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.

Marcus Baker

I’ve always been interested in being a creative. I did plays when I was a kid and used to make little movies with my friends growing up. In junior high and high school I kinda switched to music and wrote a lot of songs and played in bands. It wasn’t until high school that I really decided to focus on film. I saw The Dark Knight when I was 15 and I remember just being blown away that a film could not only entertain me but have so much to say about the world we lived in. Read more>>

Ashley Denton

My interest in modeling started as young as I can remember. In my early years, I remember my mom snapping photos of me in the yard. We would print the pictures and send them out to agencies near and far. At 16 years old, I entered myself into a magazine contest to be featured in a back-to-school photoshoot and to my surprise – I won. I modeled a couple of different outfits, purses, and backpacks. The brands I wore were Aeropostale and Lucky, just to name a few. This opportunity sparked my interest and I knew I wanted to pursue modeling more at that point. Read more>>

Christy Holmes

I have always loved being creative, even as a child. I gravitated to anything you could make with your hands….lite bright – check; hook rug – you betcha; Spirograph – yep; easy bake oven- yes please! My grandmother was a portrait painter and I loved visiting her studio so I guess creativity has always been in my blood. While the right brain was where my heart was – my left brained tendencies kept me pretty rooted in what I thought was more practical and more realistic. Read more>>

Lady MAC

I have always wanted to be an artist. However, up until recently pursuing a full-time art career seemed impossible. If you’re an artist now days, you also have to be a digital co tent creator- that is intimidating. Art is more than a hobby, and I’ve spent the last 3 years working towards that goal. Read more>>

Mark Taylor

Great question. I had always enjoyed music as a hobby and throughout my life, it was always something I enjoyed doing. However, during my pandemic experience while still in college, I had my first major songwriting cut which changed my outlook on the music industry. #1 and Platinum Selling Artist, Amii Stewart (singer of the 1979 #1 hit “Knock on Wood”), recorded a song I had written with some folks during the pandemic which showed me that I might have a shot at doing this if I wanted to. Read more>>

Rodrigo Flechoso

I remember deciding to develop a professional career in the artistic or creative field as a transcendental and at the same time bitter step. My relationship with the plastic arts began when I was very young, I don’t remember exactly when, because I have always seen myself with pencils or paints in my hands. Drawing has accompanied me all my life. I loved to enjoy myself by tracing shapes on paper, copying images that attracted me or capturing what was around me. Read more>>

Wavez Brewer

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally was when I was introduced to anime as a kid. Growing up, I went through really difficult times and anime was a safe space of fun and imagination! I enjoy the immersive storytelling and how the characters can evoke so much emotion within their voices. Read more>>

David Johnson

I remember coming home from school and my older brother Micheal had me listen to Craig Mack “Flavor In Ya Ear”. Something hit me at that moment that made me wanted to pursue a career in music. It was that exact moment I feel in love with Hip Hop and wanted to be apart of it. Read more>>

Bre Pinedo

Since I can remember, dance has always been a part of my life in one way or another. What started with a few baby ballet classes quickly led to a head first dive in to competitive dance. And once I was in, I was hooked. My schedule was packed to the brim with classes, rehearsals, conventions, masterclasses, private lessons. You name it, I was there. Though dance has always played such a strong lead in my life, I honestly never could’ve imagined I’d be where I am today. Read more>>

Escapade A.K.A Hunter Fowler

As a teenager I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit in which I felt a call to ministry and helping to create opportunities for people to meet and grow in their relationship with Jesus. As I’ve grown God has unfolded new ways of doing so year by year. I started leading worship and writing worship music at age 16 and have been in some form of worship department capacity since. Read more>>

Ken Karlic

I knew I wanted to be in a creative field from a very early age, mostly because I knew i wanted to be creative. The first major experience I had in art was at home at a very young age. Each December for the holidays, my father painted the outlines of a scene from a holiday card on the inside of our large picture window. Myself and my two brothers, filled in the areas with color. The experience of seeing the painting come to life, especially on such a large scale, made a deep impression upon me. Read more>>

Darieon McCreary

I was 17 when I knew I wanted to pursue being an artist and make it a career. I grew up in the church playing the drums starting at age 5 so music has always been apart of my life me my lil brother and friend started a rap group in the 2010 called the swag kingz then after we broke up due too one of the members moving I decided too start recording the music I was writing for if I went solo. I turned 16 had a kid in high school (junior year ) with it being hard to get a job I had to find a different avenue so I choose music as my outlet. Read more>>

Michelle Reeves

During a job interview in 2017, a gentleman asked the question, “What are you passionate about?”. I couldn’t answer the question which bothered me so much. This question prompted me to go back to school for an Interior Design degree. So, at the age of 52, I went back to school. I’ve been creative and artistic my whole life and dabbled in staging and design so I thought this would be a good fit and would fill the void I was feeling professionally and spiritually. Read more>>

