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.

Katie Cole

This is a really interesting question. I started performing so young. My older sister went to a music school and I do remember playing in a couple of her school live band concerts when I was 14 and 15 years old. I had always been around music as both my parents were musically and creatively inclined. So it was never a question of ‘when’ music became my focus. Read more>>

Mary Scarlett LaBerge

There are moments every day when I open Instagram and I see a younger artist or designer absolutely excelling at all the things I want to do, and it’s easy for me to feel behind. I start second-guessing all the choices I made to get where I am, and wonder if I would have been further ahead in my career now if it had started sooner. Read more>>

Arden Starling

I’ve been a lifelong artist, so it’s difficult to imagine starting any earlier! As a kid I had a knack for storytelling and spent a lot of my time writing and illustrating my own books, designing costumes, and recording puppet plays and skits on a tripod with one of those tragically ’80s camcorders. I was even president of the Art Club in High School, so it was no surprise to anyone when I headed off to art school. Read more>>

Rodney Roldan

Since I was a child, I always had an interest in the creative field not even knowing what the field consisted of. I think all children have a level of creativity in them that coincides with their environment. At times, depending on our upbringing we tend to either strive to be one with that natural creativity or steer away from it. For most of my late teens and early twenties I wasn’t too heavily involved in the arts. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I decided pursue acting and filmmaking, something I knew inside of me was there and ready to come out. Read more>>

Dee Will .

Abso-freakin-lutely wish I started this 11+ years ago. Most people don’t know that I use to make skits on Facebook before it became a thing..before the surge of social media..before the IG, vine and TikTok. I wish I had the confidence that I have now in my early 20s. Back then there was only about 3 folk that looked like me (well at least back then ) which were kid fury, tre Melvin and Kingsley. I use to always think, where would my life be now if i really focused on my craft at a earlier age. Read more>>

Taroy Jackson

I started podcasting around February 2019 and it has really been life changing and saving for me. In 2019 my life was kind of in a tale spin I was about five years removed from my last year of college following the academic suspension and just felt like I had a gift but didn’t know how to really use it. My major was broadcast journalism and although I feel like everything happens for a reason I wish I would have started earlier because I feel like I would have been able to keep some the momentum I had at the time broadcasting games for the men and women basketball team at Florida A&M University it would have been an easier transition. Read more>>

Madeline Meehan.

I definitely wish I had started my creative career sooner. I have long been what I like to describe as an obsessive accruer of hobbies. I didn’t realize until I was in my late 20s that craftsperson could be a job in modern times. That’s the time period when I started teaching craft classes around Austin and shortly thereafter opened an Etsy shop and then a few years later started selling things I had made at craft markets and in a couple of stores around Austin. Read more>>

Shannon Stevens

Yes! I wish I would have started my creative career sooner. I also feel that the breaks I took like attending college really helped me along the way. I went to Itt-Technical Institute where I studied Computer Drafting and Design. During that time I studied new ways to create which helps in my advertising everyday through my social pages. My first creative passion was nail art but that slowly faded and HairByDash was born my passion for hair styling began In middle school . I would practice on all my friends and as time went on I became very good at it. Read more>>

Anji Kaizen

Even at a young age, I remember sneaking off to make art on my own… Stirring together mud and flowers and glittery mica to make magical potions in the backyard. Singing songs while sweeping, pretending I was Cinderella. Gluing together pages of my art and proudly presenting it to my family as a book. Staging plays with friends for our parents. In some ways, a creative career is all I’ve ever wanted, even before I knew it was a real option. Read more>>

M’rcedes Dione

The first time I ever picked up a makeup brush was in March of 2013. I had never attempted to do makeup before then and didn’t even understand the gift that I possessed. I was in a very dark time in my life and it was just the thing I needed to pull me out of the pits of depression. I didn’t know that this gift would one day open up so many doors for me later in life. Read more>>

Stoney Keeley

Taking the leap and putting myself out there for anyone on the internet to see was the most challenging part of getting started with SoBros Network. I started writing in 2013, when I was five years out of college. I felt like I was just spinning my wheels at a day job that wasn’t particularly fulfilling, and constantly thinking about the reality of the “real world” and how claustrophobic it made me feel. I felt like if I wasn’t careful, decades would slip away from me and I’d be wondering why I never really bet on myself. So, it was almost out of a panic when I started putting my brain online. Read more>>

