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.

Jordan Willet

For me this goes back to as long as I can remember. I recall growing up and never having the desire to have a “traditional” life IE go to college, work a 9-5, retire at 65 etc. I always felt there was more to life than that, for me. Fast forward to the age of 14, I get asked by my two older brothers to join their band playing bass. I didn’t play bass but I knew they were passionate and it sounded fun. They taught me the songs and I was instantly hooked. Read more>>

Quinton Clay

My journey with photography started the moment one of my best friends asked me to take her pictures after school. From that moment, I have been completely infatuated with photo taking and fully expressing myself creatively. Upon graduating high school and entering into college, I’ve faced a few creative shifts. My first creative interest was actually in film at the time I attended the Arts Institute of Atlanta. Read more>>

Aim Me Smiley Renee Ananda

We, Aim Me and Renee, have been best friends since tour early teens when we met at an evangelical church outside of Louisville, Kentucky. Aim Me’s Dad, a deacon, was part of a mutiny that kicked Renee’s Dad, the pastor, out of the church. We remained friends and 12 years later- on a different spiritual journey- we fell in love. We shared a mutual vision of being traveling musicians who inspire a revolution of the spirit and courage of the heart. Read more>>

Sara Sangfelt

I’ve always loved singing, writing, and performing, it’s brought so much love and joy to my life. But it wasn’t until the age of 17 when I started working at an orphanage in the city of Awassa, Ethiopia, that I decided to commit to a music career. Read more>>

Svnday

The first time I actually went to the studio and rapped a rap I had written , I knew immediately then it’s what I wanted to do forever, hearing my voice play back with a beat my mind just went In so many different directions, the rush of that alone is something I’ve been enjoying every since. Read more>>

AJ Pantaleo

I always knew I was going to be a drummer, long before playing in my first band in 7th grade. As a child, my dad gave me my first pair of sticks and my mom gifted me copy of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. As a kid, I would dance in my room to MJ’s Thriller and eventually started messing around with the sticks and a small practice pad my dad had in the house. The rest they say, is history. In my 8th grade year book (1997) I wrote “I want to be a drummer” for my career choice! So, it’s been a long time. Read more>>

Asha Love

It goes back to when I was a young around the age of 8yrs old. Always coming up with creative ideas to keep myself, and family entertained. My imagination was so broaden with so many different things, that even I will get overwhelmed at times. There was so many ideas coming to mind at once. I believe an artist has many sides to them and creating new things kind of takes you out of whatever it is you wanna be at the moment and gives you that fairytale that you’ve always wanted to be in. Read more>>

Myah Maedell Singh

I have always known that I was going to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally. There was nothing that gave me more joy. As sure as my heart would beat inside my body, the dream of being an artist was my lifeline and my calling. I was very young and I would watch tv shows, like “romper room” and “soap operas” and reenact all the parts in the mirror with costumes and all. But when I got to high school, I remember telling my teachers during graduation week, “remember me, because one day you will see my name in lights.” They laughed at me….and from that moment on I made a vow to myself to pursue my dreams and prove them wrong and I did. Read more>>

Jessica Saul

Jessica Marie Saul was born and raised in the Bronx, New York by Dominican and Puerto Rican parents. At an early age, artistic expression was a staple in her life and she began dancing hip-hop, merengue, salsa, and bachata, as well as house and reggae. Jessica went to SUNY Albany and graduated with a Political Science degree because she was determined to help make a change in her community and others worldwide. Remo, as she is best known amongst her friends and colleagues, was first introduced to stepping when she tried out for her high school cheerleading team at Herbert H. Lehman High School. Read more>>

Zack McGhin

I was constantly drawing as a kid and developed a love for it early on but I never had any type of lessons (with the exception of grade school art classes here and there). I would just do it for fun and draw for my friends but it wasn’t until college that the passion for creating art really hit. I had changed majors more times that I can remember, majoring in everything from English to becoming a certified First Responder and starting EMT training. After nothing I was trying was sticking, I finally decided that if I was going to spend all this money on college it might as well be for something I loved and was passionate about. Read more>>

Julius Pearson

The first time I wanted to pursue my artistic path professionally was back in 2015, when I just got fired from my job. Not at the exact moment when hearing the words of “parting ways” was the moment, but it was a snowball effect that led to it. When I did get let go, it was the same week my daughter was born (and yes they knew I had a child on the way). It was just a difficult time and, as I was supposed to be in full joy about being a new Dad, but at the same time, I’m like, wait, I need to feed this kid! Things were getting really rough as it was hard finding a job and some jobs that I did get didnt pay well at all with what I was used to. Read more>>

