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.

Dj Kickz

Everything happens for a reason but if I could go back , I would love to have started djing while I was in school. I started djing a year after I graduated in 2020. It was something I picked up a little before quarantine. Djing was honestly never planned out. I never said I was going to be a dj , it kind of just happened. If I was to dj while In high school, I believe my name would be bigger then it is now. Read more>>

Sue McMillan

When it comes to music it’s probably an understatement to say that I’m a late bloomer. My mother was a Sydney Conservatorium graduate and singer/pianist. She sent me for piano lessons when I was about 6 or 7 years old, but soon after starting them we moved so I stopped. My mother actually passed away unexpectedly not long after we had moved and I never had another lesson ever again. Read more>>

Heather & Will James

Heather: My creative career only truly began a few short years ago after I first met my business partner and husband, Will, who helped and supported me in making the jump into self employment. A born artist, I had been working for years in the administrative and hospitality industry, generally unhappy with working for others. I was longing to design and make clothing, costumes, whatever, but had no access to the sort of resources I believed I would need to even begin down that road. Read more>>

Kelsi Ward

If I could go back in time, I would have become a Realtor sooner rather than later. Prior to real estate, I was involved in the industry as an investor primarily through fix and flips. I loved watching run down properties transform, and to create a place to call home for future owners. During that time I also used my passion for fitness to help people transform physically and mentally through my work as a personal trainer and lifestyle coach. Read more>>

C. Lynne Smith

Do I wish I had started my creative career sooner or later? For “late bloomers” who have lived quite a bit of life including other jobs, careers, relationships etc. before finding themselves in a creative career… Going back in time and starting sooner seems to be a question that pushes itself into the mix whether you want it to or not. For some folks, life just does not afford the opportunity to consider much of anything other than survival and a Creative Career isn’t even an awareness… and then something happens! Read more>>

Erica Benefield

I started comedy late. I was 36. On the one hand, most comedians at my age have 20+ years more experience than I do at this point. On the other hand, I’ve lived so much more life that I can draw from as I learn. I’ve spent the past 20+ years of my adulthood experiencing the events that led me to where I am today. Read more>>

Sherri Petterez-Marriott

100%! I absolutely wish I had started my business sooner but unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. I didn’t have the foresight of knowing what my passion would be until later in life. After working many years in the corporate world, marriage, and then staying at home for 12 years raising my daughter, it wasn’t until late 2019 when I formed my business and started my creative journey. I imagine it would’ve been amazing to have discovered this creative side in me early on, and to have realized the importance of work and doing what you love. Read more>>

Lizabeth Cole

I absolutely wish that I had embraced my creative side earlier in life. Imposter syndrome was and still is huge when it comes to leaning into that realm for me. With creative parents, aunts, and uncles who had all attended the same high school that I did, and with my grandmother as their art teacher (who retired before my time), I avoided the art wing like the plague. Read more>>

Davon Gilman-Bey

I Wish I started my career earlier, just to be well versed and have more experience editing. At the time when I started photography my mom didn’t want anything to happen to me based off of the area that we lived in where people were getting robbed and a lot of crime were going on in the East Flatbush/Brownsville area. Read more>>

Crystal Kearney

I had my oldest son 19 years old, Dec 27,2007. I was a young mom back then. Nicholas was 3 years old when he got diagnosed with Autism, I didn’t know what that was, I had him a private school and the teacher told me at the time, they couldn’t do anything else for because his learning abilities wasn’t meeting the other students. She suggested I get him tested, and I did. Read more>>

Xi Chen

I never regret life. Never made a “IF” in my life, every moment for me is a part of my life. I appreciated each of them, either the good part or the bad. They are my experience, which pushes me to grow in the other way. I remember I heard someone make a metaphor, which is each person’s life is like a blossoming flower, some blossom in early time, and some are late. So don’t compare yourself with others, just be yourself. Read more>>