Nik Patel

I would have to say sooner. I started taking my creative pursuits more seriously in my high-school years as an outlet for putting thoughts on a piece of paper (or iPhone notepad for my fellow Gen Z’rs). Though I think this was a great start for me writing wise, I think working on other aspects of my creative endeavours like singing and music theory would’ve massively benefited from starting at an earlier age. As any artist and creative, there are insecurities that come with creating your art, and I think had I started partaking in proper vocal training at an earlier age, Read more>>

Steven Moore

I have always been creative/artistic, but I was put in an industry where creativity does not thrive. Sometimes things in life are meant to happen at a later stage in life, where maturity can handle your creativity, and I believe my progress had to happen later in life. I started working with epoxy and wood in my 30’s and a few years later into photography. I believe if I would have started my creative career earlier in life, say 16 or so, I may have been able to go through the difficult learning curve sooner. It’s possible I would be more successful right now if that was the case, but I can’t say with speculation. I’m just happy I can finally do what I love on a daily basis. Read more>>

Arianna Flores-Moya

If I could go back in time, I would not have started my art business, Evokeaholic, earlier. I believe in divine timing and the unfolding of my life. I always knew I would have a creative career since I was a kid. I had no alternate plan for my life. My intuition told me I was brought here to create, entertain, and connect through art. Read more>>

James Warrick.

If I could go back in time I most definitely would have started my creative career sooner! I don’t think I really started making content with the idea of making it a career or earning money, I am not sure any of todays most notable Influencers or creators really did either, I think it just became a career when. social media and marketing collided then all of a sudden these people on these platforms with large followings became lucrative assets for brands and marketing firms. Read more>>

Faith Q

I personally believe that my journey to becoming a director started very late and that I’m still playing catch-up. I chose film sort of randomly in high school, because I liked making little skits and messing around with whatever cameras I could get my hands on. When I got to film school, however, they were pretty quick to formulate an opinion about me based on what kind of movies I’d watched growing up. But here’s the issue: I didn’t watch movies growing up, at least not what many consider to be classics. Read more>>

Kocaine Kay

I’m glad I started when I started but if I could go back in time I would have started later. The reason I would have started later is because they things I use to do with my music and the money I received was like giving it away compared to now. Now you have streaming platforms for independent artist, but when I started it was out the trunk meaning if your music get around the world you took it yourself and promoted yourself in other city’s or had some type of relationship with people out of your reach. Read more>>

Tamara Wicks Cranford

I really wished I started my creative career sooner! I lost so much time before the pandemic because I didn’t feel I could “compete” with some of the talented jewelry creators. My materials didn’t seem to be as good as theirs, all the while I was making bracelets and anklets for myself! It wasn’t until a Facebook friend asked for someone to repair his necklace that I even spoke up. Looking back, it was all about confidence and courage. I’m just thankful to have it now! Read more>>

Andrew Desenberg

I spent more than 20 years working for other people – which is fine for many folks – but it was never what I should have been doing. I think that I always knew that I wanted to run my own business and that I wanted to do things “my way” – but the countless fears that come along with that always held me back. I should have taken that leap a LONG time ago. Read more>>

Josie Shipley

I first started content creation when I was 18 years old and it was the summer before my freshman year of college. In all honesty, I started my account to have something to do to help with my mental health – not to become popular online. It wasn’t till quite a few months in where I realized I wanted to take it seriously. I go back and forth on whether I’d like to have started earlier or not. More than likely I would have gone to beauty school instead of traditional college (which is what I’m doing now at 22). Read more>>

Trickeon Ruffin

If i could go back in time and start my business sooner I definitely would have started right after high school. When I first graduated high school, I was working at a fast food restaurant. Always in trouble, not making the right decisions for myself, and just lost. The profession I’m in is lash extensions. Starting sooner would have been great for me and clientele because i’ve always been super popular and very renowned around my city. Read more>>

Jennifer Perri

As a survivor of domestic abuse and self-made millionaire, I believe women who have experienced trauma and divorce are underestimated – widely viewed as broken and damaged goods. So, I’ve committed myself to bringing transformational change to how women rebuild their lives after devastation. I started a firm that equips and empowers women to live financially fearless, embrace their inner worth, and become their own hero. I educate and provide resources that elevate financial literacy, mindset development and divorce support to create and cement true independence. Read more>>