We asked some insanely talented artists, creatives and makers to tell us about when they know they were going to pursue a creative career.

Alex Noelle

I have said “I want to be a singer” since as early as I can remember–but the meaning of those words have evolved from a simple childhood picture into so many different paths. My family has been musical since way before I was born. Both of my parents and my brother all play instruments and listen to music constantly, so I was raised with music as a given part of every day. Read more>>

Ava Bryant

I have always known that I was going to pursue a career in the arts, but there have been many moments throughout my life that cemented my passion for performing. The first of these that I can recall took place when I was ten years old. I was a fifth-grader, and I had just written my first song. I took a trip to Nashville for a school club I was in, and I brought my guitar. Read more>>

Whitney Bentley

For years, I created and sold custom digital illustrations, personalized crafts, and handmade cards to people I knew. The first time I knew I could pursue a full time art profession was when a dear friend commissioned me to create an illustration package for the national non-profit where they worked. The project entailed creating a large collection of illustrations, which ultimately allowed their branch of the organization to transition from using generic stock images, to gaining digital assets that represented their work, members, and founders. Read more>>

Nonso Emefo

I think honestly I realized I wanted to pursue some sort of creative journey during my sophomore year of college. Pursuing a creative career was always up in the air because photography had become one of my passions around a year earlier. I was having a conversation with my girlfriend and we were discussing our future and the things we wanted to achieve. Around that time, I was constantly juggling the question of what should I do because I have always been a creative person I just didn’t know where I should hone my skills on. Read more>>

Ava Wolf

When I went to college I thought I wanted to do something in the music business, which is why I ended up in Nashville. After graduating college and struggling to find a job in the industry, I started drawing more and making greeting cards for friends. Art had always been an interest of mine, but I didn’t realize how many opportunities there were in the field – I didn’t even know what an illustrator was! As I started creating products and honing my illustration skills, Read more>>

Joey Jones

I first knew I wanted to pursue a recording career when I started to understand how music was involved in my daily life and how it made me feel. I have used music for coping, expression, and even a self-theraputic for really trying times in my life. I want people to feel what I feel when I listen to my favorite artists, and to truly understand the meanings behind the words and vocals that are used in most songs. Once you unlock that ability, music becomes visibly creative on new levels. This career has truly changed my life. Read more>>

Reno Houston

Personally I knew the moment I learned what being a musician even was. I have been playing the drums my entire life thanks to my Dad so I have always had the urge to preform and make music. The band came togther around 2017 and once we all came together and started writing our own music we knew we wanted to make a career out of this! Read more>>

Nessa Amherst

I’ve always sung every chance I’d get – church, concerts, talent shows, you name it! But I never really found that joy in singing for two reasons, all related to where I lived when I was younger. You see, I was mentally, emotionally, and physically abused by my father and older sister, and the times I got to sing were an opportunity to hide the pain and scars from the mistreatment. But the singing never brought me true joy and a flame that would drive me to a purpose. Read more>>

Trivelle Gambrell

In March of 2020 I told my friend and now my co-host (Mz_Gogetta) that I wanted to start a podcast. Not knowing anything about it, how it was going to be done and or who would be part of it.. After praying and asking God as to how I should move forward. Less than a month later Wait A Gam Minute Podcast aired April 15, 2020 on Facebook(LIVE). Wait A Gam Minute Podcast started out in the family room at the house, using a friend building space for free to now being blessed with our own studio. Read more>>

Jessie Langs

As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut. I figured out early that it probably would not have worked out well since I had asthma. A deep love of animals made young, naive me think that being a veterinarian would be a good choice–up until the morning I was supposed to move into the aptly named Shoebox dorms at Clemson University to start the Pre-Vet Med track. I woke up in a cold sweat to the realization that I am terrified of parasites, worms, and anything that could MAYBE be parasitic. Read more>>

Amy Laskin

I knew I wanted to pursue a career as an artist at a young age. My mother was a creative soul in her own right and she recognized the impulse was within me before I was five years old. She had wanted to be an actress but just as she received a call back for an audition, she learned she was pregnant; her own ambitions were then immediately stifled. She sought to foster my creative leanings though, and enrolled me for classes at The Philadelphia Museum of Art by age seven. Read more>>

