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.

Trevon Deshun

I think after I started going to the studio frequently and writing song, I started to enjoy expressing myself through music. Now im addicted. Read More>>

Cora McEldowney

I’ve loved performing for as long as I can remember. My mum tells me I used to dance and sing around the house in my little plastic princess heels. It wasn’t till I was applying to university that I realised I actually wanted to persue music as a career though. Read More>>

Ellie Pellettiere

I knew I wanted to pursue my creative path professionally as soon as I started making money from it. I was really just making pieces of jewelry for myself and friends. When I found my own style and people expressed they wanted to buy it from me, is when I realized it’d be nice to do this instead of my corporate job. Although I’ve never had the desire to work for someone unless it was creative, I’d never thought I could work for myself creatively. Read More>>

Ebri Yahloe

When I was in middle school, my friends and I formed a rap group called “Pure Gold.” We ended up performing at the Southern Theatre in Columbus, Ohio as part of the S.A.V.E. Awards — which stood for Strategies Against Violence Everywhere. The place was packed, and I’ll never forget the energy in that room. Read More>>

Tiffany Moore

My journey to becoming an author began while I was RVing across the country with my partner and my two cats, Emmylou and Oliver. I would share stories and about the cats and our adventures on Facebook. One day a friend reached out saying the stories would make a great children’s book, but I had no idea how to make that a reality, or where to begin. Read More>>

Brianna Cooley

From the moment I could walk, I cannot remember nor imagine myself doing anything else other than dancing. From the time I was 2, which was when I took my first dance class, I immediately fell in love with the floor, and haven’t left since. Read More>>

Gaitán

Growing up I was constantly around music. My pops’ family was in and around the LA rock scene in the 80s and he himself was a singer along with my uncle being a drummer in a punk band that used to tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in they early days. Read More>>

Lola Vialet

One day, in a middle school gymnasium, I gathered the courage to participate in a talent show and sing in front of the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Out of the three times I performed, I’ll never forget how nerve-wracking it was to sing in front of my 7th grade class. Hundreds of students and teachers were watching, including my parents, one of my childhood crushes, and all the black girls who had bullied me every single day. Read More>>

Eric Ton-E” Vasquez”

I knew I wanted to be a creative when I realized the music I was playing as a DJ was something I could also create myself. The energy was intense whenever the crowds would react to the music. I then found some articles online and some videos on how to produce music. I saved money to buy some equipment that helped me get started making music. As time passed, I studied more, continued to create and experiment, and honed my craft. Read More>>

Jonathan Adelson

I can pinpoint the exact moment I wanted to work in documentaries. I was in college, sitting in a small Michigan theater watching Searching for Sugar Man. It was the first time I had ever seen a doc on the big screen, and it felt like a revelation. The film didn’t just tell a story—it transported me into a world I never knew existed. I walked out knowing one thing: I wanted to do that. Read More>>

Brigitte Huson

Ever since I could hold a pen, I loved to draw and I would fill notebooks in the backseat of our station wagon as my mom chauffeured my siblings here, there, and everywhere. We had a big craft table in our basement where I was allowed to create small collages or sculptures out of paper and boxes and make a beautiful mess (to be cleaned up later of course). Read More>>

Belinda Gaines

I’ve loved photography since I was a teenager, but for the longest time, I had no idea how to turn it into something real. As a young adult, I photographed my mom’s wedding, my cousin’s wedding, and all kinds of big moments for my family. But the moment that truly changed everything for me was when I became a boudoir model. Read More>>

Emerald Butler

I started taking fiddle lessons when I was 7 years old after my grandfather, Dalton Butler, suggested my parents find me lessons. My Papaw Butler loved playing rhythm guitar and backing up fiddle tunes. I took “fiddle” lessons for a couple of years then my parents switched me to “classical violin” lessons. People always ask me what the difference between a violin & a fiddle is, and I always tell them “A violin has strings, and a fiddle has ‘strangs’ . Read More>>

Cassandra Youngs

From childhood I had always been drawn to the arts of all forms but when paint, clay or other mediums had no longer inspired me, I suddenly became captivated by my grandmother’s sewing room. At the age of 14, I hassled my grams to teach me how to use her old Sears Kenmore machine. I think she may have secretly grumbled at the idea and later vocally complained on my lack of pattern usage. Read More>>

Gehrig Kniffen

My journey into hip-hop was a gradual one. Back in high school, I would freestyle with friends—definitely not with any real skill, but it was a fun way to pass the time. After that, while I was attending junior college and focused on my basketball career, I released music under the name “Gehrighashellabars” as a bit of a joke. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that things started to shift. Read More>>

