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.

Eric Nine

Yes, I’ve been able to make a full-time living from my creative work, but it’s definitely been a journey of patience, passion, and perseverance. It wasn’t something that happened overnight. I started out as a professional artist in 2006, and in those early years, I was mostly focused on building a foundation. I knew I wanted to create art full-time, but like many artists, I had to take on different types of work to support myself while building my career. I had big ideas and projects in mind, but I had to work my way up to reach those goals. Read more>>

Catarina Ramos Pereira

When following your path, 80% of our clients will come from networking. How well do people know your craft? Where are you spending your time? Who are you spending time with? More than half of my assignments come from previous clients or from places where I ensure they know what I do. I specialize in sports creative content, whether video, photography, or graphic pieces. I always go to new places and try to show my work or even offer a test session so they can get a feel of my work. From there, I always keep in touch and keep showing my projects; eventually, it will come when someone wants to collaborate in some way. Read more>>

Jessica Moreno

Ummmm A journey. It’s been a transformative journey one filled with lessons, growth and intentional choices. Wasn’t a fast transition but rather a gradual evolution of passion and purpose aligning practices. In the early days, I started as a receptionist, navigating hustle driven decisions just to have my base as a single mother. My drive came from a deep love for creativity and a desire to help others feel confident and recognize their true beauty. Fast forward, everything changed when I embraced my unique approach and integrated my lifestyle into my work. I realized that true success doesn’t come from chasing trends or endless hustling it comes from deeply connecting with your craft and your clients. Read more>>

Rachel Felicia Calvert

Two years ago, I quit my day job to pursue music full-time. The band I was performing with was starting to get extraordinary opportunities, and it seemed like we were just on the brink of being able to make our project a sustainable business. Unfortunately, a variety of circumstances caused us to break up, and I was left without a job or a band. I also started to realize that extensive touring is really the only semi-viable way to make money as an ensemble. Often, selling music and merch barely covers the cost of production. I began to resent touring. I felt my relationships with my friends and family strain and weaken, and my personal struggles with health and routine became untenable with the instability of constantly being on the road. Read more>>

Lauren Airriess

I have been very lucky to have worked full time most of my career. I think it’s equal parts hard work, strategy, and timing. I was given the tools to acquire a very strong work ethic from early on, which benefited me as a was working up to applying for college, through my education, and then at the beginning of my career. You can be very talented but if you don’t have the skills for applying that skill every day and consistently, you are going to struggle. Having a plan of action for yourself and your career is also going to make a big difference. Deciding how you are going to focus your skill set and your work so that you have the greatest opportunity for employment will determine how much work you will get in the future. Read more>>

Donna Blanchard

The first show I auditioned for was The Curious Savage by John Patrick. I was a high school freshman who landed the sweet role of Lily Belle – a bit of a villainous woman. It was the greatest experience of my 13 year old life. I still cannot describe the thrill of it accurately. I can tell you that have loved every moment Iʻve spent on stage, even in shows that paid the bills, but werenʻt very well written. When I am on stage, each second includes more time. I have been on stage when my zipper broke, an actor should have entered, but didnʻt, and mouse ran up my leg, (all at different times, different shows, thank god), and I swear, in those moments 1000 different thoughts ran through my head and I still had time to choose the best possible option, execute it, and carry on as though it had been rehearsed all along. The art of being getting inside the head of a character in a script and bringing her to life with every breath and nuance, yet living so “in the moment” in life is not only thrilling, itʻs the most addictive substance on earth as far as Iʻm concerned. Read more>>

Kevin J. Nelson

it took me a while to begin earning a full time living from writing, but I have been successful at doing so for some years now. But once covid came and the strike followed behind it, the industry changed making it hard to do what I love full time, for now… Read more>>

Leana Fischer

I have! It’s been a long and winding road to get there. Here are the milestones of the journey along the way. In college I went to architecture school and discovered my love for creativity (drawing, building models). Unfortunately, once I entered the “real” world of architecture after graduating in 2009, I felt a strong disconnect with my creativity and trapped in an office setting, but didn’t know what else to do. I was ashamed about not enjoying the work I went to college for, but knew I couldn’t spend my career doing it. In 2013 I got married and left my architecture job to move to Arkansas, where my husband was going to grad school. Here I had time to re-visit creativity. I started drawing / painting again, and realized I wanted to take it seriously. Read more>>

Zenia Bhumgara

Yes I make a full time living from my passion. I earn more than what my friends make at a desk job. It is a slow process and I feel like I am still growing and I have miles to achieve. There were many obstacles along the way. Covid was a major draw back as just when my career was about to start, covid happened and slowed down my growth process. Social Media has been a great boost to my growth. If I had to do things differently, I would have made use of social media right from the start. I entered the game late. Also I would have done alot more to market myself to the right people. Read more>>

