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.

Patty Myasia

I knew I wanted to pursue creativity since a very young girl. I’ve always used clothing/fashion as a way to express myself. I am extremely introverted, so I use art/fashion as a way to speak. It’s my way to introduce without opening my mouth to be vocal. I combined two of the things I love most—art and fashion, to create one world and introduce Piece by PMR. Read more>>

Cristina White-Jones

I think deep down I’ve always known I wanted to pursue a professional artistic career. Art has been something that has literally always surrounded me. My mom owned a gallery in the town I grew up in, so I was constantly surrounded by artists from all different backgrounds. Being around that for so many years really showed me that it was something that could be attainable as a career if I really wanted it to be, she’s also a very successful professional photographer and have watched her build her career from the ground up. In high school I kind of switched gears though and took a bit of a pause from visual art and focused more on music. Read more>>

Amanda Marie Bell

I have always been creative. I was involved in art and music at a very young age; it was something I was naturally drawn to. I attribute this mostly to my mother who encouraged me to pursue my passions. She tells me I wrote the alphabet on the dining room chairs, colored all of the white couch cushions with orange crayon, and cut triangles with safety scissors out of every piece of fabric I could get my hands on all before the age of 5. But she was never mad. Read more>>

Briana Barnett

When I was a little girl, I was always extremely creative and had a big imagination. Because of this, my mom enrolled me in different classes/programs to allow me to tap into my creative side. I took an array of classes from dance to art to singing/piano to acting to sewing. Anything that I wanted to try creatively, my mom found a program for me. Read more>>

Josh Universe

I have always been an inwardly emotional person. Since childhood I use art as an escape fro my surroundings and a medium for my feelings. As I became older I continued drawing in silence, but it took a backseat to other interests I found. Once I started college I quickly realized the career path I chose was not what I truly wanted to do. This sent me into an episode of depression and confusion. Until one day I remember sitting in my dorm room on the verge of tears. Almost instinctively I got up, reached into my closet, and grabbed a pencil and copy paper. I started drawing, one page after another. It felt so good, and I felt relief from my thoughts. This was the turning point in me deciding that was what I was born to do. Read more>>

Dorcas Rainey

I have been storytelling through my Instagram account for years and it always received a lot of attention and praise. It was honestly fun and exciting for me to share with my audience. I made dinner one night and decided to post a video of it. The video went viral, getting over half a million views in just a few weeks. It was that moment that showed me I could take this seriously. I was already burnt out from my catering business and this pivot came at the exact right moment. Read more>>

Samiah Nicole

I first knew that I wanted to become a creative in 2020. I knew that I was creative by nature and I wanted to find a way to express that gift while helping others. I had become discontent with just doing my regular job in education. When the pandemic came, it gave me more time to think of ways to be creative, take a risk, and bet on myself. After doing inner work and gaining confidence in myself, I decided that I wanted to start a coaching business and use my gift of teaching to help others. I eagerly enrolled into a coaching program and soon after getting certified, I began coaching. Read more>>

Dania Sierra

My creative interest instinctively grew as I grew. Being born in Cuba, surrounded by lush tropical foliage, the island’s amazingly vivid colors and modernist architectural elements were seared in me at an early age. In hindsight, this is where my color palette and style evolved from. As a youngster I would spend time with my brother doodling, creating structures out of cardboard boxes, building, and painting model kits or making puppets out of paper mache for our next puppet show. I was happiest when I was working with my hands in a creative way. Both my grandparents were published poets, so creativity ran in the family, and they encouraged it at every moment. Read more>>

Tamryne Jefferson

We’ve all heard stories of people knowing what they want to do from when they were young. Well, I am one of those people but still unique in my story. As a kid, I was shy but I loved acting. I was in stage play after stage play and absolutely loved it to where my parents supported me in going the film industry route as well by putting me in classes, getting my headshots, etc. At the same time, I loved teaching. I began with teaching Sunday School for toddlers. It was so much fun and seeing the kids repeat the stories, I had taught them, to their parents. It was the highlight for me because I knew they understood what I was teaching them. With these two passions clearly evident, my parents encouraged me to take the more financially stable route – teaching. Read more>>

