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.

Cassandra Baker

All my life I have loved the Entertainment Industry! From acting to music! I have been interested in the lime like! I love performing and interacting with others! I noticed as a young kid that I stood out and was not the same as others! I have always had a creative and vivid imagination! As well as my personality is so unique and questionable! Read More>>

Shankura May

Growing up my mother wasn’t in my life . The time I did see my mother I always knew her to be my sister . So once the family Secret was out I seen her less and less . But I always heard family members say my mother was singer and she loved sing Mary J Blige song not gone cry . Read More>>

Payton Riley

I started taking voice lessons when I was seven. At first, it was just something fun to do — I had no idea it would end up being my entire world. By nine, I was writing my own songs, and by twelve, I picked up a guitar and instantly knew… this is it. Read More>>

Zhuang Han

I think the first time I truly knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path was in 2021, when I started creating my Eden series. That was when I began to find my own creative language. Read More>>

Gabriella Guerriero

Since childhood. Creating was instinctive. It wasn’t a decision—it was identity. The moment I realized others couldn’t see what I could imagine, I understood it was a path, not a hobby.<br> Read More>>

Dj 4Play

As a child I had big dreams to change the narrative of my family dynamic. Coming up from the Northwest Of Houston was hard. Deprived of opportunities to succeed, Only thing that surround the area was gun violence, drugs, and gang activity. Rising above the narrative of poverty build a fire in me to want to be better than what my environment consist of. Read More>>

Marielena Ferrer

I think I always wanted to follow a creative path, even if I didn’t realize it at first. That changed right before the pandemic. I was attending community college to improve my English, learn American history, and finish my sociology degree. My friend Lara invited me to a figure drawing session, and I was instantly hooked. Read More>>

Rebecca DeVore

In highschool I was offered a scholarship to Columbus College of Art and Design. I turned it down. I knew I could only create when I ‘was in the mood’. Knowing one must create regularly in a professional art career I wanted someone who was ready to do that to get the scholarship. I married and we homeschooled our son. Read More>>

Sharon Collins

I never had any interest in being an author or artist, but in the Fall of 2017 a series of events began to fall into place. God, oddly enough, used some people to ‘should’ me – not something that normally respond to well! A good friend after seeing me doodle on a cocktail napkin, told me I should take art lessons. Read More>>

Rosy L.

Since the age of 7, I always knew I wanted to become a singer-songwriter. Back in my home country, Laos, I always loved to sing and create random songs. I remember recording songs on my dad’s computer and burning them onto CDs with my sister. I would make random music videos around the house with my sister. Read More>>

Derrick Clark

I was always playing in peoples hair as a child. When the opportunity came for me to go to hair school while in high school my mom signed me up! I was able to get a hair license right out of high school! Best decision ever! Read More>>

Jill Ohayon

In December of 2018, had just wrapped up a semester abroad the University of Birmingham Law School in England, effectively completing my legal studies. I treated myself to a business class ticket on the train from London to Edinburgh, where three friends had spent that semester studying abroad as well. Read More>>

Brian Bustos

The first time i realized that I wanted to be a visual artist was after being caught doing graffiti by the cops and going to jail. I worked at a sign shop and my boss said that I could take any materials home that I wanted, as long as I stopped ‘f**king peoples stuff up.’ I had never really drawn, or painted, seriously. Read More>>

Amber Pennix

Ever since I was a little girl I loved the arts and to create. From dancing, to making purses out of paper on my grandmas living room floor, to creating movies in my head before I went to bed. Read More>>

DiVine Infinite

The path I chose as an artist has brought about many sacrifices. The circumstances of deciding my destiny was filled with pain, anger, and hate, which led to suffering. The main objective was DEPRESSiON. Get it together figure out a plan to become financially free. Stabilize your mood pursue a path of many opportunities. Read More>>