Jess Jocoy

I’ve loved music my whole life; my mom used to put headphones over her belly when she was pregnant with me, playing the Dances With Wolves soundtrack. I grew up singing around the house and in choirs, both in church and at school, but it wasn’t until I was about thirteen that I realized I wanted to pursue music as a career – or, I guess I was that age when I realized I could pursue a career as a singer, or artist. So, I started taking piano and voice lessons…and I suppose the rest is history. Read more>>

Harley Cheshire Gemflower

The first time I really wanted to pursue JPop idoling was after my first trip to Chicago. I had just graduated from my dance school and I didn’t necessarily know if I wanted to pursue a career in dance given my experiences at my studio with bullying/gossip. An Idol from Japan happened to be at the con I was at (IA from Vocaloid’s voice actress) and she just had so much poise and grace as she sang and danced! Read more>>

Shawn Novom

When I was a kid, my mother’s laptop was something that I would use all the time. There were various apps that were known as MS Paint and Windows Live Movie Maker. My brother would show me various videos of silly animals and other things, and I was initially confused because some of these would be on “Myspace” However, he later told me that this website was a new one that mainly featured videos and that website is called “Youtube” While browsing through Youtube I found so many interesting things like Animation, Stop Motion, and Skits which initially jumpstarted the career that I wanted to pursue. Read more>>

Amanda Grace

I have a vivid memory of when I knew I needed to go back into writing songs again. My nephew was diagnosed with cancer as a young boy. During that time I had had our first son, and so we went to visit him a few times at the St. Mary’s hospital in Rochester MN. He had asked me a couple of times to sing to him. At the time I wasn’t playing my guitar or doing anything music related. But the day he died he had asked me to sing again. Read more>>

Haley Woolbright

I first realized I wanted to pursue music professionally not long after I played in front of an audience for the first time ever. To give some context, music was something I did for years before I ever played in public, but it was a hobby I kept to myself because I was so self-conscience about it. I didn’t have any confidence in my abilities, but I was deeply passionate about songwriting, playing guitar, and singing. Part of that hesitancy to play in front of people stemmed from never having any formal training or lessons, so I didn’t feel my talents were valid. Read more>>

Maykenhistory

My love for music has been inside of me since I was born. It started at home with my mother playing endless music from Hip-Hop & R&B and jazz. I would literally wake up and go to sleep to the sound of music. As a kid, I would put on mini performances in my room reciting my favorite artist like Lil Wayne, Drake, J-Cole & Meek Mill. I always wanted to one day pursue the dream of being one of the greatest artist EVER! Read more>>

Daya Dai

It all started with my YouTube channel where I upload videos of myself singing songs by my favorite artist. I would share my videos with my friends and family who have been my inspiration and motivation. You could most certainly say that my friends and family were my first group of fans. How neat, right? As much as my “fans” loved my covers, I would frequently get asked the question, “When will you make music of your own?” Read more>>

Dante Yarbrough

I look at path from two perspectives. First, gaining the interest in the arts and then actually having the courage to actually do it. First path was meeting my older brother and finding out he was a phenomenal artist at a young age. I would study his drawings and say to myself, I can do this too. His subject matter was mainly Prince and Bruce Lee as I recall. Or at least those were the ones I gravitated towards. But meeting him definitely lit the pilot light. Read more>>

Sandy Arthur

Well, I thought I didn’t want to pursue a creative path. I have been creative my entire life and thought that I wanted to pursue a career in the arts but then I realized I don’t actually like “working” as a creative for others. So I changed gears and ended up in a health and wellness field as a chiropractor. The creative followed me though and I never stopped drawing and painting. Read more>>

VeeVerse

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally, would have to be when I was 13. When I was 13 I was apart of a hip hop group with two other friends at the time. We used to record songs and put it on cassette tapes. The moment I remember to where I was really wanted to go all out with music, was when we were entered into Teen Idol contest. The day we signed up, it was a random moment. Read more>>

Sherkeith Straughter

While growing up I always wanted to entertain. I can say the age was around 5 or 6 that entertaining was where my passion was. At the time I didn’t know what type of entertainment would be but I knew it was something I was natural at. As a young child being silly and making people laugh was second nature. In traumatic moments I just feel laughter can heal a broken soul. In a sense a compare laughter to having hope and healing. Read more>>

Martha Soto

I’ve never thought of anything else but being an artist–just like my father, but unlike him, I am a jeweler and metalsmith. When I think of how often I heard “why this field?”, it was because I felt at home with art. It represented so much to me, whether it was the watery flowers of a Monet painting, the part of earth called clay, the pungent smell of a horse barn, or a cloudless day. When I was around art it Read more>>

Julia White

It is hard to pinpoint an exact moment in my life when I decided I wanted to become an artist because from as far back as I can remember I wanted to create art. I acknowledge I was very fortunate to be surrounded by artists in my family who fostered a supportive environment for creativity. While I can’t remember when I wanted to become an artist, I do recall when I first realized I wanted to become an animator. I was ten years old and I sat next to my dad at the kitchen table, listening to music, surrounded by clay, phone propped up to take photos, creating a claymation. Read more>>