Rama Kazi

​​I decided on the name, “Rama Kazi”, during a drive down I-285 East sometime around early Fall of 2019.At the time, I was a 27 year old corporate professional working in tech recruiting. Music had been a lifelong hobby of mine but most of my community only knew me as Ramesh Annamraju; according to them I was just some remarkably brilliant, dashingly handsome, 6-foot, Blindian Que with 86% lean mass and a beard that connects. Now a decent amount of my friends were aware that I could rap. Read more>>

Erin Bolden

Since I was a child, around age 5 or 6, I was always talking into a camera and making videos. From replicating my favorite YouTubers to recording my daily life, I always knew that I wanted to be in a creative field. As I got into my teens, as most of us do, I became extremely self-conscious and less motivated to film and be on camera. I would say the thought of embarrassing myself in front of an online audience was a huge fear of mine, and as a result, I was steering away from what I truly liked to do. Read more>>

Myka Morrison

I kind of do feel like I could’ve started earlier or been more proactive when I did start. I’ve been doing music since 2019.I was in a place of feeling too stagnant in my 9-5 and I knew I wanted and still want more out of life.I want my craft to pay my bills and open doors for my other creative outlets as well. Read more>>

Dustin Massey

I would have started much sooner. I received my BFA in painting and drawing in 1999. I was also going to pro wrestling school at the same time. When I graduated college I pursued a career in wrestling for about 10 years. Around 2001 the wrestling industry was in bad shape because WCW had gone out of business. I had not done anything artistic because I had been on the road traveling. When the wrestling business was suffering I was hired by a friend to work retail. I hated it but I was really good at it. Read more>>

Ale Hernandez-Lopez

“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” – Gandalf I’m on the verge of turning 30, which is wild for my younger self to even consider. I started my tattoo apprenticeship pretty “late” in my eyes. I was freshly 25 years old and had known since I was 17 that I wanted to tattoo. Read more>>

Sydney Connors

I started my creative career pretty early in my life. While in high school i actively directed and wrote shows. I sang in the choir and solos in school shows, I worked extra hard to put myself and my talents out there. When i got to college i got wrapped up in a relationship that eventually blessed me with my 2 beautiful children TreVae and Raevyn, but my focus on love and on pleasing people that do not quite understand the opporation of the industry is what i believe slowed down my momentum in my career. Read more>>

Victora B. Calhoun

If I could go back in time I would’ve started my creative career sooner; my craft would’ve been perfected by now! But I don’t regret it because the experiences that I’m able to flow about now as a grown woman I wasn’t able to flow about when I was a young girl. So everything happens when it’s supposed to. Read more>>

Thelilfairy

Music has always been a big part of my life, I was raised on music. I always had an unexplainable love for music since I was kid, and I would fantasize about being the artist on the T.V. I dropped my first single in 2018, but I wish I started my music career sooner. I made the mistake of letting anxiety and self consciousness take over. I’m glad to have finally faced my fears, performing and release wise. Read more>>

Jaleah Ledford

I started my art journey at 25. Sometimes I wish I would have started sooner. I feel like head I’ve been drawing since I was a child I would’ve been a lot further in my career by now and would have saved me some of the hardships that I faced in life. Life was really crazy hopping from job to job. I’ve dropped out of college I thought I wanted to be a psychologist. Read more>>

Bernadette Johnson

My philosophy is we are where we need to be, and everything that happens…shows up…with perfect timing. Let me share my experience with this phenomenon. In 2004, I was Vice President Human Performance Solutions in a financial institution spending my time in a boardroom making critical decisions about the strategic direction of the organization and yet feeling like something was missing…at a deeper level for me. I remember seeing a quote that said, “say yes to work that feeds your soul AND feeds the world”. At that time, I was only completing one part of that equation…feeding the world. Read more>>

Len Tran

I started my business in 2021 and I should have done it five years sooner. Five years ago, I spent countless hours searching through the internet and taking courses about my industry, which is inspirational speaking. I struggled with who was my intended audience and that in itself took a while to solidify. Looking back I should have just given a speech to anyone and then from there I should know who the speech would resonate with more. What I have learned is that we tend to overthink things rather than just taking action and test out the water. Read more>>