Everyday, somewhere, there is an aspiring artist or creative daydreaming about pursing their creative career full time. Everyday, there are countless creatives thinking about whether to pursue their passion more seriously and so we wanted to hear from folks who’ve made the leap. We asked them to reflect on if they wish they had started sooner or if they feel they would have been better off if they had waited a bit longer.

A’C.R.E.W. LLC

A’ C.R.E.W. (Artist’s Creatively Recognizing Everyone’s Worth) started at the right time. As a large group, we all had to travel along our paths until God saw fit to bring us together as a collective. Our story could not have been written any better. We have grown so much since our first show in 2019. We have traveled and touched many stages together, and the blessings are still coming. God’s plan is always the best. Read more>>

Aaron Boeltl

I honestly think i started at the perfect time. At the time i was just playing music for fun mainly, I learned alot whether it’d be songs, lessons, writing, but it just wasn’t enough. I was 22 at the time and working a full time job (still am), and i always wanted to play with other musicians. I tried here n there in highschool but never just seemed to work out, so I guess the stars aligned perfectly and I couldn’t be happier who i have as bandmates! Read more>>

Johel Almeida

For me personally I wish I started much sooner, as a kid I was always the one at the back not paying attention and doodling on his notebook, I was always known as the kid that “knew how to draw”. I t all started when I was about 8 years old and a friend of mine showed me a comic he made and I was amazed at how he was able to imagine and create his own world just with a pencil and paper. Read more>>

T. L. Coughlin

I am a firm believer that everything aligns at the right time, whether you expect it to or not. Being an author was always a dream of mine, but for the longest time I never thought it would be a possibility. Writing and becoming an author seemed like an unattainable objective, something completely unknown. Growing up no one in my community, family, or friends were writers, full-time or otherwise. Self-publishing and smaller independent presses were also not as common or well-known, which made the goal of becoming an author be defined by publishing with a Big 5 publisher or bust. Read more>>

Karla Harris

While I’ve been singing professionally since high school, for the first 20 years or so I thought of music as more of a hobby than a career. Singing always felt natural and somehow essential inside me, but on the outside, I just labeled it as what I did on the weekends for fun. Looking back, I realize this was partly a defense mechanism because going for a career as a performer felt improbable, scary and inaccessible — something for people who were much bolder than I ever felt. Read more>>

Darian Holt

I believe that I started my creative career on time simply because I’ve always been a creative but more people began to notice later down the road. I’ve always been a creative or quiet entertaining individual. Looking back I wish I realized the influence that I was capable of but as time went by I started to notice how I could reach the masses. I started making social media videos years ago and people found them to be funny. I started to have videos share on major platforms which made me realize that I influential. Read more>>

Mark Baile

I started song writing in 1987, my first song written was titled “Something Inside.” I played it for a few people but didn’t play it with confidence. I received good feedback but at that time, looking back, I was trying to be something I wasn’t. I had ambitions to be a professional drummer however, I have always had a passion for writing and singing. Throughout my time playing drums, I wanted to venture out into the scene as the “front man,” but I allowed others to make me feel as though I was not good enough. Read more>>

Joel Barr

For a good number of years, I regretted that I did not start my full-time creative career much earlier. It did not begin until my 40’s and until I had a half dozen jobs outside the creative world. Now though, I suspect the crooked path leading to my career in the arts had great advantages. For one thing, delaying a jump into the arts gave me years of predictable earnings which helped support a young family and to support my children through college. On the artistic side, however, starting my full-time career in the arts a bit later offered so much life experience which I know is reflected in my art itself and in the business side of this painting career. Read more>>

Elaine Stephenson

differently. Hindsight is always 20/20 and for me I don’t think I would be in the same place if I had tried to start my creative career any earlier. Each job, project, or situation prepared me for the next step I took and if I had tried to skip any of those, I wouldn’t have ended up in the same place. I started painting murals four years ago and before that I didn’t know that being a muralist was a viable career path. Read more>>

Charlotte Swett

I’ve been acting and drawing since I was 10, I started getting into portraits around 12 and realised I had an eye for detail. I was raised in an environment that appreciated the arts but never took it seriously as a career path. I felt pretty hopeful about turning my creative abilities into a career but I definitely was affected by the doubts of others. When I graduated high school I jumped right into the service industry full time and I thought that was how I could save up money to start doing what I love. Read more>>

Kerilè Gerald

I truly believe in divine timing and alignment. I had the idea of starting a podcast four years before I actually started mine, But my message wouldn’t be the message I have today if I hadn’t gone through the things I have within these years. The only thing I do wish I did do was major in broadcasting or marketing when I was younger because it would’ve gotten me further in my career, but its still not too late to do those things! Read more>>

