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.

Defacto Thezpian.

I had started dabbling in music a bit during my time in high-school. Did a lot during those 4 years as far as output but wouldn’t say that I really took it seriously. My main focus was theatre and acting. Music was more of a fun creative output that I felt I was good at. After graduating from high-school, I begun to do live performances. Pay to play shows and whatnot. About a couple years after, I made my first ever album. The bodies of work before were comprised of mixtapes and EPs. So, of course I had to do a album release show. It was only right. Read more>>

Justice Niara.

The moment I knew that I wanted to pursue my creative aspirations was the day I almost died. I’ve heard it be said, numerous times that it can sometimes take a traumatic experience for a person to finally gain a bit of clarity. I now understand what they mean. I lost my father at the age of three. He passed unexpectedly at the age of 29, from a pulmonary embolism. A pulmonary embolism is when a blood clot forms in a deep vein, breaks free, and travels to the lung. Read more>>

Andressa Poti.

Having art as an active part of my life didn’t come in a very clear path, it had so many twists and turns until it became my passion and my pursuit. As many kids I grew up enjoying being involved in creative activities and doing a lot of crafty things with my mom and having the best time, but the thought of having art as part of my day to day life was more of a constant after I turned sixteen and came to the U.S.A as an exchange student. I remember getting enrolled into art classes and being quite skeptical about it, as my exposure to art in school was very little growing up but I thought it could be something fun to do while learning a new language and making new friends. Back then it felt like discovering a whole new sense in a depth that I hadn’t before. Read more>>

Erika J. Wood

This might sound cliche, but I knew deep down that I wanted to pursue a profession in television and film at a very young age. I used to dress up with my friends and put on shows for my Mom and her friends when the mood to perform would summon. Additionally, being active in the community and church were also catalysts for my passion in the arts. After college, I attempted to conform to getting a “real job” and quickly I realized that the traditional corporate life was daunting and unfulfilling. Read more>>

Booth Sartain McGee

From a very early age I was always creating. My mom was always sewing when I was a kid, so I would sit and watch her, and taught myself to make clothes for my dolls while she worked. I remember the summer before seventh grade, I made an outfit over the summer to wear for the first day of school. I was also always drawing and painting, sewing and making all kinds of projects, so when high school art classes rolled around, I really started to explore a more disciplined version of making art. Read more>>

Kristin Roberts

This moment occurred for me pretty recently, actually. While I’ve always loved art and creating, I didn’t start regularly drawing and painting until the pandemic hit. I had much more time at home and started on an illustration project to keep myself busy. I went through some of my favorite Aesop’s Fables and illustrated the stories – mostly because I enjoyed how unsettling and macabre many of them were and because they usually employed animal protagonists (my favorite subjects). Read more>>

Kayla Garner

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue writing professionally occurred while writing my first book. In high school, during my sophomore year we were instructed to write down our goals and aspirations in life. One of mine was to become an author. I even messaged my high school art teacher on Facebook about it and thanked him for his continued inspiration after all those years. While working my way through my first book, learning the ends and outs about what it takes to actually accomplish such as tedious task, and then feeling this incredible sense of accomplishment and fulfillment afterwards I knew I I had to continue on. I knew this was the life for me. Read more>>

Dagm Endalkachew.

Music has a funny way of making an impact on you. A song you heard at Starbucks, a DJ playing a private underground show, or a vinyl record you randomly picked can all change your life forever. I was living in Boulder, Colorado when I first heard the sounds of electronic music producer and DJ, Flume, for the first time and little did I know it would carve the path I’m on today. Read more>>

Michael Jigstyle

I was always a super big fan of Michael Jackson. His singing and dance combination in creating visionary influence to the entertainment culture was inspiring despite all odds. Started from 8th grade then going into high school, I saw many kids around my neighborhood dancing in the streets as well as school. I wasn’t the most coolest kid in school and was bullied a lot in my previous years. I was also hanging out with the wrong crowd, just so I could feel protected. One day, a friend of mine got me to dance on stage with him my 9th grade year for black history month. Read more>>

Tanya Winters

1. First knew I wanted to be a dancer as a kid. I would remake Michael Jackson videos with my brother and sisters. 2. Doctors took away my ability to “W” sit could no longer get on floor or dance. 3. Started participating in Art Spark TX Actual Lives Austin (theatre group where we wrote stories about real life events as people with disabilities and reenact them on stage) wrote Dancing Queen 4. Allison Orr of Forklift Danceworks heard Dancing Queen and said it was a dance piece not a written piece. Read more>>

Semir Smajlovic.

