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.

Yancyabril

The first time I got a paying gig was so exciting for me, I was like, “No way! I’m getting paid to sing?!” I got a gig at some bar in Harlem when I was 16 or 17 through a mentor of mine and it was a lot of fun. Although I had been performing since the age of 10, it was definitely scary at first learning how to truly entertain people for two hours and get them to pay attention and engage in that setting but I like to think of those days as practice for me and my future as a performer. Read more >>

Janna Blackburn

My very first transaction for my artwork was a childhood friend who I grew up with in Utah. We have not seen each other in decades, yet we are able to keep in touch through social media. How that purchase came about is when I began sharing my art piece on my social media account. Read more >>

Chelsei Grady

I remember vividly the first dollar I earned as a creative a few years ago! A brand reached out to me through email and at first I thought that it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real because didn’t have millions of followers, right? Wrong! The representative sent me the information and asked me to send of my rates for they were asking me to do. Read more >>

Jesse Perry

I’ll never forget the first piece I sold. As a member of an artist collective in college, my companions and I participated in a monthly art walk in downtown Phoenix where we set up and displayed our artwork in hopes of making sales and expanding our reach as creatives. To start, my work was over priced and many of the pieces I had were painted with the mindset of selling them. Read more >>

Akinola Oshodi stage name AkayCentric’

I remember doing a couple of shows back then in Nigeria without getting paid but I remained consistent then one day , I got a phone call from a reputable company requesting that they would love me to perform at one of their biggest yearly events and wanted to know my price , I mentioned my price and to my surprise they paid the next day . Read more >>

Slikk Muzik

My first real check made from the music business was on Ariana Grande 10 years ago back in 2013. I remember still working a public job at a local corporate bank in DFW when I got the call and opportunity to produce a song for Ariana from a living music legend by the name of Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. He gave me the opportunity to create this record from my home studio in my one bedroom apartment at that time. Read more >>

Adéọla Ayedun

My first sale as an artist was a pivotal moment that deeply reaffirmed my commitment to the arts. It happened back during my junior year of high school at the Mississippi School of the Arts. Our campus hosted an annual event where universities would come for student recruitment, scholarship offers, and portfolio reviews. The feedback I received that day was incredibly uplifting, but what stood out was my interaction with Phoenix Savage—a professor at Tougaloo College and an esteemed contemporary sculptor, designer, and artist. Read more >>

Dianne McPhelim

In 2020 I returned to college as a mature student, studying English Literature and Writing. In our first year, we were invited to enter a creative writing competition—200 words; on any theme, for a newspaper. We ruled ourselves out immediately; who did we think we were, entering contests, and showing our work to the public? We weren’t real writers. Read more >>