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

Shell (Shellanin)

When I started cosplaying, I NEVER imagined that one day, I’d be able to turn it into a career. I started off with it as a hobby because I just really love bringing representation into the world of cosplay. When I got my first collaboration request from a large brand, I was completely ecstatic! It was for Redbubble, and it was something I was super happy about since I was very familiar with them. I couldn’t believe that I was actually creating a cosplay concept to advertise products for a brand! I was so proud of how it came out and they loved it as well! Here is it is you’d like to see: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6B76-UJuaJ/ . It was the perfect beginning of my cosplay career. Read more>>

Omolola Balogun

Ever since I started dancing, I always did it because my mind could escape from all the thinking I would usually do. Dancing is my happy place and where I could truly express my hurt, happiness, anger, bliss, and softness. I was on competitive teams for school and I danced at church. I was always being asked to choreograph dances for church, I became the dance coordinator for my ASO team (African Student Organization) and was always the team leader for my dance teams. When I got my first paid gig was my freshmen year of college. An upcoming artist reached out to me and asked if I could dance for her for this award event called Afrimma. Read more>>

Dejanaé Vasquez

I used to help people organize their homes as a source of income before I started doing my craft full time, but on this one particular day… One of my clients asked me, “what do you like to do outside of work?” The question excited me because people rarely question my interest and I said, “I enjoy to paint… It makes me happy and it’s like therapy to me.” Then my client asked if he could see some of my work… He asked if I was selling any of my art pieces and I thought to myself, “selling? I only do this for fun.” So I responded, “of course I am, which one do you like?”… Read more>>

Maddy Fauci

I was about 16 when I earned anything as a creative. It was a loaf of turtle-shaped sourdough bread from Boudin Bakery in San Francisco, which my dad, sister, and I were visiting at the time. There was a piano in the lobby where I sat down and played a few songs. When I finished, one of the employees at the bakery brought me the loaf of bread which was very exciting for me. It made me feel like I could make something more of this hobby. About six years later, after practicing my craft for some time, I decided to take my guitar down to the First Ave subway station in Manhattan where I was living with my aunt. Read more>>

Ayinde Hall

So the first time I really earned money off of drawing manga it was an extremely proud moment. My business partner and I had just gotten our first chapter printed in hard copy format and we started selling those to our fans through social media. We advertised on there and told people to DM us if they wanted a copy. Sure enough we sold a few hundred dollars worth of copies. Which doesn’t sound like much, but you have to realize this was the first time we figured out how to monetize our work, and for us to have such positive feedback was very special. Read more>>