released a new feature animated film about a horse named Spirit. Read more>>

Elly Cooke

I attended my first live concert when I was fifteen. I saw the country music sensation, Hunter Hayes, at the Gettysburg College. Hunter’s energy, passion and pure talent mesmerized me. I stood in a field full of people but his stage presence somehow created the illusion that it was just me and the music. All of my worries faded away as I soaked in the pure joy and anticipation of each song. I walked away from that show inspired, with a deep desire to make others feel the same way that Hunter’s show had made me feel. That was when I knew I had to get serious about my music. Read more>>

Julian Adu

It all started when I was a child, between the ages of 9 and 11. Drawing and coloring have always been therapeutic for me—something I did whether I was happy or sad. I just loved creating a piece of my own world. However, I never imagined it could become my future.

As time went on, my art spoke for itself, catching the attention of many—family members, friends, and classmates. My high school teachers would keep my assignments to showcase for other students and even asked to keep them for future classes. Read more>>

Ekaterina Denisova

When I was 12 years old, I went to art school for the first time—just to accompany my friend and because the first lesson was free:) But from that moment, I was hooked. I joined art school soon after, and within a few months, I knew this was what I wanted to do in life. So, I went ahead and earned a full scholarship to art college, where I completed my Master’s in Fine Art with excellence. I’m very grateful to my parents for always supporting me. Read more>>

King Samuel

Growing up, I was fortunate to be part of a Columbus based program called Transit Arts, this was a program that nurtured my creativity and self-expression. As a youth with a church background where artistic expression was extremely limited, Transit Arts was a game-changer. They provided a safe space for me to paint, share my art, and even perform my original music and dance. The fact that they valued our creativity by paying us for our work was incredible. This experience sparked a passion within me to pursue a creative career, where I could continue to express myself and share that gift with others. Read more>>

Gloria Lay

My Painting journey came about when I was laid off from my job to keep busy. I went out and purchased a couple canvases and some paint and started painting in my garage. I would spend many hours trying to create different types of paintings with different types of techniques and I fell in love with what they call paint pouring. I would then post my paintings on social media and then my social media would blow up with messages asking me how much is that Painting ? How much is this Painting ? I couldn’t really believe all the inquiries that I was receiving. At that time I lived in Orange County, California when a girl from Dallas Fort Worth, Texas reached out over the phone and wanted to talk about a consignment piece, I wasn’t sure what she was wanting. Read more>>

Kimmy Powell

I’ve been in the creator space since April 2020, initially posting trendy dance and comedy videos on TikTok for fun. Over time, I shifted into the fashion and beauty space to showcase my personal style and beginner-friendly makeup skills. In 2022, I started feeling discouraged, wondering why my content wasn’t reaching a larger audience or going viral on TikTok? I also began questioning why I cared so much about creating content in the first place? After all, it was just a fun weekend hobby. Read more>>

Anthony Romano

My journey into the professional creative space has been far from a direct path—or at least, that’s how I feel. For as long as I can remember, music has been at the core of my life, but it never seemed like a practical career choice simply because I hadn’t known anyone personally who was actually doing it. Read more>>

Elizabeth Broadbent

I was the weird neurodivergent girl who read too much. I exhausted my first grade teacher by tearing through every writing assignment she handed us. In fourth grade, we were given journals and allowed to write whatever we wanted and share it. Creative writing became a weird competition, and I realized I could make people laugh with it—in a good way, for once. It was a huge thing for me, and I never stopped. Read more>>

Briar Mercier

Animated shows and movies have always been a huge inspiration for me. As a child in the early 2000’s, I loved watching “Avatar the Last Airbender” on Nickelodeon. Sometimes, there would be an animator offering to teach how to draw the characters after the commercial break. I always rushed to find a pencil and paper to learn how to draw Katara. To this day, I consider that my first drawing lesson. I knew then that I had an interest in art, but wasn’t sure where to go. Read more>>

Harper Veresiuk

Ever since I was able to hold a pencil in my hands, I wanted to draw and paint. My dad is an engineer so he taught me how to draw basics and from there on, I’ve begged my parents to sign me up for any and all possible art classes. I knew then that I want to only be exploring art and learning about all possible techniques that I might enjoy. So after years of art schools and private lessons, all I knew was drawing and painting and sculpture and art history. Unfortunately this became more difficult to pursue over time because my parents immigrated to the United States when I was quite small and all the opportunities I had back in Ukraine were gone. Read more>>

