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.

Kelsey Kahla

Since the beginning of our lives, it seemed pretty pre-determined that Ashley and I were meant to be in a creative professional path. Both of our parents are music-obsessed, there was never not music being played at either of our houses which influenced us deeply. From deep soul cuts to Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album, we heard every genre of music between the both of us. Read more>>

Joha Harrison

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path was in elementary school. We had art competitions and the winner would get a blue ribbon, and it would be on display for the whole school to see. From 1st grade up until the 5th grade I won a lot of blue ribbons. This was the first time that I saw something that I was doing that was separating me and acknowledging me for my efforts. I’ve always tried to get away from the school – to – job paradigm; although I never actually declared it, this was the first time I saw a way out of that construct. Read more>>

Anastasia Canfield

I was fortunate to be raised by creative people in all facets of my life. Both my parents were entrepreneurs of sorts — my mom is a fine artist, my dad started and maintained many businesses over the years, and many of my cousins were dancers and musicians. I always preferred creativity and as a child I took to writing and playing the piano very early with no intention of ever stopping. I don’t recall exactly when I knew I would study music, maybe I just always knew. Read more>>

Leah Melzer

I was 16 and auditioned to be on American Idol. I heard the show was making their way through San Diego which is where I’m from. At the time I was in a rock band and knew that singing was something I loved, so I wanted to take a leap of faith and audition. I remember waiting in line with my mom the entire day and along the way met so many artists just as passionate as I was. Standing in front of professional judges while I sang, Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benetar gave me all the confidence to believe that I could really take my music path to a whole new level. Read more>>

Maria Hoyos Hannigan

As a child my first affinity with art was through the piano. In our home we had an old German, wooden piano with ivory keys (something fortunately unthinkable in these times, poor elephants). I learned to play it by myself – by ear, because as a child I never had the opportunity to go to school and my dream was to be a great soloist. Almost at the same time I started drawing little dolls in a big notebook that my mother bought me. And there I had a collection with all the poses. Read more>>

Alisa Figueroa

It was only after relocating to Miami from New Jersey did I know I wanted to pursue Makeup Artistry professionally. I wanted to start something that others thought was impossible for me; become a business woman. Moving to another state on my own, drove me to be resourceful. The experience helped me define my identity as a woman, as a business owner and determine what I really wanted to do with my life. So born was AlisaGLAM. Read more>>

Austin Windom

I’ve been around amazing essential music my whole life and I believe that in my adolescent years, due to my surroundings, my immediate family being so immersed in so much amazing music and me loving different sounds I’d eventually want to make music which I ultimately decided to do in my later years. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, years before Rapping really became my passion I loved dancing too. Read more>>

Cheyona Broomfield

Since i can Remember I’ve always been a creative , like my parents . I started To paint and explore my creative side at 9 years old . Painting and drawing was my first means of creativity and the artist in me grew rather swiftly . At the age of 16-17 i suffered with a traumatic health scare which pushed my creative means to its limit, that’s where my love for the beauty industry stemmed from mostly. Makeup helped conquer my lack of self esteem during this time, and from then on all things Beauty has been my path . Read more>>

Lya Jasper

I had been working in finance in the automotive industry since graduating college at 21y/o and would mostly spend my job earnings in fashion and travel. My job would allow me to work 9-10 days in a row and take 3-5 consecutive days off afterwards, so I took advantage of that and started taking trips all over the place. Mexico, Hawaii, Bali & Thailand were a few of the locations I traveled to for less than 6 days at a time. Read more>>

Alexis Fleigel

Ever since I was a little kid I knew wanted to be a cartoonist or illustrator, really anything to do with art. Growing up I loved cartoons, anime and comics, you name it. I knew back then I wanted to be just as good as the artists that made my favorite cartoons. My family supported my creativity for as long as I can remember and would often supply me with what ever art materials I needed. My parents told me I started drawing on the walls since I was two years old and never stopped. Read more>>

Boss Tootie

Over the years, I seen my dad making musicand thought it was really cool and wanted to do music professionally just like him. I then came up with my own rap name, “Boss Tootie”. I did my first music feature on a song called “Burden, by rap legend, Griffinstein in 2021. Read more>>

