Earning that first dollar is incredibly special and a moment many never forget. We asked some very talented creatives from the community to tell us the story of the first dollar they earned from their creative works.

Nan Mahone Wellborn

My father returned from our annual Side Walk Art Show sponsored by the local Art Center to tell me that my watercolor painting of a still life had sold. This was my very first art sale at age 8 so I was very excited. But I had a suspicious feeling that my Pops might have purchased it in order to encourage my efforts. Move ahead 8 years, I’m in high school theater classes and a fellow pipes up to tell me that my painting was hanging in his mother’s bathroom! His mother was a well known French professor and held Sunday “salons” to discuss the arts with friends. I couldn’t have been more surprised and flattered. Read more>>

Olivia Love

I was ten or so, walking around Central Park with my mom. We were visiting family and doing all the quintessential tourism stuff. We saw a violinist playing for tips at the mouth of a tunnel, and stopped to listen. I had been playing the violin for about three years at that point, and was in such genuine awe of how cool he was, and how effortless his playing seemed. When he finished his song, I approached him with some cash and shyly told him I also played the violin. He got a big smile on his face and asked if I would like to play a song. He then did something that I would frankly never do for a child and/or stranger, and handed me his violin. I played…something? An Irish standard, I think. As I played, people were passing through the tunnel. Most walked right by, a few stopped, and one dropped a dollar in the case. Read more>>

Debbie Serdy

My Nana, was quite the crafty lady. She grew up and raised a family during the depression, thus she had a knack for sewing and crafting with whatever was available. She would sell her handmade Barbie clothes at craft shows at the local firehouse and church. When I was about 12 years old, she invited me to have a small card table of my crafts and water colors right next to hers at a show at the Valley Forge Fire Company. I made tiny critters made from nuts and twigs I found in the woods, and I had a few paintings I had done. A customer asked me to make a custom portrait of her home, that she lovingly called “The Mouse House.” Read more>>

Taylor Blair

The first dollar I earned from my creative work was when I got monetized on YouTube. It was such a big moment for me because, honestly, my first couple of years teaching were really tough. Most people assume teachers are super Type A—organized, structured, planners to the core—but I couldn’t be more Type B. I struggled to find my groove, and I knew there had to be other teachers out there feeling the same way. Read more>>

Nery Kim

In college, I studied Performance and Jazz Composition. Performance came easily to me, but Jazz Composition was a serious struggle—I had no idea I’d have to write and arrange for vocals, or small and large ensembles using software that took hours on end to learn. Eventually, I failed multiple classes and got kicked out of the major. Somewhere during that stressful time, I came across a job posting for a cruise ship musician. Since I’ve always had a passion for traveling, I decided to audition. They required a headshot, but I wasn’t prepared, so I just printed my Facebook profile photo and submitted it. Luckily, the live audition went great, and I landed a six-month contract to perform on a Caribbean cruise ship. It felt like a dream job—getting paid to play music while traveling the world. Read more>>

Dyalekt

I made my first dollar MCing at the age of 17. I wasn’t a good rapper or confident freestyler yet. I had only been writing rhymes and freestyling with my crew, Cypher Cyndicate, for a few months. As usual I got paid because of nepotism. My mom’s co-worker was getting married and was looking for something cheaper than a string quartet. She asked my mom if I wanted to perform at her wedding. Not my songs or anything. The bride to be wanted to have some freestyle battle raps at her wedding. Her plan was for me, alongside my rhyme partner/mentor Kryciss, to pop out of the audience right around the “If anyone has any objections…” and kick battle rhymes about the bride and groom. Not me battling Kryciss. Read more>>

Marcus Palmer

The first dollar I ever made was on a short film that I was a part of called wasted time shortly after then booked a movie called LA undercover, which is my first movie I was a part of and it all happened through friends, word-of-mouth, getting me the opportunity and creating relationships and bonds, which is very vital to all upcoming actors, but the experience was great. Had loads of fun creating, which is what this is all about I played a kidnapper in an intense parking lot scene It was amazing and🎬 I can’t wait to experience more and more over these years Read more>>