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.

Sammi Qwok

I was always “the art kid” in every classroom that I wound up in, so it was never far from the forefront of my mind that I would wind up in a creative field. I’d be torn between my love for animals and my love for art, so growing up I’d say that I wanted to become my vet. But at the same time, I never put down my sketchbook! Coming from an Asian household, academic success was always touted, and I performed very well on all my report cards. I was a high achiever all through to the end of high school, which is when I made the leap to pursue art. After a lifetime of books and essays, I started art school at Pratt Institute, where I would spend the next four years trying to hold my own against peers who have trained for the arts all their lives. I graduated with a degree in 2D Animation in 2018. It wasn’t until 2020 — mid-pandemic and two years of freelancing later– that I would stumble into the field of tattooing. Read more>>

Jonas Angelet

For me, the path to becoming a professional artist started early. Growing up with artist parents who loved music and visual arts, I was surrounded by creativity and encouragement that art could be more than just a hobby. The real spark came when, as a teenager, I met a friend of my mom’s, whose daughter was a graphic designer for apparel and print media. Realizing that you could design your own shirts, textiles, packaging and logos for a living opened up a whole new world for me. Growing up, I thought I might become an architect or a car designer, but the allure of the music and visual art worlds, combined with the potential for limitless creativity and collaboration, was much more intriguing to me as a career. When I discovered that I could work directly with musicians and bands by designing album covers, merch and logos for my favorite artists, it felt like the perfect mix of all of my interests. Read more>>

Santiago Castaneda Guerrero

I think i was 12 years old when i decided to pursue Dance as a career, my whole life i wanted to be a vet but i saw a huge world of possibilities when i started dancing i fell in love with the idea of becoming a professional while still doing something i was passionate about, it wasn’t easy since my family doesn’t come from money, and ballet is expensive so my ballet teachers and family would do the impossible to help me get out of Colombia where i am from and come to the USA to train properly, so i left home when i was 16 so go to a professional school and ive been following my dreams since then. Read more>>

Kamaiah Norris

I remember the moment I first realized I wanted to pursue a creative path, and it feels like a vivid snapshot in my mind. At just three years old, I was part of a gifted and talented program where my teacher revealed to me that I had a voice—a singer’s voice. It was incredible to discover that this talent was not only a part of me but something I could share with the world. That early experience ignited a passion for performing that has only grown since then. By the age of eight, I was dancing in a studio, immersing myself in hip hop and contemporary jazz. I loved the freedom and expression that dance offered, and it quickly became another outlet for my creativity. I also developed a fascination with fashion and modeling, largely inspired by my obsession with “America’s Next Top Model.” I remember flipping through magazines and dreaming of the glitz and glamor of the fashion world, knowing deep down that this was a path I wanted to explore. Read more>>

Blanca Plata

I was about 5 years old when I saw on public TV an artist show when they were showing a painting tenique that consisted by mixing pigments whit egg yolks…. I was mesmerized about it! Could not believe my eyes, as time went on and keep watching the show, a sparkle came through then I decided exactly that is what I wanted to do whit my life! Read more>>

Fabio Anderson

It started when I was just 8 years old. I used to organize performance shows for my parents right in our living room. I’d recruit my brother or friends to join in, and together we’d create these mini-productions. I was in charge of everything—choreographing the dances, designing the sets, selecting the music, styling the outfits, and inventing entire worlds for each performance. Looking back, it wasn’t just play; it was my first real taste of what I now do for a living. The funny thing is, I was so passionate about it that I’d put on new shows almost three times a week. My parents, who were my audience, would be so tired from long days of work that they’d sometimes fall asleep during the performances. But they still showed up for every one of them, and their quiet support, taught me how meaningful it is to share your creative energy, even with just a small audience. Read more>>

Krina Shah

Hello, my name is Krina Shah. My journey began in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. With so much time at home, I often felt empty and bored, spending hours online searching for a meaningful way to use my time. I became inspired by many women I saw online who were starting their own businesses, which sparked something in me. I wanted to try something creative and meaningful, something I was passionate about. That’s when an idea clicked—I decided to start creating Lippan art, also known as “Mud Mirror Art.” This decision pushed me to be more creative and embark on my own business journey. I taught myself everything, from marketing strategies to identifying and prioritizing the audiences who would be interested in my art. I also worked hard to improve my communication skills. Over time, speaking with many different people made me a more confident and effective communicator. Read more>>