Kathryn Hood

Growing up, I was always a high achiever in the classroom. I genuinely loved learning, but I also loved pleasing others. Good grades came either from an ease of comprehension or from the anxiety of letting others down. This conundrum made life difficult when I began to consider career paths as a young adult. What was I really GOOD at, and what did I want to do “for the rest of my life”? I started college in architecture school, but it wasn’t the right fit. Read more>>

Hannah Yanetsko

It was always my dream, just never one I believed in. I never saw a successful artist growing up. There wasn’t someone in my family circle or small town that I could see or looked up to in the art field. Honestly, until the last few years, I had no idea it was really even possible to be successful as an artist — to do what you love and excel and make a career painting. Sure, I knew people that sold art, but I thought that was it. My high school art teacher strongly encouraged me to apply ton SCAD, and although it had always been my dream, I never even applied thinking realistically, it wouldn’t give me a future I could count on. Read more>>

JASMINE OLIVER

So i really started taking my art seriously when covid hit. I had a lot of down time at work, so I started doodling here and there to pass the time. Once I completed a piece, I would hang them up in my at my work station. Patients and staff started to notice and encouraged me to sell my work. I doubted myself alot, but after many more compliments and encouragement from friends and family, I finally decided to pursue art professionally and make it my official side hustle Read more>>

Bardo Jones

I decided I wanted to be a rapper when I was 14 y/o. Since an early age listening to music has always been therapeutic for me. So creating music was a simple next step to take. I would write raps in class and then recite them for my friends. They definitely played a part in sparking my confidence with it. I used to ride the bus for hours to go to the home studio of a classmate. I would stay the weekend in his basement just recording and honing my skills. Read more>>

Sam Singh

Picture it, Autumn 1996, it’s the beginning of a new school year in a little suburban corner of Toronto called Jane & Finch, and a 9-year old Sam is look pretty fly in her new outfit, and is carrying a book binder filled with blank paper assembled for one single purpose: to perfect drawing her hero, the champion of love and justice, Sailor Moon! Read more>>

Carly Johnson

My interest in animation was piqued at a young age – at eight years old, I stumbled upon a tv special on the behind-the-scenes of Tinker Bell. I turned to my mom and told her, “this is what I want to do.” At thirteen, I created my first animation. I went on to create a series of PSAs ranging from topics of volunteering, #adoptdontshop, being drug-free, sustainable palm oil, and water conservation. Read more>>

Kia Lockhart

It wasn’t until a few of years ago that I really began to think of art as a professional career. I recently graduated with my B.D.A. in Architecture, which some could argue is an art all on it’s own. However, during the summer of before my third year at college, I really began practicing my artistic skills. This began when I started creating greeting cards for my loved ones. Read more>>

Donna Williams

I decided that I wanted to start doing makeup professionally because my friends and family encouraged me and I wanted to help other women feel as beautiful as I do when my makeup is done Read more>>

Brianna Starry

I’m a 32 year old woman, mother of 3, and wife. For the lash several years, I have really struggled with maintaining work for multiple reasons. The first being my children. You know, society is built to have two working parents in order to survive financially, but there is so little support out in the world for mothers and fathers when your children get sick, or need to take extended time off of school. Aside from that, I significantly struggle with my mental health. I don’t think I’ve held a job for more than 2 years through pretty much any of my life, and a lot of that has to do with my mental health struggles. Read more>>

KC Murray

I knew I wanted to become a cosmetologist at the grand age of 6. Yes, I said 6 years old. Of course over the years there were many other interests that tried to veer me away from that. Evenmore so were the daunting and dominating opinions of others telling me I was too smart, too quiet, and that that career did not suit my personality. To be honest, as I got older I almost began to believe those lies but I could never shake the declaration I had made as a 6 year old girl who had dressed up as a cosmetologist for Career Day. Read more>>

Grace Nande

I knew I wanted to purse a creative path professionally after graduating University in 2021. At that time, I needed to find a job in my home country Namibia but as I send in my CV I was not accepted. However, I understood the circumstances because there aren’t enough jobs in Namibia but the opportuties are there to start a career. I choose to mix together my Psychology degree and art(hobby). I feel this decision saved my life as I had something to do at home that I love and also could earn an income. Moreover, there are still more improvements I need to make but I am excited for the journey. Read more>>

