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.

Jake Simon

I went to college and had been writing songs for fun.. and then I played my first gig and got paid and was shocked how much fun and easy it was. Then for two years I played every weekend while being a full time student and I realized I was wasting my money and so I quit school and went all in on music! Read more>>

Beth LaPenna

My artistic journey is deeply intertwined with the influences of my father, a passionate art collector, and my mother’s radiant brilliance, symbolized by her treasured diamond wedding ring. Through my art, I strive to explore and express the profound impact of these two significant influences in my life. Read more>>

Crsh.

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally happened when I was a young kid around second grade. I had a best friend the same age whose mother often sang live at bars & venues in the city. Around this time she was dating a seemingly successful producer. I don’t know how it got set up but one day she dropped me and my friend over at the producer’s studio. Read more>>

Patrick Benedict

It was in 2016. From 2007-2011 I worked various jobs in the restaurant industry, and Craft Beer was, at this point, not a popular beverage among drinkers. I had learned about wine while working at a Wine Bar, but it didn’t thrill me as much as the “special” beers we’d get to taste and try, beers like Allagash White, Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, Dale’s Pale Ale, etc. Read more>>

Michael Huey

In elementary school, I was in the after-school choir, and I guess that’s where I found that I really liked to perform, but that I was really passionate about it. I would always audition for any and all solo parts, and I would learn the songs faster than most of the other kids. Read more>>

Ashlee Haze

I knew I wanted to pursue this as a career when a celebrity literally knocked on my door. I performed a poem some months prior called “For Colored Girls (The Missy Elliott Poem)” and it was my first instance in going “viral” for a filmed performance. I got a DM from Missy’s Twitter account asking for my address because she wanted to “send me something. Read more>>

Arty Steward-Temple

I decided at a very young age I wanted to work in the arts professionally. I was inspired by all the movies and TV Shows I grew up watching, and was driven to make something just as amazing when I was older. I was surrounded by music as well, and felt drawn to it. Read more>>

N. Jane Quackenbush

After many years of studying the literary greats, feeling absolutely inadequate, I realized that even the most talented artists have to start somewhere. When I was a child I was misunderstood because it always seemed like I wasn’t paying attention, but secretly I was paying a lot of attention to my subconscious thoughts, hopes and dreams. Read more>>

Jeannie Trelles

Ever since I was in elementary school, I knew that I wanted a career as some type of artist, either as a musician or a maker. I began playing the cello when I was 7, and started to make jewelry around the same time. I enjoyed doing every type of arts and crafts project as a kid, especially making friendship bracelets, crocheting, and beading (all techniques I used in my jewelry before I learned to silversmith). Read more>>

Shelley Thomas

I have been a creative person and an artist all my life. I knew I wanted to be a singer by the time I was seven, and I went to school to study music. Music is in my blood and singing is my first love. Now I pursue all of the things I’m interested in. I’ve had odd jobs and worked in the hospitality industry some years, but I love working for myself and integrating my various creative and spiritual pursuits into a meaningful life. Read more>>

Daniel Gray

I’d say I really started to fall in love with music in middle school. That was when I started to learn guitar. At the school I went to, we had to choose whether we would try band, choir, or orchestra, and I chose to play viola in the orchestra program. I really resonated with playing viola and stuck with it from 6th through 12th grade. The more I played music the more I realized how much I’d desire to make a living from it Read more>>

Walter Fredericks

I have been writing creatively since I was 9 years old. I am a movie buff. After college I knew I wanted to make movies and television projects. Read more>>

Jaylon Pierce

It was ten years ago this year, 2013. Thats when I decided to take producing serious. Read more>>

Travis Johnson

I first wanted to pursue art in junior high. Read more>>

Fernanda De Sousa

I am not sure when exactly I made the decision to do it professionally. Maybe when I was around 16-18 years old. Read more>>

Juan Regalado

The moment I was in elementary school I knew I wanted to pursue art as a career in life. Read more>>

Leo Sandoval

I realized that music is something that I wanted to do professionally after going through a very unpleasant experience when I lost my husband to cancer, it is not only the pain and tears that come after an event like this but also the sadness. and the Frieving. Read more>>

Andee Glass

I’ve know I’ve wanted to do music since I was a small child. I feel like most little girls dream of being pop stars when they’re older and I was definitely one of those girls. Difference is most little kids grow out of that and become more realist as they get older and go through school but that spark never went out for me. There were times where I didn’t feel it as strong but someone would always come along and encourage & inspire me back where I needed to be. Read more>>

