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.

TERESSA JACKSON

I love what I do and it’s an incredible feeling to be able to get up every day and make and sell art. On one hand, the answer is yes. I majored in painting in college and then immediately said, “well I can’t make a living doing that” and moved on to another career path working in nonprofit management, marketing, and fundraising. Ultimately, however, I think that I started my creative career at just the right time. Read more>>

Aimee Saturne

I am a huge advocate of starting any dream or aspiration as early as possible- no time wasted, the sooner the better! If you find a passion within your heart that you want to pursue, you should absolutely begin your journey. It’s never too late, but it’s also never too early. I don’t think I know anyone (myself included) who wishes they would’ve started their creative career any later than they did. The longer you’re at it, and the more persistent you are, the further you go. Read more>>

Maty Young

Absolutely, without a doubt. When I look back, I can’t help but think I should have jumped into the creative world much sooner. The whole education landscape, especially when it comes to creativity, has undergone a complete revolution, all thanks to the internet and online learning. Read more>>

Harper Allen

I had my first major song placement when I was 19. A song I had co-written with Joleen Belle and Joachim Svare was in a Netflix original series; the soundtrack to which was number 1 on iTunes right above Hamilton (for 3 wonderful days). Read more>>

Domonic Pierno

I started as a Stand-Up comedian in January of 2019. Finding my love and passion for comedy was the best thing that ever happened to me however part of me wishes I had started this journey 10 or 15 years ago, even though I recognize that everything happens at the right time. Knowing what I know now and having the life experience behind me is what makes me a funny comedian, so even though at times I wish I had started earlier I truly believe that I started when I was ready. Read more>>

Juls Ochoa

Sooner. I started drawing at a young age, but lost it once I hit high school. I got involved with other activities , lost focus, and blew it off. Since I started creating again, I constantly catch myself thinking about where I’d be if I had never stopped all those years. But I’m so grateful to have found myself again in my art and be where I am as an artist. Read more>>

Yoo Lee

I had a career change in my 40’s. I was a CEO running my own fashion brand for almost two decades before transitioning over to becoming a filmmaker using stop motion as my medium. Although fashion is creative, it ultimately wasn’t the right creative outlet for me, but it taught me about discipline, time management skills, how to be organized, how to negotiate with multiple vendors, and how to budget and keep the crew. Read more>>

Grace Engels

I always considered myself to be an academic. I was a smart kid, and most of my ambitions had to do with going to a good college, getting good grades, and getting a good job. When I discovered my passion for acting later in high school, after I had solidified my plans of one day being a doctor, I pushed it back, assigned it the title of “hobby”. When I finally went to college, I allowed that hobby to be a minor in my degree. I focused on public health but allowed myself the fun of taking acting classes, even being in a few productions. Read more>>

Kelli Perrault

I absolutely wish I had started my creative career sooner. I was always drawn to arts and crafts even in elementary school, and even through high school I had a habit of doodling in the margins of my notebooks when I was supposed to be taking, well, notes. The repeated messages I got about career and my future were that art was impractical, and “not a real job.” Read more>>

Carrie Rodrigues

I think that fear can often hold us back from our own happiness. Read more>>

Simone Hester

Do I wish that I had started my art career sooner… I have thought about this often, but I’ve realized that my art, my style would not be what it is today if I made a different choice. My initial career began in management and I was able to utilize my creativity in each position that I held. So I was able to scratch any little creative itch that I felt during that time. Read more>>

Rachel Pitner

In short, no, I do not wish that I had started my career sooner. I know that I have taken an indirect path to where I am now, but everything shifted towards the arts exactly when I needed it and at the pace that I could receive it. I was not ready for this when I was younger. Read more>>

Dawn Williams

I wish I had stayed with my creative pursuits from an early age. I remember I entered an art contest when I was in about the third grade with a watercolor painting. I placed 2nd place in the contest. In high school I went on to take manual photography, digital photography, and drawing. Read more>>

Josh Sadowski

I feel like we all look back in time and wish we did things earlier on in our lives. For me, the main thing I wish I worked on earlier on would be music. I’ve been singing since I was six, but I unfortunately didn’t pick up any instruments. At 23 I’m just now getting comfortable on the piano, and trying to learn more music production. Read more>>

Batya Belfry

I did not get involved with circus until my mid-twenties. There have been many times that I have wished I had started earlier but my previous experiences have shaped who I am as a person and a performer. When I became serious about my aerial training as something other than a hobby, I looked into circus schools but most only accept teens and those in their early twenties. Read more>>

Nikki + Ash

Ah this is such a nuanced question! We both had entirely different careers before starting Heartprint Press. Never in a million years did we imagine that we would have this amazing letterpress greeting card company — an art form we knew nothing about before diving in head first two short years ago. But when the idea came to us (over a text exchange if you can believe it?!) it just felt like we were on to something really special and there was no turning back. Read more>>