Hanyu Mu

I loved to doodle on the walls when I was young, maybe around three years old. At that time my parents encouraged me that I could be an artist in the future. My dad wanted me to be able to make a living from my hobby because it would make my life easier and happier. The older generation knows how painful it is if you have to face a job you don’t like every day just to make a living. But they didn’t force me to stick to painting, I learned to play a musical instrument and how to solder and assemble radio communication equipment. Read more>>

Charlisa Montrope

Although there were many times where I doubted myself, I think I always somewhat knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally. I have been creating since I the age of 12. Art has always been something I enjoyed from drawing to painting, even sewing. When I was in Middle school my teacher entered me into the Scholastics art and writing competition where I won a silver key award. This inspired me to continue learning and growing in my artistic talents. Read more>>

Becca Cruger

Ever since I glued that first piece of glitter to paper, I’ve always known I could make art but I never thought of myself as an artist. That all changed for me in 2016. I was in the thick of a book study with other fab women, and the book was all about stepping out of fear-based mentalities. One of the exercises challenged us to think ahead to the end of our lives and envision the happiest, healthiest version of ourselves. All I could picture was an art studio dappled with sunlight and a life that had been spent creating artwork that breathed life in dark spaces. To that point, I’d never painted on canvas, just on 4×6 paper cards. Read more>>

Dejiah Archie-Davis

I remember spending most of my childhood dreaming of my career as an Artist. Growing up, I had a wide imagination for who I wanted to be and what would make me happy. I found my happiness at at young age when I started to draw pictures and create short stories. I was so inspired by television shows and books that I started to create fictional stories of my own. I would mostly look forward to creating and coloring a cover art for my writing. I became so engaged with building a connection between art and writing that at some point I knew that I wanted to be a storyteller. Read more>>

Co Co jones

In college I joined a hip hop outreach group that would go and give back to the community through music at community centers with children, local jails, homeless shelters and other outlets. It was in this group I started rhyming and met my longtime friend and producer, Roahn Hylton. After the group disbanded, he and I began to work on songs for publishing and placements. Read more>>

Summer Chrissiana

Media is the medium. Performing and being in the spotlight came natural to me. Not only did doing beauty pageants as a child and modeling in my preteens and teenage years help with confidence, public speaking and poise, these events also prepared me for my future passion and dream career of being a television host, YouTuber and entrepreneur! Read more>>

Colangelo ‘Tip’ Tolbert II

The first time I realized I wanted to be a professional musician full-time was at an early age. I started playing in the band in middle school. I would play the beginner songs and learn how to apply those techniques to the songs I’d hear on the radio. Soon I would play popular hip-hop songs at school. After years of building dexterity and ear training, I excelled through high school and earned a music scholarship to Prairie View A&M University. In the fall of 2021, I graduated with a B.A. in music. Read more>>

Christina Lowe

I was a ballet dancer from a young age and was a part of a few productions in the downtown theater of Omaha, Nebraska, The Rose theater. I loved dance and when I was part of “The Nutcracker” and The Beauty and the Beast” there was a euphoric feeling I got from being onstage. Then, the summer after I had been in those productions, I did a ballet and theater camp. I had never acted before, and when I took acting classes I fell in love with the craft. Read more>>

Zander Jett

I have been singing and playing the piano my whole life, but at a certain point I wanted to get out and perform. As a young teenager, I walked into a senior home and I asked if I could play for the residents. Right on the spot, they sat me down at the piano and asked me to show them what I could do. I remember being nervous, but soon I fell right into my element and delivered a great audition. I was invited back, and soon I was playing twice a week for the residents. Read more>>

D’Vontre Dotson

I’ve always been a creative individual in anything that I’ve involved myself in. I always loved it myself but when I realized other folks appreciated the aesthetics of my work that’s when I knew it was time to take my ideas seriously. In my later years of high school (2018) is when I started crafting clothing for someone other than myself to wear. It was more of a hustle at first but when the opportunity to start an actual brand fell in my hands I executed. Now T’FUŁA Attire is my passion, my addiction, my thriving business. Read more>>