Pinche Villa

I went to San Diego with some of my friends and we stumbled into a gay bar. The bar was hosting a drag show. We stayed got some drinks and got ready for the show. As we stood there watching performers, per usual Drag Queens, A Drag King was presented. I looked at my friend with big eyes, thinking WHAT. DRAG KINGS EXIST. After he performed his number as a werewolf, it was so cool. My mind was blown. I didn’t know it was possible to be a Drag King! I was so excited about it. When I came back to San Antonio I started to do my research and found a local Troupe called Los Mentirosos who is composed of only Drag Kings. I decided to check out one of their shows. Read more>>

Stephen P Brown

When I was seven years old, my parents took me to a symphony orchestra concert. It was the first time I remember experiencing anything like that, and I was mesmerized by the sounds of the music as well as the stage environment. During the concert, I listened intently and my head hung over the mezzanine railing in awe. Being an introverted kid, I didn’t say anything on the way home, still trying to process everything that had just happened. Read more>>

Justin Lane

Back in 2019, i dropped out of college and i wanted try a new career for myself but i had no idea where to start. i stepped out to the local jacksonville music scene because one of my best friends “Tre Hall” is a rapper who wanted me to help promote his music and be in his music videos. If i could support tre and be successful as a promoter and actor i had to reinvent myself as “Justin ImFamous”. After meeting some amazing talented creatives in my city who had big dreams of being superstars like me, i realized i wanted to officially put myself out thee not just as a promoter and actor but instead to venture more into modeling, content creating, hosting because they were passions i didn’t know i had to be in front of camera or being in front of a hyped crowd chanting for a wonderful i’m hosting that night. Read more>>

Joseph Okoyomo

I’ve always known I wanted to be a creative ever since I was young. I used to take any opportunity to tell a good story, and I would use any medium I could. I started out playing make-believe with my close friends back when we were in elementary. We’d play out these epic storylines during recess, and would carry the story over to the next day, and so on. I have a pretty good memory, so everyone would just ask me, “What’s next?” Read more>>

Christine Connell

I realized I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally when I was in law school, and needed some extra money. It seemed like the most natural way to create a stream of income based on my lifestyle. I would consider myself very left-brained, and never enjoyed or was good at art growing up. I still wouldn’t say I’m a great photographer, but I’m as good as I’ll ever be at something artistic! Now it’s a great creative outlet for me. It encourages me to be creative an use my right brain. I think doing it professionally is what motivates me to continue creating. If I didn’t have that incentive, I probably wouldn’t make time for it – and creativity is important! Read more>>

Mianca Woodall

I absolutely love to travel and do crazy excursions while on my trips. I would always take dope vibrant pictures that would get featured on all types of outlets . One day I stopped and realized how many people loves my angles and style of my pictures. I then decided to take it serious and turn it into my full time profession. Considering the city I live in and the effect social media was having on people I knew I would be booked and busy! Read more>>

Quachavious Ellison

I knew that I wanted to pursue my music career professionally 4 years ago. I always had the blessing of having talent in singing, rapping, and being creative however, I was always busy working and did not have the to create music. Maybe, I did not give myself the time. I know that nothing is free and we must work for a living, but I decided 4 years ago to not let my talent go, and to put time and effort in creating music. Read more>>

Ulysses Gutierrez

From a young age I always knew I wanted to be involved in music because I enjoyed it so much. I would carry around Michael Jackson records so people could play them for me and I could dance. As I got older I discovered that I could actually sing and began pursuing singing my own songs and writing my own songs as well as a teenager. Read more>>

Dèj Symonè

I knew that I wanted to be creative professionally after doing radio and podcasting. I just didn’t know how to get my foot in the door. Eventually, a friend of mine suggested that I start with modeling and creating content for myself to network on instagram. My initial thought was “Hmmm, I don’t know. Modeling isn’t really my thing.” even though he said I had “the look”. After taking some time to consider it for about a year, I decided to start pursuing it and take it seriously. As I began to release content, my following started to grow and I started to become more excited. Read more>>