Sweeetz Labamba

I didn’t. My father noticed I was working a lot of jobs and unhappy. I remember him calling me into his room as he sat in his recliner, and said “since you’re good with kids, think about being a Clown”. By him sparking that interest opened a new world, purpose and lifelong mission. Shoutout to my father cause he seen my spark, knew my strengths and known his daughter simply wanted more…. When I was younger, I always wanted to travel to New York and become an actress. Fast forward, I perform presentations interacting with everyone! Read more>>

Chijioke Nwadike

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was a transformative moment at the age of 11. Growing up in a vibrant village in Nigeria, I had the unique opportunity to feature in a gospel music video. This experience was nothing short of magical. From an early age, I was mesmerized by the way the village women danced during ceremonies. Their movements were a beautiful expression of joy, community, and tradition. Watching them dance, I felt a deep connection to the rhythm and emotion they conveyed, and it ignited a passion within me. Being part of that gospel music video was the spark that set my heart on fire for dance. It wasn’t just about the moves or the music; it was about the way dance made me feel alive and connected to my culture. The joy of expressing myself through dance, combined with the positive impact it had on the people around me, made it clear that this was more than just a hobby—it was my calling. That moment in the village, surrounded by the music and the supportive community, was when I knew that dance was my path. It was the beginning of an incredible journey that continues to shape who I am today. Read more>>

Amy Tung Barrysmith

I had grown up playing classical piano and knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a musician. My goals as a child was to be a conductor and composer and to have a room in my home that housed every instrument I could find so I could have jam sessions at any given time. I didn’t end up doing exactly that, but I am close. In High school I got slightly sidetracked when I discovered theater and ended up getting a Bachelor of Arts in Theater. I considered trying to double major or minor in music, but the theater programs were so intense, they actually didn’t allow you to minor or double major in anything. I worked with some small theater companies for a little bit, while still playing classical piano on the side when I had the time. I lost a lot of my acting ambition after going through the grind in LA and wading through the quagmire there. I realized it wasn’t where I wanted to be and I rediscovered music through bands. I learned how to play guitar and bass at that time and really found a love for it. Once I got there, I realized I needed to find a job that would allow me keep pursuing music and that’s when I decided to start teaching music and opening a music school. I figured, the only way I could do this feasibly as a future is if I was my own boss. Plus, I tried working in corporate offices and it was always so depressing. I actually ended up with a lot of physical ailments from working these places and as soon as I left those jobs, it all went away. I realized at that point that for my own mental and physical health, I needed to stay working within music. Read more>>

Yulin Yuan

Art has been a part of me for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would create comic books about my friendships and sketch dresses for my classmates, feeling instinctively drawn to self-expression through art. But it was during a difficult period in my teenage years that art became my refuge and, ultimately, my purpose. Growing up as an immigrant in South Africa, I often felt like an outsider. I experienced bullying, microaggressions, and racism in school, and while my family supported my education, they couldn’t fully understand these challenges. Though I was doing reasonably well in school, art felt like the one realm where I had complete control and freedom. During a winter break, I visited my grandfather, I learned that he had once dreamed of becoming an artist himself but couldn’t pursue it because of poverty. Excited to share a connection, I showed him my artwork, and that moment was the first and last time we bonded over art after I moved abroad. It saddens me that he doesn’t have the chance to see how art has shaped my life and that I am now an artist and art educator, carrying forward a dream we both share. Read more>>

Mike Harris

Coming from a musical family, I’d always had an interest in music but it wasn’t until I was 15 that I realized it could be a career. I started off wanting to be a rapper. Then my older brother approached me one day and said, “man with the way you approach writing rap lyrics, I think you’d be good at writing R&B songs for artists.” Until that conversation, it never occurred to me that artists didn’t write their own songs all the time. Then he started showing me people like The Underdogs, Bryan-Michael Cox, Babyface, Diane Warren, Shep Crawford and more. Some of the names I’d never heard of but their songs I’d heard a million times. From that point on I was hooked. Always looking at album credits seeing who wrote what. Then at 15, I wrote my first song. Read more>>

