Are artists born or made? To help answer this question, we asked some of the most artistic folks we know to tell us about how they knew they were going to pursue an artistic or creative path. We’ve shared highlights below.

Jehlad Hickson

Man, I think I always knew deep down. Like, I didn’t have the exact words for it when I was a kid, but I felt it. I remember being little, maybe 6 or 7, just vibin’ in the backseat of my mom’s car, and certain songs would come on the radio and I’d feel something shift in me. Like, music wasn’t just background noise — it was healing, it was power. I’d be harmonizing with whatever was playing, turning the car into my first stage. Read more>>

Ching Brown

I realized there was a growing demand for face painting while we were running our inflatable business. Every time we attended a festival or event, my daughter would ask to get her face painted. On top of that, many of our inflatable rental customers would ask if we offered face painting services as well. Eventually, we decided to give simple balloon twisting another try after an eight-year break—we had attempted it before, but it turned out to be more difficult than we expected. I’m so glad we gave it another shot. Read more>>

Natasha Grimes

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue being a creative was after my mom passed away. I started off as a writer where I would just write out my feelings because I was grieving at that time. Then, I had ended up being a blogger for this media platform called BranNewMedia, I brought up the idea of in person interviews and that was back in October 2022. My first in person interview EVER was with Roscoe Dash, and if you know who Roscoe Dash is, then you know he had your childhood lit! Read more>>

Caleb Williams

So I’ve been writing music for as long as I have been playing guitar. These two things kind of went hand in hand for me. For the longest time my dream was to be in a touring metal band, but that dream abruptly ended during college. During that time I began writing mostly acoustic music and was very influenced by artists like Damien Rice, Nick Drake, The Lumineers, Gregory Alan Isakov, etc. When I rededicated my life to Christ my song writing journey became very complicated. I began to have false humility pertaining to songwriting, saying things to myself like, “I can’t write anything that doesn’t deliberately glorify God and can be sung in the church.” Read more>>

Adela Sun

There wasn’t a single dramatic moment—it was more of a gradual realization that took shape through experience. While studying and working in the arts, I started to notice how energized I felt when my work supported others, especially when it helped emerging artists gain visibility and recognition. That feeling stayed with me. Read more>>

Omotayo Ambali

I grew up as a lonely kid, loneliness lead me to embrace the act of drawing as a habit, myself and my guardian/family members immediately recognized the talent, I was about seven years old when I childishly declared at home that Art is all I want to do with my life and fortunately for me as at that time my family/guardian accepted to support me in every ways they could. This endorsement from my family has been the foundation of my determination and strong will towards Art. Read more>>

Sean Lo

I had my bachelor’s degree in Taiwan, majoring in animal science. I always loved studying animals and thought I would pursue this path and become a scientist or researcher. Music was just a very important hobby to me. However, things took a turn in my senior year, when I was an exchange student in Australia. Back then, I lived in a countryside campus, where I had no access to any kind of music scene for a whole semester. I missed playing music so deeply to the point that I was depressed. I then finally realized the weight of music in my heart. Maybe I could live without studying animals, but I most likely cannot live without music. That’s when I started to think about becoming a professional musician. Read more>>

Tiffany Banks

I’ve always known that I wanted to be part of the beauty industry. From a very young age, I was captivated by all things beauty. One of my earliest inspirations was my grandmother’s makeup vanity. It was always fully stocked with what I considered the finest beauty essentials. From an array of skincare products to beautifully packaged foundations, compacts, lipsticks, and eyeshadows, her collection felt like magic. Sitting at her vanity was one of the highlights of every visit and truly sparked my passion for beauty. Read more>>

Sterling Finkbine

As a child, I was always outgoing and creative. I often played “house” with my younger siblings, and I was always the teacher! My parents were intentional about keeping me engaged outside of school, and, noticing my expressive personality, they enrolled me in community theater. That’s where I first discovered my love for music, theater, and the power of community. As I grew older, I stayed deeply involved in the arts, acting in theater productions, playing in the band, singing in the choir, and performing in show choir. Music surrounded nearly every part of my life. Read more>>

Vaiva Rimeika

Growing up, whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always undoubtedly “an Artist”. I am grateful to have parents, friends and colleagues who were, and still are, my biggest cheerleaders when it comes to my creativity. From school years ranging from lower elementary through college, I made decisions that would set me on the course to allow my career aspirations to take root. The short answer is that I can’t think of a time that I didn’t want to pursue a professional creative path. 38 years later, here we are. Read more>>

Phoenix Zito

The thing is; nothing else ever was an option to me. I remember being 6-7 years old and being asked what I wanted to do all the time. I always said that I wanted to help make movies. When everyone around me said I NEEDED a plan B, I would only give in through sarcasm & say my backup plan was to be a super hero. I had my eyes locked in & nobody around me telling me there was no chance for a kid from the Midwest to make movies ever got me. I wanted to show them how wrong they were someday. Read more>>

Nick Wroblewski

So many things seemed to align in my younger years that the actual decision to make a profession from art felt like it might have been made on its own. I grew up around a lively community of artists and performers which made me take for granted that people made a living with art. I was “one of them” and the question then became which type of artistic expression would I focus on? Would it be theater, puppetry, music, painting, sculpture? This ultimately led me to settle on printmaking as my preferred medium. I enjoy how the process incorporates both drawing, painting, and sculpture. Read more>>

Karriena

I grew up in Hong Kong, a place where creativity wasn’t exactly encouraged. Academic excellence was the norm, and pursuing anything artistic often felt like stepping off the expected path. But even as a child, I was drawn to the creative subjects. There was this spark — an inner excitement that would light up every time I found myself lost in a creative project or idea. Read more>>