Hanneke Van Broekhoven

I used to regret not going to art school straight after high school, but I don’t anymore. I understand why I couldn’t go against the advice of my parents and mentor. It was in the eighties, many people were unemployed, the future looked grim and I was very insecure and sensitive. For years I blamed myself for letting myself be talked out of it. Now I see I needed time to develop a stronger personality. Read more>>

Phillip Conner

I always loved creating, and yet I struggled for decades to ever classify myself as an artist. I felt to make such a claim one had to have reached certain achievements, whether it be local or national recognition or financial independence with sales from ones art. So I had for the longest time never created with the purpose of it being a career or business. Read more>>

Tanja Majerus

I often asked myself the same question and for the longest time, I wondered if I made the right choices throughout my life or was it the fact that I unwillingly was pushed into a career direction that didn’t suit me. Since I can remember my choice was very clear, I wanted to go to art school, but everyone around me tried to convince me that I needed a ’REAL’ career. Read more>>

Vanessa Pineda Fox

My creative career started right out of art school as a graphic designer. But it took me a couple of decades till I decided to try to pursue painting as a means of income. Which is fine, because at an earlier stage in my life, I wasn’t ready. Read more>>

Doris Faye Jones

While I strive to live with no regrets, I didn’t truly embrace my creative side or try to pursue endeavors to show it to anyone until 2015. After decades of hiding away my paintings, poetry, and other writings, I slowly started to open up and let others see my work. More accurately, let others ‘feel’ my work. I sold five paintings the first week I started sharing about them. Read more>>

Kanise Williams

If I knew then what I knew now when it comes to release my music, I would’ve started way earlier and done a lot of different things. I would promote it online a lot more. And not been afraid to “do too much” because there’s always a new person that hasn’t seen your music yet. Read more>>

Joanne Jian

I believe Steve Jobs’ quote, ‘You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward,’ perfectly captures my perspective on the timing of my creative career. I first encountered this quote during primary school while playing a game of connect the dots. Although it intrigued me, it took time for me to fully grasp its meaning. Read more>>

Anthony Palmer

I think having regrets about life is tricky because part of what’s happened in my past made me who I am today. If there was a chance for me to enter a time machine and go back in time and slap my younger self in the face and give him the wisdom I know today, then yes absolutely I would. There isn’t that option though and I beat myself up for years for not starting sooner or having it all figured out. Read more>>

Mariah Sharnell

I truly wish that I had started my creative career/content career sooner. I always had a creative with drawing and writing but I didn’t know the love I have for editing and making content. This past year or two I have been able to step out from behind the curtain and show more of my life and live it authentically. Read more>>

Katharine Franco

As a toddler, I would do impersonations of family members or people around me, stand on the coffee table to create a stage and dance. The signs were there to move forward with plays and classes with other children, but we moved around quite a bit. So, in terms of art education, yes, I wish I would have started earlier but the “career” aspect of it feels right at this time in my life. Read more>>

Gaitrie Subryan

If I did I would have failed. Here is the reason why, who I am as a creative is not only because of one thing. I am a creative because of all of the things which I have learned throughout the years. From working in a Law Firm to working in a Non-For non-profit arts Organization, the skills and experience that I received (even at the young age of 15) have helped me as a creative. Read more>>

Zeno Gill

I had interest in photography when I was very young, but I didn’t recognize that I had an actual passion for it until I was almost 40 years old. I wish that I had recognized this earlier, as I may have pursued photography academically or professionally earlier, but I am also thankful that I eventually had the realization, as I’m sure that some people never find all of their artistic passions. Read more>>

Chuck Copeland

Sooner. In highschool I was torn between pursuing a creative career and becoming a pilot. I pursued a pilot license, getting my glider license at 15, learning to fly before I could drive. Unfortunately my senior year was 9/11 and the airline industry collapsed. I pursued a business degree with the intention of a career in marketing. Unfortunately my last semester was the 2008 financial crisis and the only job I could find was in tax. Read more>>

Ry & Skyla

We started Sometimes Castles to have a creative outlet more than anything, and are glad we started when we did. We both had a decade of professional experience in creative industries that helped make sure we had a good foundation to start our channels with best practices in mind. With both of us being in our 30s when we started, we are much more conscious of what we post on social media 😅 Read more>>

Danielle Asfour

I very much wish I started earlier! Did anyone invent a time machine yet? Just kidding. But yeah, I’ve always wanted to create art, and I wish I just went for it. I even applied and got into a specialized high school for visual arts. When I thought I could continue it beyond graduation, I was met without support and I didn’t feel I had the confidence to go it alone. So I went into the Graphic Design field instead, in hopes I could do both. Read more>>

Ameerah DeChabert

Thoughts about could’ve, would’ve, should’ve used to pass a lot through my head at one point. My friend, annoyed at the “we should’ve” statements I repeated after we got lost one day, said enough is enough. I said, “Yes ma’am” and listened. She was right, there was no sense in that. Furthermore, I believe in God’s bigger plan and aligning with that and with what’s meant for you. Read more>>