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.

Jerome Brammer

In 2016 I chose to leave my career in education and pursue my passions for clothing and sneaker design permanently. I had already launched my clothing line in 2014 and had been throwing Hennessy sponsored cultural events in the Washington DC area ever since. Read more>>

Asgerdur Arnardottir

Right after high school/college (not sure which one to call it in English because that was back in Iceland and we have a different school system, to be clearer: I was 19 years old.) I immediatly knew I wanted to apply for art school, there was no question about it. Read more>>

Keely R.

From as long as I could remember, I’ve always wanted to be a dancer. But it wasn’t until I discovered Kpop/The Kpop dance community on Instagram, that I really found a new love and meaning for dance. Read more>>

Marco Robof

When I was a kid I imagined myself as an archeologist, I was really into some of my father’s “ancient astronauts” theory & archeology books from Erich von Daniken and others; that books, even though I reconsidered all of that “fantasy” theories, helped my imagination blooming, and opened a path to curiosity and investigation for the depths of everything. Read more>>

Lesli Lancaster

My first thought into turning my yoga practice into something that could actually become a profession did not just come over night. I contemplated and thought through what it would actually be like. Read more>>

Izzy Smut

When I was 16 years old, I watched a Joan Jett music video on TV and it changed my life. I didn’t know women can rock out and be taken seriously and it blew my mind. I took guitar lessons and been playing ever since. Read more>>

Ansh Kumar

I have always been into playing and making imaginary worlds for my own pleasure. When I was young I was fascinated by action figures and used to play for hours creating my own narratives. Read more>>

Jordan Attarian

I spent my whole life being amazed and enamored with all forms of art, it always felt like the images spoke deeply to me through colors and symbols. Read more>>

Logan Fitch

From a young age, there was never an exact moment of knowing. As long as I could remember, there was no doubt that I was meant to go into the arts. I looked at and absorbed the world around me and would observe it all in an artistic way. Read more>>

Tiffany Michelle

There are actually two answers to this question. In first grade, my first time seeing a play was because the 5th graders put on a holiday show every year. As I watched them perform, it clicked that acting was a career and possible. Read more>>

Chase Kerby

It’s strange when I think about it, but there was never a specific moment in time where I said to myself “this is my calling” or “this is what I’m going to do with my life.” I remember writing poetry at a young age and then getting my first guitar when I was 15. Read more>>

Ajean Ryan

The artistic path is usually not encouraged or recommended in most post-industrial capitalistic societies and being a daughter of Korean-American immigrants, I don’t recall ever being encouraged to pursue my art at an early age. Read more>>

Hannah Lauren Del Rosario

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path for as long as I can remember. My father is an artist and my mother is a musician, so I was painting and playing piano by three years old. Read more>>

Stacy Lynn Carroll

I always loved reading stories as a kid, and as I got older, I also gained a love for writing stories, too. When I was in ninth grade, I entered a writing contest to receive extra credit for my English class. I ended up winning the contest for my school. Read more>>

James J.Anthny” Barber”

I knew music was the only thing that would make me feel complete in middle school. I spent every waking hour I could learning how to write lyrics, what the business side of the music business was, how do artist split songs, who gets the bigger splits and more importantly how would I get paid through music and not end up like all the other horror stories you hear. Read more>>

Maurice Taylor

I believe choosing animation in college is when I first chose the artistic path professionally. Because that choice caused me a bunch of money! But thats a different story for a different day. Read more>>

Yong Eun (May) Kwon

The first time I thought I wanted to do art was when I saw animation. Various works by Disney, Pixar, Ghibli and tons of comic books have been my dear friends since childhood. Read more>>

Jessica Dalrymple

At age 6 my friend and I set up an art gallery on a card at the end of my driveway selling pictures for a nickel, my first collector was the “mailman.” Ten years later I took my first painting class and loved it. Read more>>

Cindy Walton

I have been making art since childhood. Art and making has always been part of my life whether it was sewing with my Grandmother, drawing on my own or painting with my mother. Read more>>

Kareem Reemo Meerak” Tyson”

Honestly, when I was in my mid 20’s. Before that, my aspirations were playing overseas with Basketball. I wasn’t really into the entertainment industry because I felt that I would have to “Fake-It to Make It” and I wasn’t about that at all. Read more>>

