Do you remember the moment you realized what you wanted to do professionally? Was it magic? Was it scary? We wanted to hear from some of the most talented artists and creatives in the community and so we asked them to tell us the story of the moment when they knew they were going to pursue a creative career path.
Cynthia Dragoni
My background is as a classical dancer, and it occurred to me at eight years old that that’s what I was going to do. I had had exposure to visual art and to music, but dance really wasn’t on our radar. I think I saw ballet on PBS and it was like a revelation, it hit me like a lightning bolt. So eventually, we found a ballet school and that was the deep focus for a very long time. I danced professionally for a while, and along the way I started teaching which really took on a life of its own. Then there’s a long winding tale through a school and uncovering a great love of communicating both the experience of the art form and the knowledge of it. Through that process I started doing talks and eventually courses, videos and social media on the connections between dance, history, fashion, art, politics and it was like a homecoming. My experiences and interests started to congeal and even my heartbreaks started to make sense, in ways that could only have revealed themselves through time. Read More>>
Michael Santiago
I’ve always had a connection to the artistic space. Like most, music was my first love. Naturally, the first thing we innately do as people is listen. So, then came the cascade of multicultural music starting from the people of my island, Puerto Rico, in the form of Salsa, Reggaeton, then Hip-Hop, R&B, & Rock. As I came to the age that I was introduced to the screen, I remember my first film: Batman, with Michael Keaton. My young mind was blown! With having no concept of what a “movie” was, I thought they ripped Batman right out of the comic books. I was never the same. Over the years, I took acting classes when I could. Read More>>
Elizabeth Adamcik-Davis
After my two grown children had left home to pursue their own paths, and my interior fabrics and design store closed, I knew that eventually I would return to one of my first creative loves, painting. I had begun in college, learning the basics of drawing and painting, and practicing on large canvases that I’d learned to stretch myself, even making the frames for them. Sunrises and sunsets were my favorites to create with acrylic color wash. I do still have one of my first abstract paintings that hangs on one of my walls today, after being stored in my parents’ attic for about 30 years. Read More>>
Kathleen Yorba
The first inkling, honestly, came while I was working toward transferring to university for a degree in psychobiology. I was deeply curious about how the mind and body work together. And to fulfill the last requirement, I signed up for a life drawing course. That is when everything quietly fell apart… or maybe fell into place. Read More>>
Dylan Williams
I knew at a pretty early age that I wanted to pursue something creative, something bigger than myself, but it all really came into focus when I was 15 years old. I got the opportunity to start working with a DJ agency based in Little Rock. My previous pursuit was to start a band and become a rock star. Long story short, it was a great attempt and pursuit but band only lasted a few gigs. Having some audio equipment I started DJing sweet 16s, school dances, and proms. Those early events gave me a taste of what I was ultimately pursuing, the connection with people, and the power music had to completely transform a room. But even back then, I knew I wasn’t just chasing a party. I knew I wanted to DJ weddings. Read More>>
Ana
I’ve always been a creative person and ever since I was a child, I’ve created art. This has continued throughout my whole life and in high school I even participated in art competitions. I’ve taken classes and painted and dabbled in photography for fun throughout most of my adult life. However, I was never able to pursue it full-time until I retired three years ago from the corporate world. I knew that when I finally retired, I was going to pursue a new career as a professional artist — but I didn’t know what type of medium I wanted to work in. Read More>>
Eric Gibbons
When I was 5 or 6 years old, both my parents and teachers were impressed with my drawings. I would fill an entire pages with minute details of scenes of war and football-two things I am no longer interested in. I was encouraged by this and never looked back. Read More>>
Nicolai Valdís
I knew since I was a small child that I wanted to be a performer and artist when I grew up. I just never thought I had the power in my own body to make it happen. Read More>>
Monica Nia
I think music chose me before I could even name it. My mom used to say that as a baby, I would hold out notes before I could speak and bounce rhythmically to the music in TV commercials, always on beat. It’s like melody was embedded in me from the beginning. Read More>>
Kanchan Shingwekar
As far back as I can remember, I was always drawing and painting. As a child, I found joy in creating images from my imagination, though where I grew up, there wasn’t much scope for learning art—let alone building a career out of it. So I followed a more conventional route and became a software engineer. I enjoyed the logic and problem-solving, but that creative part of me never truly went away. Read More>>
Jasmine Martinez
I think deep down, I’ve always known I was meant to do something creative. Art was my safe space growing up. Whether I was sketching in my notebooks, customizing clothes, or just finding new ways to express myself visually, creating was something I turned to naturally. But the moment I realized I wanted to pursue it professionally came later. Read More>>
Diana Vuolo
As a child, I loved listening to classical orchestral music and playing the violin. In high school, I made the difficult decision to quit the orchestra I had been part of since elementary school because the conductor was verbally abusive. He frequently cursed at students and, on more than one occasion, threw his baton during rehearsals and stormed off in a rage. He believed that intimidation and anger would drive better performance, but it left many of us discouraged and anxious. Read More>>
Keshawn Lee Kinslow
Me as actor is something I think that the art form specifically grabbed me by the collar and said “you’re going to do this”. I often think about me having a start at this or at least an interest at a younger age, but like they say it finds you when you need it most. Read More>>
Julie Richard
I think I knew very early on—probably around 10 or 11 years old—that I wanted to be involved in the arts in some way. My entire world revolved around creativity. Whether it was dancing, singing, playing an instrument, or working on some kind of art or craft, the arts were always at the center of my life. Read More>>
Randalyn Ladson
I vividly remember the moment I realized my creativity wasn’t just a hobby, it was a calling. It was back in 2017, during a very personal season of transition. I was working in the beauty industry, helping clients feel more confident through traditional cosmetology services like waxing and brow shaping, but one day, I had a client who underwent a mastectomy. She came in, not for lashes or brows, or for a hairstyle, but just seeking normalcy. Something that could help her feel like herself again. I didn’t yet have the skills in paramedical tattooing, but that moment lit a fire in me, I saw how art could heal in ways beyond skin deep. Read More>>
Sabrina Rault
Ever since I was really little I knew I wanted to do something in the arts industry. My dad is a musician, so growing up I was always surrounded by music, singing and dancing – our household was never a quiet one haha. I loved the idea of acting and pretending to be other people, there’s a million home videos of me and my little brother putting on skits for our family and re enacting high school musical songs together. I always knew it was something I was going to pursue and do with my life, I just didn’t know in what capacity. Read More>>
Alpana Mittal
When I was very young I saw my mother doing her MFA. She used to make beautiful paintings.