Logan Fritz

Long before I had aspirations to be a musician, I worked as a professional child actor at The Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia. I learned quickly performing at The Barter that I naturally loved to entertain, and I often felt most comfortable performing and being around creative people. I never fit it in at school, and the community that I found through theatre was so welcoming and aspirational. It really gave me hope to see creative adults making a living through the performing arts. Read more>>

Cindy Baucom

From the time I was very young, I felt very much at home around musicians and singers and loved all forms of the arts. I absolutely adored the atmosphere of a theater, festival or performance venue of any kind. I also listened to the radio – A LOT! Through a variety of on-air personalities and musical genres, my imagination grew. Having a passion for music, I found myself wanting to share it with others…what better way than to be behind the microphone at a radio station? During a career fair at school when I was in the 7th grade, we were instructed to choose a job description at one of the career booths. Without hesitation, I was drawn to the Broadcasting station to learn more about radio. Read more>>

Nicole Yuengling

When I was a kid I always had a love for music. When I was 8 years old, I came across this blonde hair girl who sang country music. I really liked her music so I became a fan. When she released her second album, I found out she also writes her songs. At that time, it wasn’t common for artists to also write their own music and I was intrigued. That artist was Taylor Swift. She wasn’t a big name when I was growing up and she just became my safe space. She once said “people haven’t always been there for me, but music always has”. Well, people haven’t always been there for me, but Taylor always has. I realized that I wanted to do for others what Taylor did for me and the best way I knew how was through music. Read more>>

Ken Kennady

One year after having my son, I started to become unexplainably ill. Exhaustion, loss of balance, loss of vision, and fainting spells. My body had not been mine since even before his conception due to a miscarriage and trying to better prepare my body for his 9 month stay inside. Between this mystery illness, and a deep postpartum depression, I found myself lacking a sense of who I was prior to this loss of bodily autonomy. Was I living true to myself even before my trek into parenthood? People always say they would die for their kids. But would they *live* for them? Would they show them what the brightest, most fulfilled versions of themselves looked like so that their kids could mirror that? Read more>>

Ros Beck

I’ve always drawn horses, be it at the back of a maths class at high school or drawing on empty blackboards at primary school.
While raising my 3 children i started folk art painting classes with a friend and I loved it so much.. so more years went by and fast forward to 2013 I went to a acrylic pouring class at a local art store and I came away so excited that maybe if I could learn to control acrylic pouring to paint horses I may just find “my style” that had been alluding me ! Read more>>

Chantalle Fiscus

When my first daughter was about four months old, I received my first “nice” camera, a Nikon DSLR. Like many new moms, I wanted a way to document her life in a meaningful way, to hold onto every fleeting expression and soft curl, to make sure nothing slipped through my fingers. Photography had always been this quiet pull in my life. As a kid, I’d stage little photoshoots with my friends on disposable cameras, and in high school, I’d wander around with my first digital camera, taking everything in. I even took a photography class where I learned to develop film, standing in the dim red light of the darkroom, watching images bloom on paper. But it wasn’t until I became a mother that I felt this art form dig roots deep into my heart. Read more>>

Tierra Shelton

I have always been a creative human. I remember in Elementary school; specifically in 3rd grade I recreated the dress Pocohantas wore and handmade it out of a brown paper bag. Read more>>

Masud Mcdowell

At the age of 13 when I was accepted in Art and Design High School after submitting my portfolio and taking an art exam.. Read more>>

Kenyatta Bosman

For as long as I can remember, the 21C Museum Hotel had been a place of inspiration—a space where art from around the world converged, telling stories, provoking thought, and opening doors to endless creative possibilities. Each visit felt like stepping into a world where artistic expression knew no boundaries, and deep down, I knew my work belonged there. The only questions were how and when. Read more>>

Alex Fatemi

I have been drawing pictures for as long as I can remember. In elementary school, I was always drawing pictures at someone’s request; their favorite Sega game character (Sonic, Mortal Kombat, etc), or a portrait of a family member. Then in fifth grade, I remember getting twenty dollars to draw all 101 original Pokemon on a poster-sized paper. That was when I realized I could make money from art. Read more>>

Kate Watson

When I was about seven, I watched my parents travel across Texas with their band, playing at church camps, DNOWs, and many other events. My dad was the leader of the band—he played acoustic guitar and was a phenomenal songwriter. My mom played the drums with incredible passion—kind of like Animal from The Muppets! I traveled with them and was their biggest fan. Read more>>