Brittyn Dion Bonham

I grew up in South Florida. Instead of snow days I got to miss school for hurricanes and auditions. On a hurricane day the men in my neighborhood stocked up on natural disaster essentials- weed, beer, and toilet paper. They shuttered window with hefty nails and discussing whose names were first on the hardware store’s generator list. When the storm made landfall we sheltered in place and watched different colors migrate through our TV until power went out. Read More>>

Sarah Cigan

It was 2015 after recently graduating college and quitting my job in the public health field. I’ve always had a passion for acting ever since I was a child. It was the first job I remember wanting to do when I understood what a “job” was. “Sarah, what do you want to be when you grow up?” My response was always an excited, “an actress!” Read More>>

Chun Kit Fong

I think my passion for art stemmed from very supportive teachers and classmates during my time in secondary school and junior college (middle and high school equivalent). Growing up in Singapore, art had always been seen as an ‘extra-curricular’ subject – especially so in my school which predominantly focuses on STEM subjects. Read More>>

Emily Tosta

I grew up in the Dominican Republic, and from a young age, I found myself drawn to storytelling—not just as a form of entertainment, but as a way to step into different worlds and escape some of the challenges I faced in my childhood. Acting became my outlet, a place where I could express emotions that felt too heavy to carry on my own. Read More>>

Jennifer Medina

I’ve loved crafting for as long as I can remember. I would always just do it for fun and make things for myself and my kids. When my daughter was 3 years old, she wanted a Totoro themed birthday party, and finding a piñata with that theme was impossible. I decided to make one myself. I copied one off Pinterest and it turned out better than the one I copied. Read More>>

David Vega

I guess I can say it all started back when I was a kid. As a child I was always one to dance around the room when music was playing, or I was imitating something funny I was seeing on TV and acting out a funny scene. Read More>>

Rose Werden

I think there were multiple moments where I felt a creative path was where I belonged. As a kid I grew up playing the piano and my mom put me in art lessons that I went to twice a week after school. I always felt passionate about art but as I got older, as most creatives feel, I thought there was no way in hell it was possible or sustainable Read More>>

Reese Hackney

Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to pursue a creative and artistic path, particularly in modeling. I remember being fascinated by the elegance and poise of models I saw in magazines and on TV. There was something magical about the way they carried themselves and the stories they told through their poses and expressions. Read More>>

Jade Chante

I had always been a lover of the arts, from participating in musicals, drama class, and chorus in highschool. After I graduated highschool, I found myself thrust into a world of possibilities. I felt called to pursue my childhood dream of being a singer. In 2017, while attending Youngstown State University, I took it upon myself to look into local recording studios and explore this dream of mine. Read More>>

Rebekah Faith

Well my parents have always loved music – my Mom listens to many genres, and she specifically loves 70s-90s country like Don Williams, Allison Krauss, and Reba McCentire, and then my dad loves a lot of older rock and roll like Bob Seger and The Eagles, and also 2000’s alt rock, like Bowling For Soup. Both of them also love indie/folk music, SO we’re always listening to music, and we always have been. Read More>>

James Abyss

In grade school I used to draw dinosaurs and comic book characters for lunch money, and sometimes I’d get a little extra if I didn’t sign the art. I’d let someone else claim the artwork, and I’d have money for extra stuff at lunch time. I feel like that was when it really clicked for me, and I still usually grab a little snack after I sell a painting! Read More>>

Emmanuel Knight

My creative spirit was ignited early. Growing up in the ’90s, I was always drawing, creating stories with my toys, and building worlds out of cardboard. But it was when I discovered anime at age eight that something clicked. Seeing those stories unfold on screen, I knew—this is what I wanted to do. I even made a promise to myself in my bathroom mirror that I would tell my own stories like that someday. Read More>>

Exclusive Collective

We first recognized our desire to unite as a vocal group when we discovered our natural talent for singing. It was during a casual gathering, where we shared our individual vocal abilities, that we realized how harmoniously our voices blended together. This moment of realization ignited a passion in us to collaborate and create music as a team, inspiring us to explore our potential and share our love for singing with others. Read More>>

CRIM

I’ve had multiple moments where I saw the signs that I should take on music professionally throughout my life. My pops would have the kids on my block join in on cyphers with him outside of our house when I was 8, I won a talent show in my class when I was about 11 or 12, I would skip class in high school (kids don’t do this lol) just to hop in the cyphers with my other classmates, but there’s one defining moment that made me think “Damn, I could REALLY do this foreal!” Read More>>

Thomas Walter Booker

When I was five years old, one morning en route to school, I turned to my mother and said “Mommy, I think I want to be a doctor”, to which she replied “Okay”. I went on to attend school like any other day studying reading, writing, and arithmetic. Although, on this day, we had our rotating art elective, which happened to be drama. It was here where I was exposed to a myriad of quirky theatre games, and a freedom for the expression of self, which was not explored in our daily routine Read More>>