The first experience that I had with social media was in the early 2017s, when Vine and other platforms were just starting to kick off and me and a former friend wanted to become YouTubers, but things turned around and we never had a chance to achieve that goal. Years later, I had a passion of attending events and helping struggling small businesses in promoting their business and giving them the needed exposure so they can get more visitors, so I started Saint Louis Events. Read more>>

Matthew Gonzalez

I first realized that I wanted to pursue a creative career path back in junior year of high school. Painting had already become a huge passion of mine at the time (and still is of course) and I decided that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life. The only issue was figuring out how I was going to make a sustainable income from it. I weighed out my options until I eventually decided upon graphic design as a career choice, since it would provide stable income from a corporation and I could do freelance painting on the side. Read more>>

Andrew Gajadhar, p.g.a.

My entire life has been surrounded by trauma. At the age of four, I lost my father to suicide while he and my mother were serving in the US Army. It was around this time that my older brother introduced me to the world of Martial Arts as a way to keep me focused and occupied. While most kids were playing video games, I was working with my hands to either train, build something, or play music. 12 years later, my brother committed suicide the same way my father did as a Ranger in the US Army. Read more>>

Tiara Mason

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue being a writer was in high school. English Language Arts was my favorite subject back in my school days. When I got older and went on to college, it wasn’t clear whether or not if I wanted to purse a career in being a screenwriter or not because I was more focus on a career path that would make me the most money versus a career choice that I would be more familiar with or something I would enjoy doing every day. Writing became more than just something I was “good at” but more so my passion and something I decided to build my future around. Read more>>

KIN2God

Firstly I want to say thank you to CanvasRebel for the platform and opportunity to share my story today. Questions like these are something I think on daily to remind myself of why I do what I do. A few years back when I was only 14 is when my passion for music and artistry grew stronger. I had been in children’s choirs and high school singing groups over the years but never any direct professional training. One of my close childhood friends that ended up going to high school with me gain a passion for song engineering around the same time that my musical passion grew; naturally we decided to try the whole recording thing out. Read more>>

Dameion Lorenzo

The first time I realized I wanted to pursue a creative path in life I was about 6 years old. I grew up heavily influenced by pop culture. I loved music, memorizing memorizing lines from iconic movie scenes, fashion and making others laugh I’m pretty funny I think lol. It just so happened as I got older I got deeper and deeper into being an artist. I never wanted to be in the beauty industry but it found me! Read more>>

Maurice Blackwell

I knew in High School that I wanted to pursue a creative path because no jobs / career fields really didn’t interest me like the entertainment/ creative world did Read more>>

Ally Young

I fell in love with art in high school, so much that I ended up majoring in Fine Arts during college and earned my BFA in 2016. My dream was to own a business in the art field, but I was always stuck on what exactly my business would be. I got pregnant during my last year of college, so it was while becoming a stay-at-home mom that I started making products (based on what the “customer” wanted and my abilities to create their vision) and selling them to people. Read more>>

Brandi Kjarsgard

As a strange little girl, who grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I learned at a young age that monsters would enchant me. My grandfather took me on all sorts of magical and horrific adventures through our tv screen. He was the first inspiring force that has steered me towards the path I am on today. I still flash back to the smell of popcorn and a comfy spot on the couch. He introduced me to films like “Legend,” “American Werewolf In London,” and “Jurassic Park.” This just woke up the creativity in me. Read more>>

Gary Lavard

I knew as a young child that I wanted to be an Entertainer. At that time, singing was my passion. I remember in elementary school singing in talent shows and eventually, in my teen years, performing at local clubs around Detroit. By age 17, I’d released 3 independent albums, opened for major artists and made a name for myself in the Midwest. In my late teen years I discovered and pursued modeling; Modeling built confidence and eventually took precedence over making music and being an artist. Read more>>

Lie Lac

I’ve really known about it for my entire life. I have been through some tough things in my life, and I find music is really the only way to cope/heal from thing. Read more>>

Greg Bussie

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a music career I was 17 fresh out of high school and I got around Erik Cain and he really bout the artist out of me, we all knew I could rap but he really introduced me to actually recording what I considered to be songs at the time Read more>>

Ethan Smith.