Bill Burns

I had always been a creative since about 5, but when I was in high school, I was not a popular kid, didn’t care for the whole high school atmosphere, was introverted and kept to myself. My freshman year when I first walked into the art class I met the teacher who would make me believe I might actually have a future in this field. I took four years of her classes moving through to all 4 levels up to graduation, a couple of years of community college and 4 at San Jose State and I got out with a BS degree in graphic design with a concentration in illustration. Read more>>

Brooke Rawls

I never considered a creative career path growing up. I loved creative things, and interior design and home decor was my favorite but I was absolutely CON-VINCED that you had a “career” and then creative “hobbies” and that you couldn’t make a career from your creative endevors. That is unless you had your own TV show. ( Don’t ask me why but that is what I believed!) Read more>>

Casey Krawczyk

I honestly can’t remember a time I wasn’t making art. Some of my earliest memories revolve around art making. I once got in trouble at home for “enhancing” some furniture in our basement. It was a large cupboard-like piece of furniture and to enhance it I drew in marker a large profile of a girl. Around the age of 8 or 9 I remember drawing with a friend at a playdate and simply being aware of my ability and joy for drawing, Read more>>

TJ Martinez

Besides playing in bands and fulfilling my creative side in music, I was connected to a job working as a production assistant on a CW show. One of the duties I was assigned was reading lines with a particular actor and soon some of the other cast members would use me to read lines with them as well. The event that sparked my interest in acting as a career was in the middle of the basecamp where the trailers are for actors, wardrobe/hair & make-up, production, and usually craft service. Read more>>

Tony Redd

So 2004, somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Which one ? The one closest to Iraq! Yup standing on the flight deck a day before the ships talent show ! Tired and dirty, I was honestly sick of the Navy! I was 20 years old, no children, girlfriend or any real responsibilities! Anyway performing in this talent show would be my first time displaying my skills in front of people and I was nervous beyond belief. Sucked it up and the next day I killed the show! About 4000 people screaming my name! Read more>>

Alexis Noble

Growing up I always felt like the oddball of the family and friends. I always wanted to be different from the rest. I never could put a word to it at an early age but I knew whatever was trending I went against it. I remember in school wearing things outside the normal although I had designer pieces such as Polo, nike, and Tommy it was most likely thrifted. Thrifting has been a big part of me since I was a toddler. Living in Joliet, thrifting, garage sales, hammy downs were my wardrobe but it never looked like it. Read more>>

Swagga D

It started when I was about nineteen years old in college and saw a flyer for a talent contest. I talked to a friend who was also into rapping and we decided to perform in the show. We got together and wrote some lyrics over a beat. Even though we didn’t win the contest, it gave me a sense of how it feels to perform for an audience, overcoming any fears to show people who I was as an artistic person. Every time there a jam session on campus where anyone could jump on a mic and sing, recite poetry or rap, I was there. It was a good feeling to share the passion I had about music with others, and they showed me love in return. Read more>>

Qureysh Basrai

Basically I have my own business, but due to Covid, the business had stopped completely, so i thought of re -staring my passion after a gap of 30 years, fortunately in the 2019, there was an online international art horse competition and my 1st competition after 30 years…!!!! and i had done 1 horse artwork so I decided to send that artwork for the competition, I was quiet shocked that I stood 1st in the competition among 10 countries, Read more>>

Mark Wang

I always loved cartoons, comics, and drawing, but I never seriously considered it as a viable option for a career when I was younger. For the most part art was always presented to me as a hobby and those who do manage to make art were a statistical anomaly, but man I just wanted to draw. My Senior year of high school was when I took my first proper art class. It really gave me the itch to keep creating. So I enrolled into art school with the intention to become a graphic designer. Read more>>

Precious Perez

I first knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally when I was five years old. I was gifted a J.Lo CD and an Eminem CD on my fifth birthday, and they were a car soundtrack for a while. This led to me singing along and recording myself singing to the radio with the little pink Barbie karaoke machine with cassette tapes I was given at age six. Even back then when I was painfully shy and would only sing for an empty room, I knew music was my calling. Read more>>

Saniya Selby

Growing up, I was very shy and to myself. I found out that I could sing when I was around 6 or 7. My cousin had a band set in her room so when everyone was outside playing I wanted to stay inside and play with that. My uncle found me in her room singing and playing the instruments and he went and told my mom that I could sing. So then my mom took notice, she played all the greats in the car and we would sing along together. Read more>>