At that time I developed my passion for Art. Sketching cartoons and painting became my favorite summer activity. Then my mother started teaching Art classes at home and I used to sit in her class. She used to give me colors and other things to keep me busy so I don’t disturb the class. I remember creating some work in her class. I still have one of those pieces which I created in 1981, it was there at my India home all this time and later I brought it here. Read More>>
Jordan Kirkdorffer
It’s always been something in the back of my mind. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been performing. Whether it was singing in church, putting on skits during family vacations when we’re stuck in a hotel room or getting lost in a fantasy world during elementary school recess. I’ve always known the creative world would be part of my every day life. I moved to Nashville to go to school and pursue a music career at 18, and quickly got overwhelmed with it all. I realized I had a lot more to learn and just being a “good singer” wasn’t enough to make it in the industry. Somehow life sidetracked me and I ended up becoming an accountant, which was a complete 180 from where I thought I’d be. Read More>>
Morgan Overton
When people ask me “How long have you done art, Morgan?” My response is always, “Ever since I could blink”. There hasn’t been a time that I didn’t occupy myself with something in the arts – from rummaging through my mother’s pens and markers, drawing Nickelodeon ’90s cartoon characters, pirouetting in my childhood living room – believing I too, was in the Nutcracker, or practicing songs on my flute and piano. Read More>>
Allison Poplett
I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally when I was in high school. Once it was time to apply for college, it made me think of the strengths and interests I had, and how I could apply them in the real world. I have always been an artist, since I was very little. Once it was time to find a school and choose a major, it made me start to think more critically about my career. I also think growing up in a time where blogging was popular influenced my decision. I remember seeing Garance Doré’s blog about being a fashion illustrator. Her life seemed so interesting and fun, and being someone who has always had an interest in fashion, I was even more drawn to her story. I found her path inspiring, and her journey planted the seed that illustration and the arts were a viable career. Read More>>
Bianca Alyssa Perez
Being in an MFA program for Creative Writing really solidified the idea that I could write and teach the creative works professionally. When I was working on my portfolio to submit to the MFA at Texas State University, I was finishing up a year living in Spain, teaching for the first time at an elementary school and I was eager to be back in the classroom as a student. I knew that I wanted to learn more about poetry and poetic craft to focus in on my own writing. Read More>>
Caroline Harlin
My story and creative works starts truly when I first understood shortly after i became aware about life. I think my first real moment creating had to be when my parents first got a webcam on the light gray brick microsoft computer we had in our computer room. I believe I had to have been around five when i first discovered youtube and decided to start making funny skit videos (with absolutely no plot or direction) and uploading them without my parents knowing, For context the internet really was a wild place in 2004, no one could parent enforce anything and kids like myself were understanding the internet faster than our parents. There were no rules, no understanding that what lives on the internet stays. Read More>>
Chloe Pitkoff
When I was 3, my mom and I set off one day to tour a potential pre-school in Brooklyn. The plan was to meet the teachers and explore the space I might be spending time in to see if it would be a good fit. We walked through the tour together and my mom continued to speak with the director while I wandered around. After some time, wondering why I hadn’t returned, they went looking for me. Read More>>
Shawn Thicke
I knew pretty early on that I wanted to be a performer. When I was three years old, I wanted to be a magician. I would take my mom’s cassette tape carrying case, place it in the middle of our living room, stand on top of it, and pretend to do magic tricks to an invisible audience. I would wave my imaginary wand and shout “ALLA PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES” and pretend to make a rabbit disappear. I would get down, take a bow, and redo this over and over for hours. I was serious about it until I realized I was lousy at actually being a magician. It was when I started getting obsessed with music as a teenager that everything shifted. Read More>>
Colin Costello
The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally, I was five years old. I didn’t have the language for it back then, but I felt it in my bones. I was born a creative, and I desperately needed to be one when I grew up. Read More>>
Jennifer Mercede
I went to college for art because when I thought about studying something I thought, well, what do I like? What do I enjoy? And it was art. When I asked my parents about this, they said, as long as you get a degree, that’s fine. So I did.
After college I traveled around for a while, working odd jobs here and there and eventually was like, I need to figure out what I’m doing here.. what am I doing with my life. I remember one day I was working one of my odd jobs with a buddy Arti and I recall thinking : There are so many things I could do. I could pursue dance or singing, or writing or acting or painting. All creative endeavors Read More>>