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.

Sarah Nguyen

Nope! I started exactly when I was supposed to. I believe there is always a time and place for how things happen in our lives. It’s designed specially for us. I had to gain knowledge and understanding in other areas of my life prior, which at the end of the day were all stepping stones that led me to where I’m at today. Read more>>

Kiya Ricks

Definitely sooner! However, I also believe in perfect timing and when things are meant to happen they will, whether you’re really trying or not. In my case I was in my shell really up until a few years ago. Even though I felt I had overcame that shyness/introverted feeling, I still had ALOT of growing to do and lessons that needed to be learned for me to be able to cross those boundaries I put up for myself. Read more>>

Chase Fleischman

I do. Overall, I’m happy where I’m at in my creative career, but I do wish I took this pursuit more seriously when I was younger. I spent a lot of time drawing at home or school, working on new techniques, themes, etc., but it took a long time to start showing work publicly and learning the business side of the equation. Read more>>

Zack Binder

I’ve been practising Ventriloquism for 14 years. Throughout that time, I did a few shows here and there, an open mic or two and countless impromptu performances for friends and family. I often wish I had started performing publicly sooner, but that would negate my journey and the path that led me where I am today. Read more>>

Nick Phelps

No, not at all. I am right where I need to be. I firmly believe in the saying, “It is never too late.” Everything I’ve been through, all the closed doors, and all the setbacks have enabled me to write better songs, have thicker skin, and know my lane as an artist, music producer, and entrepreneur. Read more>>

Hayley Ferber

While I wish I had started my creative career sooner I also understand that I am exactly where I need to be at this moment. I think of my “creative career” as being broken down into several components: artistic practice, curatorial practice, teaching practice and professional development for artists and curators. Without having taken the path and time that it took me to get where I am today, I would not have been able to forge these practices. Read more>>

Angie Scharrer

I wish I would have returned to painting sooner. I painted all the time as a kid through high school and stopped when I went to Architecture School. Looking back, I think was too worried about how bad my work looked compared to my college classmates’. I let my fear and embarrassment of being an untrained artist stop me altogether. Read more>>

Jordan Whitlock

Oh my god, I wish I started sooner. But I also realize that I needed to take my time. I wanted to travel a little, focus on school. When I first started college in Santa Barbara, I would go to class, then run to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich and some apples, lug my guitars to my car parked off campus way uphill and I would rush to the studio in LA. Read more>>

Macy Ziegler

I started becoming serious about my art career in early 2023. Before then, it was purely out of enjoyment. I wish I had started earlier because of the fun of making pieces that have the potential to sell. I enjoy creating pieces directed towards a specific audience, and learning what is most wanted when people purchase art. Read more>>

Sam Bukofsky

I wish I had started it sooner. Not out of regret, but simply out of a burning passion for hip-hop and the culture. There were numerous roadblocks that prevented me from finally working on music. I now never want to stop. Read more>>

Ashton Martin

As a kid, I literally had dreams of being famous! I never knew what I would end up doing, whether it was singing (I can hold a little tune), acting (Will Smith’s acting child), or being a host of an entertainment show. Whatever it was, I was going to do it. I watched shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Tyra Banks Show, Larry King Live and many more with bright eyes and hopes to some day host a show like that. Read more>>

Elizabeth Tindall

I think that everything happens for a reason. I started my education to be a hairstylist after I couldn’t afford my acceptance into AMDA – a performing arts school in LA. My cosmetology school closed about a month before I graduated. This was rock bottom for me. Read more>>

Tannen Fair

For sure sooner, for as long as I can remember I’ve always been drawing , and I would always draw for my own reasons and never even considered taking it anywhere beyond a hobby. People always would tell me to but I’d always brush it off like “Yeah I could never do anything with this.” I put my focus in places and work that I shouldn’t have been instead of what was right in front of me the whole time. Read more>>

Dominic Goodie

I do wise I started my film career sooner than I did. This would allow myself the time to work on my craft and gain the experience I need to better my work would. Even though the the level I’m at now is great compared to when I started, if I had started younger the mistakes I make now I would have already passed. the lessons would have already been learned and my portfolio would be a lot larger than it is. Read more>>

Amber Claire

As we all know, pursuing a career in the arts was never easy, however it can also be very rewarding, as you get to do what you love. It is so important to always keep doing what you love, no matter what level you are at, because life is too short to throw away your dreams, Read more>>

Yuexing Sun

Hmm, let me think… Read more>>

Kishara Buford

I definitely wished I started my career sooner. As an artist and a designer, getting my work in front of people is the best way to get name recognition, sales, and more opportunities. That’s something that takes time. Even now, I would still describe myself as an emerging artist. Read more>>

Santana Ware

Art is not only my career, but also my life. It is what makes me happy, fulfilled, and connected to others. Yes, I wish I had started this entrepreneur journey sooner because my creative career gives me the opportunity to do what I love and help people express themselves or heal through art. Read more>>

Jules Silver

Participating in the arts in its various forms has played a major roll in helping me develop as an artist . learning to play an instrument, dancing and painting has taken me to a place where I feel I can now explore and express with paint a variety of feelings that I can not always do with words. It truly is a form of freeing the soul. And as my tag line says “I paint to be free”. Read more>>

Yashna Malhotra

I wrote my first feature-length screenplay when I was 23 years old. 10 years later, there’s a noticeable change in the depth of my work – not only as a result of having worked on my craft a lot more, but also thanks to life experience. Read more>>

Steven Bradshaw

There are only a finite amount of pieces that you will be able to complete within a lifetime. I’m driven by that because I hope that it will remain when I’m gone. But I needed to develop that drive organically. So in a way- I wish I had hit it harder sooner. But it could be no other way than it is. Read more>>

Katie Chavez

I do wish I had started my Travel Blog earlier. Writing has always been my creative outlet since I was a kid and I travel has been my biggest passion since I was young as well so I had played around with the idea of starting a travel blog for a number of years before I did it. I think it felt too overwhelming at first, and I didn’t know how to get started. Read more>>

Rico Loma

I wouldn’t say exactly that I wish I started sooner than later, but I do wish I found the passion earlier in my life. I found fulfillment in my past with various things, but never to this extent. We can get down to the details about how having a strong background in music theory would help me craft my songs, or the technical ability to play instruments would strengthen my live performances. Read more>>

Sheana Green

Of course, I could have majored in fine arts instead of getting my BA in sociology. If I knew that I was naturally talented in sculpture my life would have been totally different. But, I know everything happens for a reason and the challenges and lessons I have overcome and learned wouldn’t have been the same as a fine art major. Read more>>

Julie Acklin

If I would of known the amount of talent I have now, I would of started much earlier than now in my later years. It brought back a lot of self worth and validation and self confidence. I believe anyone’s dreams can true and that every child whos told they are not as artist until they are told they are not- as I was as a young child among other hardships. Read more>>

Anne Hamer

I took 10 years off to be a stay at home mom. That slowed my career down exponentially. If I had started back sooner, and with more intensity, I wouldn’t have had to play catch up as much as I have since I started back. Read more>>