Michael Tanzillo

On a snowy night in 2003, a Netflix-delivered DVD of “Finding Nemo” changed my life. I had just finished college and was working as a photographer, but felt lost and without a career path. That night, I made the decision that would change everything. I was too comfortable to get up to eject the DVD after the movie had finished and I just let it continue to roll through the credits. This caused the bonus content to begin playing — and I was never so grateful for my lethargy. I saw artists scuba diving off the coast of Australia gathering references for the film. They analyzed the ocean’s color far from shore versus how green and murky it became as they approached Sydney. They watched the broken rays of light dance in the water and the patterns formed by the caustic effects. It was then up to someone called the Lighting Artist to translate these visual phenomena onto the screen. I was blown away. Read more>>

Wenlu Guo

The first time I wanted to embark on a career path was about six years ago. At that time, I was a transfer student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. And there was a course called fashion styling; in that class, the professor will give us a theme, and we will do projects as a group. According to the corresponding theme, we will make a shooting plan, work with models, style the models, and shoot just like a professional photography shoot. In this course, I really enjoyed coming up with ideas and shooting together with the group members. From then on I decided to pursue a career in fashion photography. Read more>>

Redd Fafilth

From a really young age I knew I wanted to be a star. I specifically remember saying I wanted to be Elvira when I grew up. I always admired her humor and her goth aesthetic. She has gotten to work with so many icons throughout her career and became an icon within her own right. I started off just being a cosplayer, but I knew I was meant for more. I wanted to perform on a stage. I did a little bit of theater when I was younger, but I knew I wanted to do something that would give me the artistic freedom to do what I want to do. I didn’t realize Drag could be an option for me, until I got older. I began to go to club nights and see what other people were doing, and eventually I was given an opportunity to perform on stage. I get cast in an all alternative and horror themed show, and I got to showcase the type of art I wanted to see in the world. It was absolutely life changing, and I haven’t stopped since. Read more>>

Ally Bartoszewicz

I think I’ve always known I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally, but I didn’t actually take that seriously until the end of 2020. My desires to have a) a “real job” and b) a positive impact had led me into teaching positions that simply weren’t healthy for me. It took me being mentally and physically at the end of my rope to think, “Wait, would if art COULD be a real job and make a positive impact?” There was one distinct moment where I was painting after work just to process the reality of my burnout, and it was like the curtains of my conditioned thinking around career parted for a moment as I painted the words to myself: “Do you trust you?” At that point, I didn’t have much to lose in trusting myself, so I began preparing my art website that very day.  Read more>>

Cynthia Walat

I have always been creative. Starting from a young age I was either trying to sell my hand made creations door to door to our neighbors or I was learning how to sew – which I acuate to be a life skill one I still use today. From there the world of fiber arts become my joy be it knitting or felting and all other manner of textile crafts. In 2014 I became acquainted with an artist who presented a twist to my concept of textiles – the utilization of textile techniques that incorporated nontraditional materials. She crocheted sculptures out of plastic newspaper bags and felted into metal screening and found driftwood. From that initial meeting a new way of seeing the world become available, from taking classes from and learning new techniques to now a monthly critique group. The relationship with this group – Fiber Lab changed my thinking about making and opened up a whole new world. Read more>>

Cody Guerra

I always had thing for music growing up around my dad he would always listen to classic rock rock and roll and some country music in between all this goes back to when I was a kid but to keep it short and simple I had to live a lot of life to get to where I am I’ve lived the songs that I write 2004 is when I wanted to pursue writing and learning how to play music I started writing poetry at first it was a coping mechanism for me I put down all my hurt all my anger I lost my older brother and my nephew that year I’m sure you can read between the lines music saved me today I’m humble calm and collective I’ve never been so liberated in my life it’s a blessing today to enjoy family music and friends Read more>>

Lauren Roberts

I have always been a creative person. When you’re a kid, there’s always the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. My answers were always something in the entertainment industry. Some days I wanted to be a singer. Other days, a dancer, a movie star, you get it. As I got older, that question was still there, and my answers didn’t change much. But it was no longer accepted. There were always the follow up questions, “ok, but how do you expect to pay your bills?” Or, “yeah, but you need a real job too.” That hurt my inner child. I had dreams of seeing my name in lights, walking red carpets, hearing the applause of a sold out performance. I was supposed to just stop dreaming? We tell kids they could be anything, so why couldn’t I be a star? Read more>>

