The world needs artists and creatives. Unfortunately, being needed doesn’t often easily translate into financial stability. The struggle is real for so many incredibly talented artists and creatives and so we think it’s important to hear from creatives who have made it work – there is so much to learn from the folks we’ve featured below.

Emmanuelle Ai

My journey as an AI model started some 5 months ago. For many of us, AI models, our initial start was provoked by a YouTube video about an AI model named Aitana, which was made by a marketing studio and earned 10k per month on the creator subscription platform Fanvue. That was only the start. Five months later, I can say it was a journey and life experience I cannot forget. Read more>>

Marta Silvotti

As a photographer born and raised in Italy, my journey into making a full-time living from my creative work has been anything but straightforward. It certainly wasn’t like that from day one. I started out by studying photography in Italy, where I began taking on small jobs, both in and outside of photography, to support myself. These early gigs were crucial, not only because they gave me some financial stability, but also because they helped me refine my skills and understand the professional world of photography. Read more>>

Thomas Ramey

I do earn a full-time living from my work. Probably not the full time living most people would consider stable. Lol I think it’s really more so the art of being self-employed. When I was younger, I was a touring musician. Had a few full time jobs. Some part time jobs. I learned early that all those jobs were terrible. I was just losing my most valuable asset, my time. Making someone else much more money than they were paying me in return. Read more>>

Ashley Houghton

Yes, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work for the past year. My primary focus is wedding photography, which I consider my full-time creative career. Alongside this, I also teach printmaking and art history as an adjunct professor at a small art school in Chicago. Read more>>

Jesse Randall

I only recently started being able to make a full-time living from my filmmaking skills. I spent about eight years independently producing short-form content, hoping to develop these projects into features and television series. I grew up far away from the film industry in the exotic lands of rural North Carolina with a working class family. My siblings and I were the first people in our immediate family to go to college. Read more>>

Chris Bylsma

I gave up a full-time living as an editor & graphic designer when I discovered my passion for acting in the film & TV industry, so right from the start I knew it was going to take awhile to build back up to how things were! Read more>>

Lisa Colquhoun

I first got back into my voice-over journey during covid. My daughter was still very young and I wasn’t able to attend any auditions, let alone work in the film industry due to the shut-down. I had a lapel, and a walk-in closet, and told my husband it was time to get back on the VO horse. Read more>>

Adele Gilani

I’m most proud of my years as a gallerist, owning and operating my own brick and mortar retail space. I learned a lot over those five years—navigating COVID, pivoting countless times, reopening my doors post-pandemic, and eventually closing them again as the business failed. Read more>>

Michael Perry

I quit my last “real” job in 1992 and have been making a living as a writer and performer ever since. I’m not famous, nor is my work widely known, and I haven’t sold a million, but I mostly do what I choose to do and still make a living. I was raised rural working class by farmers and loggers and was inculcated with that bullheaded work ethic from my earliest days, and that plodding stubbornness has been invaluable. But I also had many advantages and privileges: Read more>>

Marie Myung-ok Lee

I decided I would be a novelist when I was nine. But even though I was growing up in rural Minnesota and I would not meet an actual author for many years, I already had a sense that a career in the arts would take major financial planing. Today, when people look at my career–several novels, professor at Columbia, I write for places like the New York Times and also appear on TV–success seems preordained. I often have to remind myself (and you should look back, too) that I am literally living my childhood dream. I just didn’t know exactly what it would look like, and it’s still unfolding. Read more>>

Julia Platt-hepworth

I have been able to earn a full time living from my creative work for many years now. But certainly it was not that way from day one. For the first maybe, four years I didn’t. And every year I wondered if I should give up. Then I’d decide to give myself one more year. And eventually I stopped wondering if I should give up altogether. I was fortunate, typically fashion stylists assist for years before taking on lead roles. Read more>>

Jordan Savage

I have indeed been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work. As a freelance photographer, I have the luxury of working on any and all projects that interest me. That has been a huge contributor to earning a full-time salary. My primary source of income is real estate media production. Photos, videos, drone work, 3D tours – anything you can think of that would represent a house up for sale.  Read more>>

Tafadzwa Shumba

I considered art as a career while I was still in high school, abd that usually never goes down well with African parents. Soon after high school I was on my own financially,since I didn’t want to go to University like they hoped I would. Read more>>

Benjamin Crane

I feel incredibly fortunate to make a full-time living as a performer. From a young age, my parents rewarded and encouraged my passion for creative pursuits, and I have followed that throughout my entire career. I got into performing later than most of my peers, not until high school, and I believe that the experiences I had prior to that helped me learn tenacity and perseverance, qualities which I believe are most important to sustaining work as a creative professional. Read more>>

Sue Orfield

I do earn a full time living as a musician. I’m 56 years old and have been doing this since I was 23 years old! I started life after college (BA in Music and BA in Math from Lawrence University, 1990) in Seattle. With absolutely zero clue about how to make a living at music, I jumped in with both feet and starting going to jam sessions. I also auditioned for a band that ultimately I would record my first album with. The name of that group was Albert Figures. I began to meet people, and basically said “yes!” to every playing opportunity that came my way. Shortly after moving to Seattle I also started teaching private lessons, as a way to make ends meet. I very quickly learned that I loved teaching, and still love teaching today. Read more>>

Valerie Lawson

I have been able to earn an honest living full-time as a makeup artist, and this has been the case since the beginning of my journey 16 years ago. While it hasn’t been a linear path, it has evolved and transformed in many meaningful ways. Read more>>

Orel Chollette

After graduating from college in 2017, and once my family had flown back to Virginia, reality hit me hard. Unlike many of my peers who were applying for jobs in the industry, I chose to pursue freelancing under my own brand. I remember staring at my schedule, seeing nothing but blank weeks and the inevitable “rent due” on the 1st. That pressure really pushed me to figure this out. Every day, I worked on something different to market myself in Chicago. I created flyers, sent cold emails, DMed people to collaborate with, and read books on freelancing. Read more>>