Jay Fields

I knew I wanted to go professional as a model when I built confidence in myself. As a teenager, I found myself feeling insecure at times and doubting myself despite my dreams of being a model someday. However, I changed my attitude after some work and realized that this is the path for me. Read more>>

Phoebe Eligon-Jones

For years, as an educator, I had told my students to follow their dreams and the money will come. I’ve been writing since I was in high school and knew I wanted to be a writer, but was always told that “writers don’t make any money” from certain people in my own life. Finally, I decided in 2019, to not just give my students advice but to follow that same advice for myself. Read more>>

Michelle Papademetriou

Well, if you ask my parents this question they will tell you that at a very young age they knew I would end up becoming an actress because I was a drama queen. Despite my more reserved and shy nature, I would frequently respond melodramatically to even the smallest thing. I’m talking the back of my hand to my forehead before dramatically throwing myself to the ground because my parents handed me a blue tissue instead of a pink one. Apparently, I was very partial toward anything pink. Read more>>

Vandana Jain

My passion for art started at a young age. While growing up in India, I pursued several creative hobbies, such as collages, fabric painting, and animation. But I ended up working in a more engineering-focused career, leaving my creative pursuits in my free time. I began to consider creative work more seriously years later after my daughter was old enough to attend school. I studied on my own to get more comfortable using different artistic mediums and experimenting with different works. Eventually, I began to take classes to sharpen my skills and dedicated more and more of my time to art. Read more>>

Bunna Nova

“Ever since she could pick up a pencil”, my mom always says, and I think she’s right. I can’t remember a time when I *wasn’t* making something. For example, when I was an elementary kid I sat my dad down on the living room couch and explained to him my game plan: that I was going to go to an art college and draw for the rest of my life. Read more>>

Shann

I’ve had dreams and visions of becoming an artist since I was a little girl. My mother was a singer, so I guess you could say the ambition was passed down. I remember watching Janet Jackson and Sade music videos and performances when I was younger and I think the moment that I realized that I could touch/inspire so many people by sharing my gift to the world was when I knew in my heart this is exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up. Read more>>

Belia Liebenberg

I started doing art at a very young age and I always thought to myself as a kid that this was something I wanted to keep doing for a long time, it didn’t matter to me in what form it took as long as it was something to do with art. I’d watch videos of other professional artists sell their work and I’d try to replicate that myself and sell my art to my friends in school. Read more>>

Dan Piraro

As a toddler, before I can even remember, my favorite pastime was drawing. Some of my earliest memories were of wishing I could keep a point on a crayon so I could get more control and detail. I just seemed to be programmed to create images. I also enjoyed sports, spent a lot of time outdoors, with toys and make-believe, and all of the normal activities of children but virtually every single day of my life I have made time to draw or paint. Read more>>

Dena Holley-Stormer

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path when I was eight but it was the 80’s and I was told there was no money in it. Read more>>

Maddy Lea

knew from the age of 4 that I wanted to be an actress! I started out at 5 , acting at haunted houses and it’s grown since then. Read more>>

Eugene Stevenson Jr

The first time I knew I wanted to be an artist was in 8th grade. I always knew I wanted to be apart of music ever since I was a jit. I can remember like it was yesterday, I was performing a song in pre-school standing on top of building blocks that me and another kid made a stage out of. When I was in 8th grade, I remember making my first song ever using a webcam mic at my grandmas house. Read more>>

Anna Field

In the 6th grade i was in chorus and we had a project to create a song using garage band. Chorus was my favorite class & I always loved to sing ever since I was small. My mother was a singer in a girl group and we used to harmonize & watched sound of music & other musicals. Read more>>

Xyleina Mae

I’ve always known that I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path since I was a child. I used to write fantasy stories with illustrations included. Stories that I creatively conceptualized. Removing oneself from reality and into a storybook adventure all at the youthful age of 9 years old. Read more>>

Jeffery Burns

So I’d been drawing ever since I was 5 years old but I never looked at pursuing a career as a creative until I was 19 and had to face the fact that being the next Rap Star was not going to happen. I didn’t have anyone to show me the steps to becoming a successful artist. I just kinda found my way into a Commercial Arts course at East Los Angeles Occupational Center. It was cheaper and shorter than going the traditional art school route. Back then the best way to get your art career started was to find an entry level production art gig and climb the ladder. Read more>>