Dan Mendoza

Since I was a Kid, I have always been drawing. If is wasn’t characters from my favorite cartoons, I was making up my own and writing stories about them. I started to think that I could make comics for a living around 7th grade. Read more>>

Hannah Marie Lloyd

I was very fortunate growing up that my family loved musicals and the performing arts. I saw my first musical, The Lion King at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre at 18 months old, and my little imagination was illuminated by all the sights and sounds. As a young child, my mother and grandmother would sing to me daily, I danced in The Nutcracker as a toddler, learned to play the piano in elementary school, and found myself gravitating toward performing. At the time I wasn’t intentionally planning on “being an actress” when I grew up; however, each after-school activity that I wanted to be part of whether it was Cheerleading or the latest school musical pointed me toward it. The real shift started my freshman year of high school, when I saw Wicked for the very first time! Although I had attended many national tour shows that came to town in years past, this was the first experience where I became mentally aware of the idea that “I wanted to do this!” Read more>>

Missy Reuland

I was a stay at home mom for 20 years. My last two graduated and moved off to college in 2019. I began to spin out because I felt my purpose had been served, I had completed my mission. My job was done. In Febrauary of 2022, I was visiting the MoMA in NYC for the 4th or 5th time. I have always loved art and museums and gallery visits but this visit was different. Something opened up in me and I took in every inch of it, I soaked it all up. I suddenly felt alive again. Once home from the trip, I bought paint and canvas and just started throwing ideas around. I fell in love with what I could do with my imagination. I began to dream in color and images. I knew that was God telling me, “This is your new purpose!” I have painted almost every day since. I love to use bright, happy colors. Everyone needs a piece of joy and I try to give it to everyone.  Read more>>

Justin Talbot

I grew up going to a ton of local indie, hardcore, shoe gaze shows around Ventura county and immediately fell in love with music. Between the ages of 14-18 it was the only thing me and friends had to look forward to in our small suburban town, every weekend there would be some new obscure band in town playing along with other local bands at a diy venue or at some house show, some of my favorites being Modern Color, Joyce Manor, Mullholland, etc. Each night felt like a little adventure for us, being in a room with a crowd of people all singing the same lyrics, feeling the same vibe, skating in parking lots between sets, then going over to a friend’s house afterwards to hang out, it all kinda felt like a coming of age movie. The ability of bands/artists to create that atmosphere that carved out a lot of experiences in my youth really inspired me, I knew in those moments that I wanted to make songs that invoked those feelings. I had spent the next few years learning how to play guitar and write songs, eventually I started a band with my friends but it wasn’t until I had moved to Seattle at 20 that I really started learning how to produce and write my own material. Read more>>

Dan Martins

Growing up, I was always surrounded by music. My parents are massive Bruce Springsteen fans, and they always played albums like Born to Run on the stereo when I was a kid. As time went on, I developed a deep love for all kinds of music, but it wasn’t until I was 10 years old where I realized I wanted to play an instrument. I begged my mom to let me play guitar, but I never fully got the hang of it, but then in 8th grade, I saw a classmate playing drums and I decided I wanted to do that. So my mom – reluctantly! – got me drum sticks, a practice pad, and a month’s worth of lessons, and from there, I fell in love with playing drums. Read more>>

Theresa Musengo

Both of my parents are artists. Growing up I always saw them creating, whether it was making pieces for their jewelry business, my mom painting with friends, or my dad playing music at local events. I was always encouraged creatively, but I did not necessarily imagine myself going on to make that my career. As most children, I dreamed of working with animals. Marine biologist was my thing. I would do arts and crafty things with friends and family. Of course I always loved my art classes in school because it was nothing rigid. It was always open to interpretation and free to direct it however I choose. Though I enjoyed those classes, I did not think that was something I could make a career out of. Maybe it was societies portrayal of the “starving artists” that deterred me, but when I started college my major was Art Education. I figured, there will always be a need for teachers. I could do that anywhere, and be teaching a subject that I enjoyed and cared about. It is so important to teach children to think outside the box! However, as I went on I began to feel that I did not enjoy the structure of the education system and it would be a lot more bureaucratic that I was expecting. That lead me to change my major to Art, with a concentration in sculpture.  Read more>>