Gwyneth Leech

I grew up surrounded by artists. My grandparents met studying illustration at the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Design in Philadelphia in the 1920s, and they made careers in that field. My mother attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Tyler School of Art in the 1950s and became a painter. I always loved making things with my hands, and as far back as I can remember I knew that I would be an artist too. Read more>>

Isabel Dowell

I had begun taking photography classes in high school, but spent more time goofing around with certain projects than taking it seriously. I’m guess in a way I didn’t feel connected to the prompts that were being presented to me. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I was first introduced to concert photography and as a teen with a love for both concerts and photography, Read more>>

Orlando Rideout

I knew I was destined for my journey out of my mothers womb my mother and grandmother seen the very best in me before I did I was given button boxes and hangers to start to develop my skills I started to take my career more serious as I got older and never let the passion for it go Read more>>

Tanya and Sondre

We were not planning to be full-time professional dancers. I am a mother going for the competition as a bonus activity to my motherhood (it was before partnership with Sondre) and Sondre was 20 years old when we started dancing. He just finished school and was searching for a dane partner to teach with, Our partnership started as a fun interesting try-out when Sondre invited me to assist him at one of the events in France. Read more>>

RAD

I’ve always known I wanted to do something in the arts. I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an author when I was in elementary school, started writing lyrics in 5th grade, and just throughout my childhood, I was always into the arts. When I was little, I used to write all the time. I have a notebook filled with writings and poems. I even have a notebook of my drawings. I don’t know why I stopped, but I did. Read more>>

Rickie Tang

Outside of academics, I was invested in visual arts and athletics during my youth. I loved basketball and fashion, in fact, my interest in style and fashion developed through basketball. My sneaker collection started when I began playing basketball in middle school. I had the most and freshest kicks on the team, despite not being the best player. I remember when my family used to buy clothes for me and thought about how I could make the garment more suitable to my preference, Read more>>

Kenny Williams

I knew I wanted to be a actor 5 years ago when I got invited to be in a short video with my now and close friend Caleb Farrell, he invited me on set and the rest was history, the thrill I got in front of the camera was intense and fun at the same time. Growing up I’ve always been in front of the camera but never took it serious until recently and now its apart of my life. Read more>>

Juliebeth Delgado

It all started with an afterschool program where I was doing art with elementary school kids. I always had a passion for art, so being able to share that passion along with the knowledge I had with the kids was a great outlet for me during college. Once I graduated, I got the opportunity to start my career teaching kids (K-8), and I fell in love with it. It allowed me to continue my art career and it helped take my creativity to another level. Read more>>

Claudio Picasso

I always had an interest in art, painting and drawing almost daily throughout my childhood. I never gave much thought to making it my profession because I just didn’t believe I could. I didn’t know the first thing about being a successful artist. The artists I would learn about seemed to be born for that sort of life and they were special. I did graffiti as a teen and worked briefly as a graphic designer while taking art courses in college, Read more>>

Butterfly Feels

I’ve known music was my magic all my life. No matter what I do professionally, I always come back to music. I grew up in a military family; so, we moved around a lot growing up. Being from everywhere and nowhere can be challenging and reduces the basic commonalities you share with other people. I’ve always felt most understood and most connected to people through music. Whether we’re vibin’ to a favorite record we share or I’m singing a song I love or a song I wrote, I feel most seen and express myself most clearly through music. Read more>>

Joanna Gill

I fell in love with makeup at a young age. I remember sneaking into my parent’s bedroom and stealing an eyelash curler and some concealer from my mother’s bathroom. My mother never wore much makeup so the whole concept of wearing cosmetics fascinated me. I loved how transformative makeup could be to a face. As a teenager and later adult with severe acne, makeup first provided me with comfort and confidence that my skin and my perceived flaws would not be the first thing people saw. Read more>>

Janelle Crawford-Hine

Ever since I was a child I knew I was an artist. I used to draw instead of talking to anyone at events . It was always something I saw for myself. It is an odd thing to be a child who is drawn to artistic expression. You are simultaneously being celebrated whilst asked to give away your work for free and told that you need to practice your other skills so that you will have something else to survive on. I’m sure that many people in the artistic community have this experience growing up. Read more>>

