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.

Ken Clear

Years ago after the split up of my previous band. I was totally unaware what the future may hold. We were at a peak time in our career playing 3-4 shows every weekend! The timing was unexpected. For one, having our producer move 3 hours away, our songwriter choose to rejoin the military and was deployed to Afghanistan, and the most talented lyricist in our band got into trouble and was incarcerated. This was a heartbreaking time in my career. Read more>>

Vincent Simpson

My first paid work in music was as a songwriter for a rapper in 2017. Shoutout Chyna Doll! As a creative director/designer, my first paid work was co-designing a fashion collection for a friends brand in 2021. Shout out to Intention! Read more>>

Anthony Devon

My very first dollar earned as a creative came from signing my first tv distribution deal with P.Diddy at REVOLT TV. Read more>>

Kristen Wesler

The first memory I have of making money as an artist was in 2017. I was inspired to paint a piece inspired by one of my wedding portraits. I shared it on Facebook, and got multiple messages asking me to commission wedding portrait paintings! Read more>>

Katie Gallagher

7 years ago I was living in Phoenix, Arizona for a corporate job with General Motors. I had just graduated college with my engineering degree and I was following the “normal” and “expected” path by society standards. I did however still have a love and passion for dance that I’ve had since childhood, so I began getting into some drop-in adult hip hop classes once a week. Read more>>

Zaire Davis

When I was in graduate school, studying film, I worked at Target as a cashier. I needed something consistent to make money for books but knew I didn’t want to stay there long term. I landed an internship at Disney Television Animation that paid more per hour than what I made at Target and was able to thankfully quit! Read more>>

Tara Mulligan

My creative journey started with my first bubbler- a sleek minimalist design with a regular bowl. It became my first sale when a high school friend showed interest after seeing my post on Instagram. Getting that interest in my work was a motivator to create more bubblers and led me to develop my favorite sculpted flower designs. 1 year and 8 months later, I sent them a complimentary upgraded version of the bubbler as a forever “thank you” for that early support. Read more>>

Sher’ril & Samantha Knox

Our first paying performance was back in 2013 at The Maury County Fair. We were thrilled to be performing for “My Day at The Fair” for a group of students from the Kings Daughters School, which offers special educational opportunities for children and young adults with special needs. We hoped it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to bring some joy and magic into this special day for our audience. Read more>>

Tamara Kumbula

My first real gig was producing an hour long track for the Celine’s winter fashion show collection for Hedi Slimane. It was so fun and challenging to produce a song that had a story and still allowed the clothing to be the main emphasis of the show. It really helped me grow as a producer. Read more>>

Muslimah Shareef

I was creating paintings and working as a Medical Assistant. I never thought that any painting I created, someone would want in their house or that people would find it to be this great piece of art. I started showing my paintings to people and these paintings were of artist like Jay-Z, Eazy-E, Obama, Nelson Mandela, Robin Williams, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, the list goes on. Read more>>

Ibrahim Adele

To be honest, it gave me validity. Earning that first dollar provided a sense of validation for my creative efforts. It signifies that someone appreciates and values my work enough to pay for it, which was a powerful affirmation of my talent and creativity. Read more>>

Nasir Kenneth Ferebee

The very first dollar I made as a creative was working as a Production Assistant at Vh1. At that time in my career, I had finished three internships and would commute from my hometown of Philadelphia to New York City to intern. During my college career, I accumulated student loan debt and used that money to commute to internships so when I received my first check as a production assistant it was not only a huge relief but an incredibly proud moment. Read more>>

Caroline Elise

My first paid gig as an actress was appearing in a music video shot in New York for a Jamaican rap artist in 2020. I had just started auditioning a few months before and I was beyond excited to not just get booked but to also get paid for my time. The excitement definitely showed through on set because I got bumped up to a featured role. Read more>>

Jarvis Dow

I can remember vividly the first time I made money from my craft, which when I was in Italy on tour with my friends, Zo and Swim we were out street performing and we got paid €50 and we all split it and I kept €10 to myself and I still have that same $10 euro in my wallet as good luck. Read more>>

Silvia Muleo

The first work I ever sold was back in Florence. I made a series of monotypes of small antique mirrors in monochrome blue to raise some money for a painting and installation project that I was doing there. One of my childhood friends came to the city to visit me and he bought one of my prints to support my practice. (I think the price was around 5/10 euros). That is definitely a core memory for me. Read more>>

Anna Richt

I had only been a content creator for about a month when I got connected with the founder of a popular fitness brand. I was just starting out and had no accolades to show, so I thought it was the coolest thing ever when they offered to pay me a little bit for a review on my blog. They even threw in a little bit extra for some pictures of me modeling their product. Read more>>

Alexandra Rey

Back in 2002, I lived in Los Angeles and felt that the time had come for me to declare myself an “artist.” I mean, why not? I knew it was my calling. I proudly announced my new status to the owner Read more>>