When I was in 3rd grade I performed at my elementry schools talent show. They called it “Tiptons Got Talent”. I performed a song I wrote called the Atoka School Blues. It was a simple blues song my dad helped me write. I had a little piano solo and everything. We ended up winning the contest and after that moment something clicked and I knew I wanted to write and perform music for the rest of my life. Read more>>

Drizi Dre

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally was when I left Neosho Community College. I needed more credits from my other college to be able play basketball that school year. Once that fell thru I wanted to do something where I could control most of my outcome and not depend on a coach or manager to dictate it. Read more>>

Gene Sewell

I like to say I was a “creative” before I even knew what a creative was. As a kid you couldn’t keep me away from a paper & pencil, I would spend hours filling up my notebooks with my drawings. I’d imagine all kinds of characters and would write stories of their adventures, where they came from, and what they dreamed of. I spent a lot of my childhood with my head in a book and I think I’m a better creative today because of it. Read more>>

Ricky Caleb

In 2010, KDM Productions allowed me the opportunity to showcase my talent at The 2nd Annual Down Town Shut Down Event in the US Virgin Islands (St. Croix). That event ignited the flame to the path of my musical career. Read more>>

Parker Hastings

I began playing guitar at the age of six, and it wasn’t until around the age of 12 when I first met Tommy Emmanuel and got the opportunity to perform with him, that I was struck by the bug and knew from just that experience alone that I wanted to pursue music on a professional level. After having the opportunity to perform with him, I started to gain a little bit of my own following and was being booked to perform for events, concerts, charities, and anything in between. Read more>>

Robert Wollstein

It started around the early 2010s that I started to realize that my error of entertainment was coming to an end. Shows like psych and MythBusters we’re coming to an end. Then I saw the series teen titans go is when the Epiphany happened. I thought, my God…. This is the worst thing I’ve ever saw. And it is a middle finger to a show I used to like. I was so angry at the show that I wanted to do something else to get my mind off it. Read more>>

Andrea Revenant

When I was in middle school and I took my first art class I realized how much I enjoyed the creative field. I started drawing more at that point, and tin high school my love for painting began. I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in art, but the question for me when I was young was in what medium and profession. My dad was pushing me to do graphic design, but because I love painting I knew I wanted to create something more with my hands. When I was 15 I went to visit my mom in Seattle and got my first tattoo. (Admittedly I used my older sisters ID) I got a very nice tattoo, in a very nice shop, Read more>>

Veronica Barrera.

I think I was 6 or 7 and it started when I saw the movie “Aladdin”, I was literally hooked from watching Robin Williams. Whatever he was doing I wanted to be just like him. I would parade around the house doing his voices and making my family laugh. I knew I had hit something special, but didn’t really know until later. I would watch that movie over and over to get the accents right and his inflections right – even before I knew what that was. Then the movie “Mrs. Doubtfire” came out and it was like candy for me. Read more>>

Stephen Starbuck

When I was going through therapy for my traumatic brain injury one of the therapies was art. It was to help with my hand coordination and help with rebuilding neuro pathways among other things. Once I retired I kept doing it and experimenting with different forms and surfaces. Read more>>

Nakaya Wiggins

I started my career as an engineer with Amtrak. As one of the first African American Latina women to do drive trains state to state, it was monumental for me! However I didn’t feel fulfilled. I made amazing money, but my creative side was dying. I wasn’t happy. I have always had a passion for food, cooking, painting and makeup. Yea, I know… what a combination LOL! This all leads me to where I am today. Read more>>

Anthony Gomez

I am a music artist, I started making music at the age of thirteen when my parents bought me my first Guitar a black and white Squier I stell have to this day. I started teaching myself how to play, I had a VHS my parents got me showing how to play ‘smoke on the water’ by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath ‘Iron man’ and I would also check out books and videos from the library, also printing out tabs with notes of different bands and music to learn how to play. I had a book that my parents also bought me with the guitar teaching all the notes and chords, how every note was played as in the beats and counts for every measure also how every note was played counting the bars. Read more>>

Yolanda Martinez

When I was a young girl I loved Disney films and inspired me to draw. As young as I could hold a crayon and a paper, I drew away. Art has always been apart of me and continues to be. Studio Ghibili also was another great inspiration to my artist journey. Read more>>

Shantel Sutter

As a child I always enjoyed crafting and being artistic. As an adult, I originally chose a medical career and helping people as my professional path. I re-found my love for creating with my hands. By October 2018 I was preparing to learn how to sell my artwork and crafts regularly to try and make a business of it. Prior to all of that, I had never even thought that I would be capable of creating something beautiful enough to sell to someone. But wow? People want to buy my art? This is crazy. Read more>>