Getting started sounds so easy – but for millions of aspiring artists and creatives, the uncertainty of the path forward presents a very real challenge. So, we wanted to gather some artists and creatives we admire to open up about their experience and how they think about whether they should have started sooner or waited for a better time.

Tony Green

I think in the current culture, if I could go back, which I can, I would stay right here. Ha! I mean of course I think of starting the social media experiments that made me a name in this city, and where I’d be if I had done it earlier. Things would of course be different, but I’d be no less fabulous, and I would certainly not go backwards not knowing what I know now. Read more>>

Forrest Crump

This is interesting because when I look back in time I started while just out of high school while working at a chemical plant as a hole watch. When examining what I wanted to do with my life, I began scanning careers that were the most fun that made the most amount of money in the shortest time and DJing was the ONLY thing I could come up with that sounded intriguing! One thing that I learned around 25 years or so is that if I got more serious, this career path could be much more lucrative than just a normal job and that’s when I ramped up marketing and my websites to grow my company to where it is today. Read more>>

Gail Friend

I have always been creative, even as a child. I loved to draw and write stories. When I became a young mother of two I started sewing home decor and toys for the kids. Then as it often does, life got complicated. I became a single mom and was my mothers care giver and life was busy taking care of everyone and my creative side became non existent. For many years I didn’t do anything creative. About five years ago I met someone who is now one of my best friends. She was a competitor in women’s physical fitness competitions. Read more>>

Amanda Huckabe

If I could go back in time, I would have absolutely began my creative career sooner. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that everything happens when it is supposed to, but you give me a time machine, and knowing what I know now, I would hop right in and turn the dial to 2008 and head straight to cosmetology school. A little of my backstory – I always loved hair. As a kid, I would play with my friends hair, and of course my barbies’ (believe me, that never turned out well.) I learned by watching my mom braid or style mine and my sister’s hair. Read more>>

Cynthia Garcia

If I could go back in time I most assuredly would have started my creative career sooner. I officially started my creative career at the ‘ripe old age’ of 28. I say ‘ripe old age’ because most of my peers at my acting conservatory were recent high school graduates. Whereas this was their ‘college’ experience, I had already completed my undergrad degree in another area altogether, and therein lies the reason for my ‘late start’. I was one of two students who were considered to be the oldest students in the entire school; Read more>>

Chayle Dikoff

I wish my dad would have enrolled me into some type of classes when I was a child. I’m self-taught in dance and voice! I learned how to sing my mimicking The Phantom of the Opera when I was little. I learned how to dance from watching music videos on VH1. While we didn’t have a ton of money growing up, the girls who were professionally trained at a studio definitely have a leg up (no pun intended) for those of us who didn’t have a technical background. Read more>>

Kellsie Moore

Part of me of course wishes that I had started my creative career earlier, earning money from creating things that I’m passionate about, versus the dozens of jobs I’ve had in my life where it was trading a sometimes rather miserable time, for often times very little money. However, I don’t think that I could be where I am now without having had every one of those experiences. Our life shape us along the way so that we can get to the next phase, go through the next evolution of ourselves. The steps along our path create the next available opportunity, and skill, wisdom, relationship etc. Read more>>

Claudia Roulier

In my twenties I was widowed with two young children. I had been an art major in school but at this time was working full time at a greenhouse. After being offered a promotion and thinking carefully about it. I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. I received a pell grant and was able to keep our heads above water long enough to graduate with my BFA. However after realizing I needed to work to support my little family, I gave up on the idea that I could go on to graduate school. Read more>>

Demetrius Johnson

I appreciate this question because it’s one that we (humans) typically ask in hindsight since it’s “always” 20/20. That said, if I could go back in time my first thought is that I would’ve accepted being a creative sooner and honed my talents when I was younger. Music has always been apart of my life. Growing up my dad led praise and worship at church and my mom directed the choir at the church I came up in; she sang as well as my two sisters. Read more>>