Phillip S. Moore

There have been many different emotional re-imaginings of this creative process, and they all strategically help me find where I need to be, in my life. Dabbling in high school art only to have found myself joining the US Army at age 21, six months after 9/11. After three deployments to Iraq, I exited the military, in 2010. Read more>>

Scott Mcdaniel

I have always had an interest in photography. As far back as using 35mm film and a Pentax K-1000 camera. Mind you, this was back when 110 and disposable cameras were the rage along with the Polaroid instamatics. I have always enjoyed taking photos of various subjects and things that just caught my eye. Read more>>

Simi Sadiya

Creativity has always run through every part of my core. I am not sure where I get it from; but it is always there, like the beat of our heart, the pulse in our veins. I remember mimicking Bollywood movie dance moves since I was a toddler and sketching the nature around me. Dancing and sketching just came naturally. Read more>>

Antonio Cocuzza

I wish I could say that the moment I discovered I wanted to pursue an acting career happened on stage or on a film set. I could describe the lights, the energy, the other actors, or the crew—but I can’t. Because it wouldn’t be true. Read more>>

Scott Woods

When I first moved to New York City in the Spring of 2021, a month after I graduated college, I had one close friend/roommate and a desire not to move back to my mom’s house. I met a few local writer/actors, one of them being Isabel Monk Cade who’d later star in a feature I’d make, and their lives expanded my idea of what was possible. We’d pay our rent waiting tables, go out after our shifts late into the night, and entertain each other telling stories. And we were adults! Professionals, by my standard. Read more>>

Lana Eloshvili

I always felt I had a special talent, and painting was the field that always drew me in. However, for some reason, I tried to find myself in other professions and even studied several different directions along the way. Since my mother is also an artist, art had a huge influence on me and my lifestyle. In fact, my love for painting unconsciously entered my life and continues to develop to this day. Read more>>

Tatyanna Elliott

Oh I always knew my path would be the artistic and creative avenue. As a child I was a performer, always singing and dancing and putting on plays and performances. When I began dancing at 5 I realized that was a passion. It was a form of therapy because of the expression and physicality, while also allowing me to create. My parents were always supportive of my endeavors and taught me I could do anything I wanted to do in this world. I am so grateful that I had that because I would not be happy in a non-creative space for my job. So, short answer is I always knew. However I was also reminded of it every step in my journey that I should pursue a creative path. Read more>>

Edie

I have wanted to be an artist since early childhood. The concept of a “career” was obviously foreign to me at that time but making art was then and continues to be the most exciting, engaging activity of my entire life-independent from making my living that way. That said, it has been my lifelong dream to be able to do devote all of my time to this and not need to work at anything else to support myself and I am beyond grateful to have arrived at that point after many years of doing other, sometimes but not always gratifying, work to that end. Read more>>

Masean Williams

Back in high school, I was driving home late one night after rehearsal. The air was thick with summer humidity, and everything felt still. My best friend Alex sat in the passenger seat, and we were blasting music, as usual. Then, a song came on that struck a chord—”Love Me or Love Me Not” by Ravyn Lenae. The smooth beat and her raw voice felt like a personal message just for me. We fell silent, allowing the song to take over. Read more>>

Tig3r (Jess)

I loved watching the Disney channel and Saturday Morning cartoons. I would quote voice lines from start to finish and dreamed of being the characters on screen. Unfortunately, our family was not the most financially comfortable, living paycheck to paycheck, in subsidized housing, with little disposable income for my mom to put me in after school classes or clubs. I would soon forget my creative dreams and feed my imagination with books, television, sometimes puzzles and whatever toys my mother could get for me. Read more>>

Odile Corso

My mother was a wardrobe costumer in the motion picture industry, and my aunt was a fashion design teacher at Los Angeles Trade Tech., which had a great influence on me when I was young. My sister and I loved dressing up and creating costumes and putting together little shows with our friends for my mother. I was around 10 years old when I decided I wanted a career in fashion and the arts. Read more>>

Joelle Phillips

Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an artist. I grew up in a fashion household. My mother taught fashion design and patterned, making at the masters level. So growing up, there was always magazines and beautiful photos and designs all over my home. My mother really noticed that I liked colors and art when I was a baby pretty much playing in Makeup and painting and playing in clay and photography all of those things I took an interest in probably as young as five years old. So I don’t really have any memories of me, not wanting to be an artist. It was something that I truly believe I was born to do. Read more>>

Amy Pyles

The pivotal moment is quite vivid. I’d been invited to exhibit my jewelry at World Cafe Live, an independent music venue in Philadelphia for a friend’s performance. To my surprise, I ended up selling the most expensive and elaborate piece in my collection! It was a large breast-plate style necklace, crafted from repurposed gold belt links and reassembled with wire-wrapped stones. It was incredibly validating that someone would not only spend that kind of money on my work, but that she would actually rock the piece loudly and proudly. My art inspired her self-expression. I felt a sense of purpose and inspiration at once, and suddenly realized I may be able to express my creativity for a living. Read more>>

Logan Hill

Believe it or not, I never wanted to be a producer. I’ve been songwriting since I was 16 and that was always my first-love. I desperately wanted to be an artist and release professional-level songs for the world to hear, but I lacked the money to pay for a capable producer. Originally from Austin, Texas, I recorded my first rough demos while in college in Huntsville, Texas. A friend of mine recorded it for me as a free project for his portfolio, and it was such an incredible experience! Read more>>