There is so much to learn from investments that went really well as well as those that went really poorly and so we asked some of the wisest creatives and entrepreneurs in the community to tell us the stories of their best and worst investments.

Kelley Rae O’Donnell

The best ongoing investment I’ve made as an actor over a few decades now, is finding my people. Building my community.

Fellow artists and institutions in theater, television, film, commercials, voiceovers, video games, audiobooks, podcasts, etc. that become people/places where I can share my work and have their work shared with me. We can be vulnerable and take risks. We can learn from each other and inspire each other. Read more>>

Juan Gonzalez

My best investment was funding my latest music video Sci-Fi Sam under my stage name Dirty Freaken Joe. It was released in Sept 2023 and has won multiple awards in film festivals all around the world. Read more>>

 Daniel Clark

My best investment was buying my first ever set of music equipment . What started off as a hobby and a passion ended up opening doors for me on the business side of entertainment. Read more>>

 Ryan Moore

The best investment I have ever made was setting big goals for my personal life outside of work.Read more>>

Gehan A Cooray

I think the best investment I ever made was in my tertiary education at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude in Theater and Psychology, with Renaissance Scholar and Discovery Scholar Honors. Read more>>

Sriramya Prathi

Investing in understanding the products we offer has truly been a game-changer for me as a Business owner. It’s like having a secret sauce – not only does it enhance our expertise, but it also elevates the overall experience for our clients. Read more>>

Brandon Dove

From my vantage point in the music industry, conversations about investment (and, specifically, return on investment) are interesting yet disorienting. There are many other professions and/or life paths where the throughline between an investment (of precious finite resources like time, money, energy, etc.) and a desired outcome is more concrete and reliable, or at least easier to perceive. The fact that “success” in a creative field like music doesn’t necessarily exhibit many traditional barriers to entry is what makes its pursuit so exciting and dynamic, yet also so daunting. Given how quickly things move and the landscape changes, it can feel like most investments of time, money, and/or energy hold an equal potential for being worthwhile and not. Meanwhile, in hindsight, your efforts and investments can often hold all sorts of value that may not immediately reveal itself (for years, even). Endlessly weighing the fear of missing out in this way against the fear of having wasted one or more precious finite resources is a fast-track to burnout and/or (perhaps even worse) getting stuck in that purgatory of indecision, talking yourself into and out of every idea for what move you’d like to make next. Read more>>

Abigail Reeder

My best investment is quite recent actually. I started renting a studio to use for my newborn/maternity/motherhood photography two months ago. I had put this off for a long time thinking, “that’s only for full time photographers, I can’t afford that!” Currently while my children are young I am focusing on being a mom primarily, my job as a photographer needs to coincide with that a seamlessly as possible. So I figured a studio would just be out of the question. BUT then I realized that I spent at least 2-3 mornings out of the month driving to my friends studio in Granville and that just one of those shoots would pay my entire rent for a month at a studio. I was sold, I needed to find a studio. But then came the issue of where and the look. I didn’t want just any office building. I wanted something gorgeous, with character and history. I know, it’s a lot to ask. But that’s part of who I am as a photographer. I remember touring 400 West Rich as design student 14 years ago and realized that was exactly the kind of place I wanted to be. Read more>>

Jasmine McKenzie

Best Investment was to invest in black LGBTQ+ underserved youth in the South. Read more>>

Melissa Dettloff

One of the best recent investments I made was bringing my print studio home. I’m a printmaker, specifically screen printing, which can be a whole thing in terms of space, drying rack, access to water, darkroom, etc. During the pandemic I left the studio space I was renting and worked on rebuilding everything at home. It took a few years, but I can now make an edition of screen prints from beginning to end out of my home in northwest Detroit. I miss having studiomates and the community that provides, but this situation forces me to seek other ways to find community, which as an introvert has been good for me. And I’ve found I’ve been more creatively productive working from home. My artist practice is deeply embedded into my life, so it’s worked really well for me to bring it home. Read more>>

Jason Cannon

The best investment I have made for my business goes beyond a singular purchase. When I took the plunge, I gathered a collection of quality tools, equipment, and supplies. These early investments have been critical in turning my artistic vision into a tangible reality. Read more>>

Victoria Pangione

I think as a business owner we know how to hustle. There are so many aspects of a business owner from early stages of learning software or programs, fine-tuning our skills and services, and marketing and finding your ideal clients. Given my background as a fashion designer in a large corporate company, I learned a lot about working with a team, designing a collection, creating color stories and seeing it through the production phase. A lot of these things I can take with me to my stationery business. Read more>>

Roman Erlikh

Changing manual fabrication tooling to CNC Read more>>

 Christy Olsen

On a hot summer’s day in 2015, a local artist’s guild in Tucson, Arizona, received an unexpected donation that changed everything. A non-profit organization called “Singles & Friends” decided to disband their organization after 43 years and donate their building and assets. Read more>>

Natalia Ortega

I think the best investment I’ve done for my career has been my education. I’ve had the opportunity to learn from amazing teachers both here and in Mexico. Learning the craft has given me so much growth as an actor and as a person. Read more>>