Molly Loch Gilkey

When I was 7 yrs old. When my parents bought my first Polaroid camera. What I saw behind the len of the camera was amazing. It tells a different stories than our normal eyes can see. It show what anyone of us can’t see. Behind the camera tells it all. Like the phrase said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I was so enchanted and astonish of how the picture comes out after I took it. To me it’s like a painting. The painting without using a paint / paint brush. I would spend days just taking pictures. I would save all my money just to buy the Polaroid film. Just to see what else comes out. And how this one can become art and what stories it’s going to tell me. Read more>>

Del Olaleye

My father is a first generation immigrant. He’s from Nigeria. He met my mother while in school in the state of Florida. Some of the tropes about the “hard-working, education first immigrant” parent certainly held true with him. From my POV as kid his background affected me most through his decision to not allow me to watch TV during the school week. TV time was only Friday Afternoon-Sunday Night. When the Miami Dolphins played on Monday Night Football I was able to watch them. Read more>>

Bryce Dillingham

I knew I first wanted to pursue an artist path when i was young like around 10 I used to love to write stories especially for like school projects and eventually I started rhyming the words In the stories. Life events started happening to where I would start writing songs about them for instance I had a family member that passed away tragically literally changed my life and only outlet I had was to try to write a songs about him. Read more>>

Shirley Hernandez

My parents are both musicians. My father was a songwriter and my mother was the choir director so naturally my sisters and I began singing in harmony very early and music was a part of our daily lives. As a pastor’s kid who was musically-talented, it was simply assumed that music would become my calling and ministry and so as a 10-year-old I saw myself becoming a teen pop artist, (like the artists I looked up to,) in the near future, not knowing what it would really entail. Read more>>

Ishmael McDaniel

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/ artistic path professionally is when I released my first album as a solo artist. At the time it wasn’t the best music to hear but the people around me saw that I had potential and wanted me to keep going, years later at the age of 22, I’m still going and trying to take my talents even higher than before. Throughout the years I’ve had a lot of setbacks but the one thing that has never changed for me is improvement and to pursue this career it takes hard work and dedication, which I’m willing to accomplish. Read more>>

Bryson Green

I grew up in a family church playing the drums. There would be these moments when the religious songs would crescendo and everybody in the church would seem to be in a trans, powerfully affected by what was being sung and played. You could smell the fried chicken cooking in the kitchen of the church, you could feel the heat rising from the floorboards, you could feel a spirit in the room. I always thought to myself, if I could make people feel like that with my music – transport them to a different place and time, then I would. Read more>>

JP DiCarlo

Although I didn’t start pursuing it until my mid thirties, I would say when I moved out of my parents house. I looked around my bedroom at my with White Zombie and Jenny McCarthy posters on the walls and thought “This is not the room of the super serious adult” that I thought I wanted to be. So the search for rad art that defined me began. Back then, I knew nothing of the local art scene in the Tampa/St Pete area and there was definitely nothing really happening out in Holiday , FL. Read more>>

Tanner Cartrite

I knew from a young age I wanted to be two things in life, a nurse and a hairstylist. Well I got my CNA in highschool and worked with that for 9 years, but my time had come with that and my path was ready to change. And hairschool here I come. I remember from a young age watching my mom and grandma get ready with hair and makeup. Read more>>

Kindra Barnes

The very first time I knew I should explore a career at being a creator, was when I worked for a Fortune 500 Company as a Leader and I had to deliver layoff conversations. I was asked to join a private meeting I couldn’t share the details with anyone. Our site was responsible for having over 150 hard conversations. I executed mine just fine, but I was asked to sit in on one particular conversation because the employee wasn’t taking the news so well. The woman had been with the company for 20 years. Read more>>

YOU’RE

I think somewhere inside of me, I had always known. Even when I wouldn’t admit it to myself. I grew up singing at church and at home with my family. I remember creating my first simple melody around four or five years old, and my family joined in and repeated the phrase, adding harmonies and other embellishments along the way. Read more>>

Shambria Davis

Honestly, I didn’t know I wanted to pursue a creative path, in general. For me, the pandemic sparked something in me. I was questioning my purpose and what exactly would make me happy. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with one of my best friends and she asked me, Shambria, if you could create your dream job what would it be? Although my social media platform, When Passion Speaks (WPS), is not my dream job, it was in that moment, WPS was born. A thought made manifest to be exact. Read more>>