Van Li

As a concept artist in the gaming industry, my experience with video games was limited during my childhood. Growing up with my grandparents, who didn’t have a computer or gaming console, I found solace in their extensive collection of books. Sneaking into their library, I would sketch characters from those enchanting stories on a notebook, sparking my passion for art. Read more>>

Heather McKeown

I’d like to think I always wanted to pursue fashion. From drawing up sketches as a young child to using my grand mothers dish towels to produce garments and other accessories. I always admired the way how so many people like my aunt, mom and grandmother sewed. Read more>>

Donovan Mitchell

I’d say early on around 12-13 years old roughly was around that time when I knew I wanted to pursue my art. It was during this time where I joined my very first band with the Short Stop Youth Center as a keyboardist primarily and not long after I took on drums and bass briefly. Read more>>

Giuseppe Cucchiara

Music is always been part of my life and as a child I used to spend a lot of time listening to my father’s record collection. Read more>>

Tianqi Chen

When I was in primary school, my ideal job is to become an illustrator and change all the illustrations in textbooks. Because most of the illustrations in Chinese textbooks are boring, I often scribble and transform those boring illustrations into my wild fantasy. Read more>>

Hannah VanDuinen

This may seem like questionable timing, but when I became a mother! Read more>>

Kenneth Sierra

Back in 2018 at EDC Las Vegas I was walking by a stage to get a drink while Slushi was performing. He stopped his set for a minute and started talking to the crowd. During that moment he said something to the effect of “three years ago I was standing where you are…if you want to be up here you can too.”” For whatever reason at that moment what he said really resonated with me. Read more>>

Tosca Lee

I grew up writing and winning contests for my writing, but never thought of it as a “thing” per se—I had my sights set on becoming a classical ballerina and spent all my young life in pursuit of this dream. After getting sidelined at the age of 14 by an injury, I knew that a professional career was probably not going to be in the cards for me. Read more>>

Winston Harrell

I first learned I wanted to be an artist when I lived in Chicago in 1972. I was about 14 years of age. I remember submitting my artwork to an art competition posted in the TV Guide magazine ( drawn the Priate ). I recall sending one of my hand-drawn images by mail to the art contest. Read more>>

Pamela aka Mother Wyatt T Earf Denson

When I noticed a significant lack of BIPOC burlesque performers within the greater Kansas City area. I started Mother Earf’s Brown Sugar Cabaret in 2016, I could count on one hand how many BIPOC Burlesque performers lived/worked in the Kansas City area. Read more>>

Denzel Belin

I knew I wanted to pursue theater as a profession when I decided to major in it in college. I made a pact with myself that I was going to try and hustle (within reason) to see if I could make it as someone who does theater at a professional level and consistently. Read more>>

Carly Noad

When I first started making clothing/ re working pieces, I never did it for anyone but myself. I wanted to feel different, not be able to be replicated. It never crossed my mind that other people would enjoy what I made the same way I did. I wasn’t confident like that, I really didn’t think it was even worth sharing at the start. Read more>>

Brakanah 44

I fell in love with music at a young age, since i was 7 years i think, but it was the normal kind of love like because i was not that into the thought of me being artist because then football was my so thought career. Read more>>

Meoshia Burgess

When I was 8 years old, I had a near death experience. I was hospitalized and basically the doctors had told my parents to call our pastor and family. That they would continue to make me comfortable, because they had ran out of test to do and all the ones they had performed already had came back negative. Read more>>

Shiquasha Lynéce

I knew, when I became obsessed with it. EvenThough, I took breaks and fell back at times to recover. I wrote my first song at age 8. There was always a song popping up in my head. Read more>>

Mike Crowder

I can’t remember a time when I DIDN’T want to be a professional artist. I know I wanted to be a comic-book artist from the age of 12, when I was first exposed to the work of Gil Kane, and Neal Adams. I even went so far as to submit a comic story to DC Comics, who apparently did not care for it. Too bad. I thought it was cool! Read more>>

Daniel O’Brien

I never really thought of a career in art. My mind was set on football and college and when that fell apart I just started working a regular job. I didn’t really forget about art but life and work got in the way so it became a part time hobby. Just drawing and sketching. Not knowing a whole lot of how the tattoo industry or art industry in general worked I really had no idea you could have a career. Read more>>