Is there ever a “right” time to start a creative career? Our goal has always been help people pursuing their passion. Helping those people often means helping them think through important decisions such as when to start, when to take the leap. Below, you’ll find our conversations with successful creatives reflecting back on when they had to decide whether to start or wait.

Katie Cartwright

If I could go back in time, I don’t think I’d start my creative career any sooner or later—I think everything unfolded exactly as it needed to. I’ve started and stopped multiple times, but honestly, I think that’s because I wasn’t fully ready to rely on myself yet. Read more>>

Chace Greene

Looking back, I do wish I had started my creative career earlier, but I also believe everything happens when it’s supposed to. For the longest time, I was afraid to truly put myself out there. I overthought every move, doubted my abilities, and let imposter syndrome convince me I wasn’t ready or “qualified” enough. My therapist was the one who really pushed me to take a leap of faith, helping me see that waiting for the perfect moment was just another way of letting fear win. Read more>>

Beth Amphetamie

I started my creative career by necessity- and I think many of the most successful artists will tell you a similar story. Something I hear asked, all the time, is “When should I take the leap of faith?” “When should I go for it and make [insert creative field] my full time gig?” Read more>>

Tracy Hamilton

I do think about this a fair bit actually. I did my first stand up set in high school when I was 17 at the Arts Camp I attended, but I didn’t commit to stand up fully after that. I just did maybe 1 set a year after that until I was 25, when I decided to make it my career. Read more>>

Uncle Brent

There’s some regret about not fully committing to a music career earlier. When you’re young, people often discourage risky paths—especially in music. It’s tough, unpredictable, and full of uncertainty. But looking back, it’s clear that anything worth pursuing comes with its challenges. At this stage, I know that success is possible with focus and determination. Read more>>

 Lorena Lepori

If I could go back in time, would I start my creative career sooner or later? That’s a tricky one. I’ve always been creative. In my early 20s, I worked full time for cartoon studios, creating animation and comics. It wasn’t just a passion- it was my job. But as much as I loved it, it didn’t pay enough to make a living. So life took me on a different path, and I spent 16 years in the theatre world—not painting, but still immersed in storytelling, in the art of transformation. It wasn’t until later that I returned to my first love: painting. Read more>>

Uriel Brg

I released my first full song when I was 21, but it wasn’t because I lacked interest or passion—it was mainly because I didn’t have the right connections, access to instruments, or knowledge of music theory. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I had started my music career in 2015—perhaps I’d be much more established by now. Read more>>

Abigail Rose

I started professionally pursuing a career as a songwriter and performing artist when I was around 13 years old. I have very supportive parents but they always made it clear I was the one steering the ship. I admire my younger self’s confidence and tenacity but I sometime’s wonder what it would have been like if I let making music stay a hobby a little while longer. I think growing up in a city like Nashville made that tricky because this is the town artists and songwriters come to, to turn their art into a career. I also think without me even knowing it I was buying into this idea the industry likes to plant in your mind that you can only be successful if you’re young (specifically related to female artists). I hope this goes without saying but that is not true. Thank God I feel like that is becoming less and less a focal point. Read more>>

Nancy D Owen

This is such a funny topic for me. I feel as if I have started EVERYTHING too late. I started dance, classical ballet, at age 14, much older than most girls, yet I was working professionally only a few years later. Would my trajectory have been clearer had I started earlier? Probably. I would have probably taken a more traditional path: conservatory to company. Since I started later, I did not go to as many big summer programs and company schools as might have been ideal. That stated, I still spent a summer at a ballet intensive and another at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow. I also went to college, though I did so on my own terms, graduating from UC Irvine in a total of two years instead of four, and taking time to dance with ballet companies along the way. I didn’t move to NY until a year after college graduation, opting to work with Alonzo King and Richard Gibson in San Francisco to further build up my professional aptitude. When I went to Joffrey Ballet the following year, I felt a little older but ready. When I joined The Phantom of the Opera, I was actually younger than many of my colleagues, which was a first for me! Read more>>

Christian Roberts

Yes and no! I grew up competitively dancing for 10 years. Then I went off to college and I felt pressure to study something “real.” I investigated many things from forestry, to anthropology but still wasn’t happy. It took three years for me to figure out what I wanted to do. I took one clay class and immediately fell in love. I took a time off from school, transferred schools, and then it took me another three years to hone in on what it is I am doing with my voice in art. I am thankful for all that I have learned along the journey to finding my path, although it would have been nice to make the commitment to the arts sooner. Ceramics are resilient and fragile at the same time. Each failure and uncontrolled variable leads to a new path of discovery, similar to my explorations in undergrad. Read more>>

Razz Vio

I am turning 37 years old this year and just beginning a professional aerialist career. What a world. My path into circus and aerials from music has been a winding one. Sometimes I feel like I started my music career late as well. I was 26 when I committed to a full time performance career and wasn’t making a full time stable living at it until I was 30. Read more>>

Kinga Brassay

Art and creativity have always been at the core of my life. From book illustrations to costume design for theatre plays, nearly every job I’ve taken has been tied to artistic expression. But along the way, I faced both small and significant detours – moments where I strayed from my creative path, often due to external pressures to pursue a career deemed ‘more real’ than art. Looking back, I wish those detours hadn’t happened. If I had fully embraced my creativity as a career earlier, I believe I would be much further along today. Read more>>

Meyer Joseph

I started music young. I was always humming and singing, I started guitar at 5, but had a nice piano at home to play on. I even claim to be blessed with absolute pitch at times. I love listening to music for this reason. Starting so young has created some problems for me in some sense. I became overconfident and eager to finish projects. I would also hide other projects due to a following under-confidence which ensues. I would burn both ends of the candle and sacrifice my energy and sleep toward this passion. When I was younger, I would sacrifice my health for the sake of the craft. If there was one thing I would recommend to other creatives, it would be to stay aware of your health and protect your mind from burnout. Many of my projects reflect the intersection of mental health and music for this reason. Music to me can act like a journal at times, logging events and curating moments. It is important as musicians to maintain skill that we treat the mind and body as a part of the instrument which we are trying to make music from. This can apply to other creative fields too. Do not let fear overwhelm the possibility for love and growth. Read more>>

Yifan Deng

If I could go back in time, I would have started my own creative career sooner. After graduating with a master’s degree in architectural design, I spent the first few years working for various firms, primarily fulfilling the visions and design directions of others. While it was valuable experience, I eventually realized there was little in terms of my own creative output—no body of work that reflected my ideas and design philosophy. Read more>>

Mary Imaj

I truly believe everything aligned just as it should have. My dream was never to be a “creative” or “designer”. This came about during my Freshman year of college as I navigated my own style post-Catholic school life. Designing started during COVID-19 when I was sent home and had nothing but time on my hands. Scrolling through Pinterest, I fell in love with puffer material and created my signature bag INDIGO, my first love. I truly think that starting sooner wouldn’t have been fun or I would be forced to create because everything came right on time. The placement of the start of my career has been God sent. I am so grateful to have found this new love. I wouldn’t change anything, I released everything on how I felt and at this time as I am getting back into it, I look forward to regaining the confidence to release pieces just because I love them. Read more>>