Josh Hopkins

The short answer to that would be: The first time I ever played a ‘show’ in a band, I was Eleven; and after that playing music has been the sole focus in my life… The longer/more dramatic answer involves my band ALBUM, which has been the vehicle to express my creative and artistic ideas in and outside of music. Read More>>

Valerie Ma

Growing up in Hong Kong, almost every kid had to learn an instrument. My mother put me in piano lessons since I was 4, and I started to learn the violin when I was 6, out of pure enthusiasm – I even had a toy violin to prove to my parents that I was fully committed to learning the instrument. Read More>>

Justin Burkhamer

I never imagined I’d pursue a creative path professionally. But I’ve always been drawn to storytelling, especially after watching a good action flick. I remember getting so hyped up as a kid, wondering, “How did they do that?” That spark stuck with me. Read More>>

Sara Smigle

I don’t think there was this great defining moment that I can pinpoint, it’s something I think maybe I was born with. When I was very young, ages 2-5, I lived with my grandparents, and spent each day in utter comfort and peace. I started drawing and painting with watercolor with my grandmother, who is quite talented. Read More>>

Edric Yamamoto

Ahhhh! I love telling this story; I started my journey into the industry later than most I think. I didn’t start down this path until well into my 30’s and I highly encourage anyone that it’s never too late to re-invent yourself. I’m an 80’s kid and I grew up with the idea that to pursue art professionally would result in being a starving artist. Read More>>

Patricia Efunsade

It wasn’t a single lightbulb moment. It was a slow remembering. Art has been whispering to me since I was a child. I grew up in North Carolina, where my father, a preacher, would fold and tear sheets of paper to teach faith lessons at the kitchen table. Read More>>

Chuck Brodsky

On my first day of orientation at Pennsylvania State University, in a large room with probably a few hundred other incoming freshmen, I was sitting on the end of a row, by a window. On the stage in front of us we were being welcomed to Penn State by a man whose face and words I have no memory of. Read More>>

Claire Rufin

The first moment I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path, particularly that in TV and Film, was when I was around 8 years old. Read More>>

Noam Israeli

As a child, I was drawn to music early on and always played an instrument. I started out playing piano, then saxophone and finally fell in love with the drums. It was always my biggest passion and joy in life, and I chased the magical feeling music gives you (and the audience) when everything clicks just right – the rhythm, the harmony and the energy. Read More>>

Isabel Dilena

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path when I was in primary school. I grew up a voracious reader, and would write my own novels in notebooks strewn around the house. Read More>>

Jean Alicia Elster

Before becoming a professional writer and published author, I practiced law for several years. My goal was to use my legal career to support my work as a writer/author. When I was in law school, I read the memoir, ON LYNCHINGS by Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Ms. Wells-Barnett was an African American anti-lynching crusader and feminist in the early 20th century. Read More>>

Margaret Neill

I first understood I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally as a young girl. I was completely focused and working diligently on a drawing for a class project and experienced magic of creating form on a flat surface. Fir the first time I felt connected and grounded in purpose. I knew then that this is what I wanted to keep doing. Read More>>

Andrea Lackie

It was sometime in high school. I had always taken art classes and done well in them, despite not necessarily identifying as a particularly artistic person (which is funny because I also grew up as a dancer, so creative expression was certainly a part of my life). Read More>>

Stephanie Martin

As a child, I often felt overwhelmed when thinking about what I wanted to be “when I grew up.” My family was full of artists—painters, designers, writers, musicians, fiber artists—and I cherished the creativity that my family brought to my life. Meals were homemade and infused with love and prayers from my mother and grandmother. Read More>>

Silvia Aviles

When was the first time you knew you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally? Give us the backstory, so we can understand the context and the circumstances and re-experience that moment with you. Art has been a part of me for as long as I can remember. Read More>>

Taylor Bakken

I learned pretty quickly after moving to LA from Minnesota in 2015 that this city runs on what I call the “24-Hour Rule.” One day you’re working yourself to the bone for something, and the next day you wake up to an email or a phone call, and suddenly it’s all fallen into your lap. Read More>>