Lisa Aisato

My sister and I grew up with a mother who was very interested in literature and who read aloud to us for hours on end. She read with great enthusiasm and empathy, and made these reading sessions absolutely magical. Read more>>

Tauni Western

I’ve always known that I would end up in some sort of creative profession; it just took me a while to get here. Recently, my mom mailed me a box filled with a ton of childhood memorabilia — baby photos, fictional short stories I wrote about aliens (lol), and projects from elementary school that feature the classic “What do you want to be when you grow up?” type of inquiries. Read more>>

Carmen Maret

I remember the day I participated in the local solo and ensemble festival in Boise, Idaho. At just 12 years old and without a flute teacher, I spent numerous hours practicing and listening to Bizet and Tchaikovsky in my bedroom. Read more>>

Amar Monroe

I’ve always been in love with the idea of creating. My Aunt used to tell me that when I was 2 or 3 years old, I would emulate singers on the radio, and I remember writing music as young as 4… Read more>>

Esther Ludlow

When I was in grade school, I decided I either wanted to be a teacher or a writer, but I was more drawn towards a career as a writer. I knew, early on, when I started working full-time, that someday I wanted to be my own boss, have the freedom to travel, and pursue something creative. Read more>>

Harlem Hayfield

Well, it didn’t happen when we first formed. In 2019, a few of us were hanging it up with the cover bands we were in. Chris approached Mikey, asking what he was going to do next (musically). Read more>>

Joey Hopper

I started acting in theater as a child but I found my passion in film. When I was 13, I went to my first Indie Memphis Youth Film Festival. From that experience, I become interested in learning more about film and submitted my first film three years later. Read more>>

Seun Bewaji

Ever since I was a teenager I was interested in Art. I remember I always loved sketching. When I started taking classes at my community college, I enrolled in many art classes to improve my skills with making art. Read more>>

Charles CROUCH

I’ve always been a creative. My main focuses were poetry, writing, and music. I have long been an avid writer, and music producer. I started off music production simply to have original music as the backdrop to my poetry. Read more>>

Nasrin S. Maesha, Shoummo Ahmed

Great question! Both of us have been creatives pretty much since childhood, and our passion for meaningful work got us involved in the development and humanitarian sector where we both spent a significant amount of time. Read more>>

Katelyn Patty

It all started when I was in 5th or 6th grade and I got my first video camera. I would always make music videos with the neighbor kids and do their hair and makeup with my little makeup kit from Costco. Read more>>

Miu Sato

Music has always played a prominent role in my life from a very young age, but it wasn’t until my final months in high school when I really believed that pursuing a career in a creative field was even an option for me. Read more>>

Shana Rowe Jackson

Like many artists, creating has been a life-long passion for me. I have always been creatively inclined, and I remember as far back as kindergarten wanting to be an artist. Read more>>

Alessandra Rose

In high school I was given a full ride scholarship to the Berklee School of Music Summer program. I went the summer leading into my senior year. At seventeen I was heavily involved in every single music class I could participate in. I sang and performed non stop in and out of school. Read more>>

Hana Eid

My work as an artist and musician is to satisfy the dreams of my five-year-old self, listening to my dad play guitar and croon “Uncle John’s Band” by the Grateful Dead. From the moment I heard this performance, I was enamored by music. Read more>>

Comfy Stennis

I’ve always been an artist. When I was a kid, I burned my nose playing with my mother’s curling iron. When I was a young teen I filed my press on nails with a piece of concrete to make them less sharp, that was around the same time I began writing poetry. Read more>>

Uno Kim

When I was 23 years old, I used to work as a Stylist in Seoul, Korea. I liked that job, but I always found myself enjoying drawing more than anything. I remember that no matter how busy I was, I would always find time to draw and create flash sheet for tattoos! Read more>>

Yuwei Liu

I first realized my passion for pursuing a creative/artistic path professionally when I was in middle school. At that time, whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always “an artist.” Read more>>

Rose Bellamy-Hicks

From the moment I picked up a crayon, I knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. My mother and father were both creative souls with an eye for style and design, so I suppose it was just encoded into me. Both of my parents vehemently encouraged my artistic endeavors. Read more>>

Kiwan Young

Music has been something that has always been apart of me. Ever since I have been a kid I could remember creating melodies in my own head to some of my favorite songs. Read more>>