Levi Franklin

I have been able to earn a living based on my work in creative spaces since before I graduated college. It was not easy by any means, and during college I at one point had 5 different jobs. I essentially didn’t sleep a lot for 4 years of college and worked extremely hard. But I also had curated an incredibly strong and supportive community of friends during college that helped see me through some of the hardest moments in my life. Read more>>

Jeremy Somers

I’ve been earning a full-time living from my creative work and creative endeavours for a lot of my career at least like 15 years now and a huge part of that has been really about finding my niche and creating a style especially for Creative work. Varying the types of styles so I have a set to work form have been hugely important in setting me apart from everybody else and why people come to me and see me out. You don’t have to be best but you do Need to be solid at a few things.  Read more>>

Erin Caballero

The “What do you want to be when you grow up” question was always an easy one for me. I was steadfast in my journey to pursue a career in the arts. Drawing and Painting have always been my strongest areas and I was always eager to use new materials and learn new techniques. I knew that it would be a competitive and hard journey, but if I had to work for the rest of my life it would be doing something I enjoyed. Read more>>

Michael Saab

Yes, I’ve been fortunate to build a full-time career with Modern Gypsies Productions, but it wasn’t an overnight success by any means. My journey started with a deep love for performance art and a desire to create immersive experiences that bring people together. I started out taking whatever gigs I could get, often working side jobs to support myself while developing my skills and growing my network. Early on, I realized that if I wanted to make a living from this, I had to treat it as a business—something that isn’t always natural for creatives. Read more>>

Rafael Rico

It’s been a long journey until I finally reached the point of making this career sustainable in the long run. Most of the work has been really emotional and psychological and I don’t it’s ever going to really stop, there’s still lots of things I want to accomplish but I know I’ve been in the right path for a while, it’s just a matter of endurance, waking up motivated to keep moving forward, studying the spots of the business where you might be flaking and reinforcing the spots where you succeed. Read more>>

Debbie Ali

I’ve always had sales here and there during my art career, though it really kicked off when I made the decision to leave my teaching career. I was able to dedicate time to creating new products, work on branding, and most importantly, attend events and markets that I would not have been normally able to go to because they were during the work day. From December 2023 to now I have sold work at over 25 markets and fairs, with my biggest accomplishment being Anime NYC in the Javits Center NYC. Being able to sell my work there was incredible! Read more>>

Emily Goulazian

My journey to earning a full-time living from my creative work has been anything but linear, marked by challenges and unexpected turns. However, it’s these experiences that led me to building a fulfilling career as a 25-year old in New York City. When I moved to NYC in the spring of 2022, I was fresh out of college and entering a world still affected by the aftermath of COVID. Studying the performing arts during COVID in a virtual setting was a big adjustment, and the pandemic made opportunities feel scarce. I was fortunate to secure a cruise ship job and an agent after graduating, which gave me some direction. When that ended, I was eager to move to NYC to pursue my dreams of performing. Read more>>

Danielle Barnum

It feels SO good to say yes, I absolutely make a living doing this! I’m 39 and I’ve been a photographer full time for over 12 years now. This is one of those moments where the 22-year-old clueless, anxious and starving-artist-mindset version of myself would have her jaw on the floor to see where we are now. I get to work with SO many amazing and inspiring people and learn about their lives and businesses, I can now travel when and where I want (and get paid for it), I can live in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest, and most importantly, both my work and personal life are deeply infused with a sense of play and curiosity. Read more>>

Jamari Perry

I have been earning a full-time living from creative work for the last 6+ years. I was working in tech for about 3 years and I didn’t feel like it was creative enough or that there was room for upward mobility. So I took a leap of faith and started working on a doc-series as a freelance Production Manager. It was very scary but I knew I had to do it. The project actually serves as my inspiration now for taking leaps of faith because the series was later distributed by the same tech company that I left. The journey was difficult knowing that I had to hustle to find my next projects in order to work consistently but I was able to start a family and grow a business that made nearly $1 million in the first year and has had wide social and political impact globally. I think although the process was scary it was paced beautifully because it was designed by God. I am grateful for all of the speed bumps and distractions along the way because it made me stronger, more patient and steadfast. Read more>>

Brian Metcalf

Yes, it is by acting as a multi-hyphenate that I am able to make a living, meaning by wearing multiple hats and being paid by each role I take on that I am able to make a living. It is part of the reason I work as a writer, director, producer and actor. I think networking is an important part to survival. Joining the guilds has allowed me to network so much more. Initially I had to take a job as a creative director until I was ready to focus on my film career more. I still take side hustles every once in a while in order to survive as Los Angeles is very expensive. Read more>>