Suzanne Horner

My career has been in art education – primarily teaching high school art classes. Retiring in 2023 opened up the opportunity to focus on my art, but the spark to work toward that goal began in 2020. I had been producing work for annual art shows with friends and local art benefits prior to 2020. It was enough to give me an outlet through my art versus juggling a teaching career and trying to produce work ( and feel ing successful about it). When I sat at home with online school and isolation, I began making ceramic work with the intention of selling in person and online. That same year, I began selling my paintings and larger clay structures through a gallery. The pandemic created a forcus shift for many artist and makers, especially with the tools of online media ans commerce. Read more>>

Isidora Razazi

I’ve always wanted to be an actress—really, as long as I can remember. It’s one of those things that’s just always been in my heart. I couldn’t start pursuing acting right away, and while that was frustrating at the time, looking back, I now see how much I’ve gained from those years. Every delay and challenge along the way has been a lesson, and I’m grateful for them because they’ve helped me grow into the person I am today. I’m just at the beginning of this journey, still learning, growing, and discovering more about myself as an artist. Read more>>

Steven Marcus Releford

I knew it from the moment I made my first attempt, when I think about my craft I see my gifts light up and ideas of projects interact with enthusiasm of the flow which we all desire to be in. Read more>>

Dave Kish

I had an epiphany when I moved away from my hometown in Pennsylvania, down to the Art Deco District of Miami Beach. It was the Art Deco architecture that blew my mind at first – the buildings all looked like birthday cakes, painted in wild colors with crazy details. I’d never seen anything like the sheer exuberance of those buildings, and they really spoke to me. I mean, they showed me that it was okay to be free-spirited and expressive. That it was okay to indulge my creative side. I also met people down there who made money doing things they enjoyed, and it was the first time I had met people who lived that way. Read more>>

Diane Crites

I embarked on my artistic journey three times before finally committing to it. Initially, I enrolled as a Fine Arts Major at Miami University (Ohio). My Mom and high school art teachers consistently urged me to embrace my talent. After just two weeks, I switched my major to something more “practical” yet still creative—Marketing. I often felt torn between the School of Business and the Fine Arts building. Read more>>

Mina Stone

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally when I was in high school. I was involved in almost every artistic program offered; choir, theatre, dance, marching band, drumline, symphonic band, jazz band, ceramics- you name it. At a young age, I started taking dance and piano lessons. I grew up in a very artistically encouraging household where everyone played instruments and sang. In middle school, I started learning the flute and playing piano the jazz band. I also took up playing the piccolo and mallet instruments in marching band and later played the tenors as the drumline captain. Read more>>

Aft3rs

I knew I wanted to be a DJ during one of the hardest times in my life. House music became my escape. It wasn’t just about the sound but the journey it takes you on. The lyrics, the rhythm, and the energy gave me a sense of freedom, helped me release stress, and changed the way I saw things. Through music, I learned to let go of what I couldn’t control and find peace within myself. That moment made me realize I wanted to share that feeling with others. I wanted people to experience the same release and joy that music gave me. That’s why my song selection means so much to me; it’s how I create those moments for others. Read more>>

Mad Mike

Mad Mike, co-founder of Dual Diagnosis, has been immersed in music since the early 2000s. Growing up in the 1990s, he and his brother, Paulie Walnutz, were deeply influenced by the rap and rock fusion of that era. This exposure ignited their passion for music, leading them to create music together. Their unique blend of hardcore rap and rock has become a defining feature of their sound. Read more>>

Donna Vitucci

I have always been a creative person, and my outlet from very early on was words and stories. I can still recite the first poem I wrote in 4th grade, titled “Snowflakes.” Obviously, it’s been a long road from there, including degrees in English, both undergrad and Master’s. I began publishing stories, poems and slices of memoir in 1990 in literary journals both in print and online. I have subsequently published 4 novels of literary fiction. In the summer of 2022, upon the loss of my husband, I really felt a dearth of any creativity or inspiration. In fact, no story or character or words combined into sentences seemed to matter in the world, not in the face of this grief, which truly I experienced as the worst kind of abyss. (and still do) However, in the wake of my creative outlet in a sense being closed off to me, I took up painting, and this has been my salvation! Read more>>