Marcia Polite

I think I always knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path since I was younger . The biggest issue was hmmm how do I even get started . How do I get my feet wet trying to pursue this . I think my breakthrough was when I did a Photoshoot for my birthday and I guess you can say I’ve been hooked every since Read more>>

RichNextWeeknd

As far as music I knew I was going to be a professional at age 12 once I moved out to Vegas. I had been freestyle rapping since a 7 year old and knew I enjoyed music early on. It made me feel different than playing outside or playing video games sometimes making music felt like an out of body experience. Read more>>

Loni Fox

As a young child I always had a creative side. My parents encouraged me to DIY and craft in many different mediums. Looking back, they probably just wanted to keep me occupied so they made sure there was always something to do. By doing this I was never hesitant to try a new project; never afraid to fail. Early on I became interested in stones. Read more>>

Larry Pleasant

Growing up, I was always fascinated with drawing. I loved attempting to draw my favorite cartoon characters and making little comics. Although I never took the creative path seriously until I graduated high school. As a result, I initially majored in Computer Information. The summer before I left for college, my cousin showed me Adobe Photoshop Elements and taught me the basics of Photoshop. For me, the moment when I learned how to use the quick selection tool and its purpose, my whole life changed. Read more>>

Ryder Grimes

Growing up in my home, there was always some sort of music playing whether it was my mom playing it off of the TV while she cleaned the living room or my dad, (who still does this by the way) getting up every single morning with a different song stuck in his head and singing it out loud. My dad sings in a local country band and I have been onstage with them since I could hold a guitar. Read more>>

StormShadow

I knew from the moment I was exposed to Eric B & Rakim’s Mahogany that song made me fall in love with Hip-Hop and also Soul Music. I knew from the moment I first started performing and the energy I would receive from the crowd and the love and respect I got when leaving the stage. Even the writing process was just so much fun to me being creative was effortless and a natural high. Read more>>

Amber August

I knew that I wanted to pursue an artistic path when I was a child – I sang to whomever, wherever often and crafted elaborate stories whenever they came to mind – but it really hit me as I’ve progressed through adulthood and realized that if I’m not happy at my 9-5 and am still struggling to finance all of my wants and needs, I might as well pursue something that makes me feel alive. Read more>>

Timothy Harper

The band Cabin 13 was formed officially back in 2018 by members Timothy Harper and Alejandro Cruz. We had first met and started playing music together at a Christian camp in Leesburg FL where another friend of ours gave us the idea of starting a band and not thinking much of it I (Tim) started writing songs and forming Cabin 13. Within our first year we played a show for the first time at a coffee shop in Sanford FL named Palate Coffee and that’s where we first started falling in love with playing music for a live audience. Read more>>

Melissa Yearwood

I have wanted to be a tattoo artist since I was a young kid, maybe ten years old. I have several family members with many tattoos, so it was never abnormal or taboo to me. I also grew up in a household around creative people, and have a love for many art forms. Tattoos particularly interested me because of the history, as well as the idea that the art is permanent on the person. I enjoy the beauty behind body modification – it gives a person a sense of self, confidence, and appreciation.  Read more>>

Oni the Africanpinupgirl

When I was about five, my grandmother would take me to her church. It was called Wells Cathedral, a COGIC. Church Of God In Christ was what the acronym stood for. But I never knew that at that age, nor did I care. All I cared about was, that I was about to sing my favorite song “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!” Read more>>

Christy Johnson

Looking back, I was an entrepreneur from a very early age. My (twin) sister Wendy and I were big into drawing when we were little. As soon as we could hold a marker, we were scratching out pretty epic pieces of artwork. They were typically done on the old school computer paper we got in bulk from my grandpa, which he’d gotten from his work. Read more>>

Scott Grieve

Hey, not a problem. Thanks for taking the time to hear what i have to say… I knew from a young age, maybe 6 or 7, that i wanted to pursue a creative path in life. I was always singing and making up little songs and I loved to draw. I built my first guitar with some rubber bands, a stick and an old tissue box. Must have been in Kindergarten. Brought it in for show n’ tell. Didn’t sound too good… but all the girls on the playground took notice…Ever since that day… I knew I wanted to be on stage. So yeah, i think being a “so called creative” person was just something I was, not something I really had to pursue. Read more>>

Jonathan Bryant

It is an interesting story because I had always been in the arts since I was little boy. If you ask my mom, then it would be when I was in the womb because I would dance in belly. I started with visual art in terms of drawing and painting. I also am a creative writer so I would write poems and song when I was a child and continue to write. When I was little boy, I wanted to be a recording artist because I love to sing, dance and perform. Read more>>

Mia De’Nay

In 2014 I knew I wanted to become a model professionally, but I did not know where to start. I came in contact with this modeling coach/photographer named Gregory Lopez through a mutual friend and basically he took me under his wing from 2014-2017. He taught me about different poses, facial expressions, lighting, bookings, and pricing for my craft. In 2019 he inspired me to pick up a camera and continue what he taught me to others. He is really the reason that I love what I do in front and behind the camera. Read more>>