Liz Beachy

Oh, absolutely! Moreso I wish I had stuck with art from the beginning. I excelled in art classes throughout my primary schooling and had started at a local community college for graphic design. But then life got difficult and I had to think rationally and choose a profession that would keep me financially secure. The saddest part is that I only began making art again since 2019. Getting back into the creative field has helped me grow and cope with life. I met the real Liz only after I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in seven years. Read more>>

Dakotah Jennifer

I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur and small business owner. At 8 and 9, I was making mini purses out of felt (not well, mind you), or “selling” envelopes at after-day at 11 & 12. It was only when I found tie-dye during the pandemic and discovered I was actually good at it, that I decided to start selling. Now, as a recent graduate, working part-time, it’s a full business now. Read more>>

Maggie Hudson

Sometimes I wish I would have started my career as an aerialist sooner in life, but when I look back, I realize that all the things that happened in my life were the perfect building blocks that got me to where I am now. Born and raised in Germany, I earned a degree in Business Administration but learned quickly that sitting in an office all day was not for me. My hobbies were skydiving and competitive dancing, and after moving to the US I became a group fitness instructor and personal fitness trainer. Read more>>

Daijah Shine

Knowing what I know now, I believe that starting my career later would’ve been a bit more beneficial for me. Now looking through the eyes of a twenty five year old, I realize that I was nowhere near prepared for the path I’d chosen at nineteen. My launch into the world of publishing literature works was a success, but as a teenager, who knows how to properly handle this sudden attention… and the royalties? It was unchartered territory for me. Read more>>

Imp

I definitely wish I had started sooner! I began making music when I was fourteen years old, but hadn’t attending open mics and doing shows until I was 24. I was under the impression that I needed released material for people to refer back to first, which couldn’t have been further from the truth; starting sooner and not being afraid to make mistakes is a great way to get your foot in different doors and learn mistakes earlier. Read more>>

Laura Kasperlik

I have officially been referring to myself as a maker and artist for 8 years and change. Prior to that, I worked in healthcare, and then in international HR. And although the need to find patient solutions and to deal with corporate leadership certainly had its own sort of creative artistry, neither role gave me the freedom and fun found in using paint, fabric and stitching to design and produce art. Read more>>

Deidra Scott

I’ve always been a creative person; I would draw stick figures as a small child until my mom taught me how to draw actual arms and legs. After learning that I sort of ran with it. I would cut up clothes for my Barbie dolls, and draw different fashion designs/looks in my journals. I wanted to be a fashion designer initially; that’s actually what I attended college. I never fully pursued it because I couldn’t sew and didn’t have patience honestly. Read more>>

Jacquis Speight

I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I was born into a very talented, singing family. I was literally born with a very noticeable raspy voice. My mom said she could hear it in my first laugh. I’ve been told some were concerned about my singing ability early on and prayed that my voice mature because if not I would sing anyway lol. That always tickles me. I always had the burning desire to uplift people. Read more>>

Ambrose Reed

I’ve loved the visual arts since I was a kid, but was never sure if it was my path or not. I’d been drawing, experimenting with Photoshop, and trying out stop motion animation since I was young, but I also loved my science, english, and computer classes, which seemed like safer bets. In a way, I feel very lucky that I saw potential in everything, but it certainly made it difficult to choose a direction. Read more>>

Jorjette Morgan

In all honesty – in my early adulthood life, I did not know what it was that I actually wanted to pursue. I had changed my major so many times to the point that I received a degree but did not really pursue a “career” showing off that degree. I lost the spark. When I was about 20-21 years old, it was at that moment when I had to learn to fend and take care of myself. If I wasn’t going to eat, who was going to feed me. You – know. Yes I had my parents, but I was not living with them at the time. My cousin and I were roommates. She did her own thing and I did my own thing. I started teaching myself how to cook. Read more>>

Shay Maxwell

I really go back and forth with this in my mind all the time. So quick backstory… I always knew I wanted to be in the entertainment industry, but I didn’t know exactly what that looked like for me. I was interested in acting and I wanted a chance to be on Disney. While I knew I could dance and had some formal training; it was instilled in me at a young age that dance wasn’t a “career”. So I continued on the track that society paved and what family deemed to be the best and successful path to take. Read more>>

Khari Turner

I definitely wish I had started my business sooner. I wish I had took the time to invest in all the things that made my business scale quicker. I wasted so much time trying to do things the old-school way on my own and without any help. Taking that first leap of faith and actually investing in things that would help my business grow actually saved me a lot of time, I was able to expand my knowledge quicker, as well as take a lot of stress off of myself trying to maneuver task I actually had no idea how to complete. Read more>>

Brandon Dudley

I guess I wish that I would have taken the leap into pursuing a different creative career a lot earlier in my life. Now, that’s not to say I regret being where I am today, because I don’t, it was my journey that has led me here today. I just wish I would have taken the leap into the visual arts and pursuing it in a more serious fashion before now. Read more>>