Sean Mills

I always loved to draw. Drawing on the edges of my math homework and trying to twist every project, in every subject into an art project. My painting epiphany came in college while I was studying to be a lawyer. I would try to read as fast as I could, or finish my essays so that I could have time to paint. As I was enjoying copying an illustration from Dante’s INFERNO, one day, after class, I realized that I should be doing what I love the whole day. That following day I went to the Lamar Dodd School of Art to see about transferring into their art program. This program was luckily within the same University and it just so happened to be one of the best in the South. Read more>>

DeJuan Strickland

I was inspired to create Tech Boy after watching Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther. I saw there was a lack of Black protagonists in movies, TV shows and books and I wanted to change that with Tech Boy. I included my love of STEM and Technology in my character because I have a passion for them. Read more>>

Hans Rose

The first time I wanted to pursue and follow the artistic path was in high school. I was always surrounded by other artist and different cultures . I started out doing graffiti in the streets and cartoon drawings. Being from South America I had plenty of culture that I can put out on canvas or walls. After high school I went straight to Art college to study Commercial Art, Photography, Fine Art, and Computer Graphics. Read more>>

Trent Ingram

My earliest memories as a kid are of watching the VHS of Garth Brooks from 1992 called “This Is Garth Brooks”. I still don’t know where my parents got it from but I would watch it multiple times a day, every day. I had an outfit that looked just like Garths, cowboy hat and all, and a dollar store plastic guitar and I would perform right along with the video. I knew every word to every song and fell in love with the way Garth made country music come alive, especially through a live show. That dream of being like Garth Brooks never went away and I knew I wanted to spend my life connecting with people through country music. Read more>>

April Kry

I think I somehow always knew I wanted to do music. As a child I would sing with my dad and sister all the time. In church…in our home and whenever my parents would have friends over I would always want to perform for them. I will say that the first time I really knew that I could probably do music as a job was when I had my first real “gig”. I was around 11 or 12 years old and I was asked to sing “God Bless America” at an auction for the local homeless shelter. The keynote speaker was Jermaine Jackson of the Jackson 5. I can’t tell you how many times I practiced that one song over and over. Read more>>

Invalid

I started making music in my early teens but I started really taking my music seriously around 19-20. I remember one show was a contest to see who will up for Mobb Deep and The Alchemist when they came to Kansas City. Growing up to them I knew it was a big deal so I put that extra energy into my performance and ended up winning. From that point I knew what I had and what I could do. It was the real deal after that. Read more>>

Keosha Nicole

When the pandemic hit and businesses were forced to close leaving several people without access to nail services. The demand for presson nails increased and that’s when I first decided to take my hobby and turn it into a business. Read more>>

Shanita Allen

When I was younger, I read lots of books. Growing up in the 80’s, we mainly had 3 choices for entertaining ourselves: watching television, playing outside, or reading. I chose the latter most of the time, which is I loved. I wrote poetry and short stories all the time. I dreamed of becoming a published author of children’s books since I was in middle school. However, while I was in high school, I fell in love with psychology and decided to pursue a college degree in order to become a Psychiatrist. I changed course after learning about Applied Behavior Analysis and decided to become a Behavior Analyst, and my writing got side tracked by course work. Read more>>

Jane Nodine

I was drawn to art and design as a young child and was fortunate to have parents that supported that interest. The schools I attended had strong art programs and I was also able to attend private classes in the afternoons. We were casting in plaster and enameling on copper, which was rather sophisticated for elementary age students. It was from that point I began to see a possible life-long attention to art and design. In high school I selected the art courses available in order to be prepared for college where I eventually earned a B.F.A and an M.F.A. Read more>>

Michael Stover

Becoming a rapper wasn’t always the plan for Big Stove. While many artists struggle to find their purpose in life, Stove’s kind of fell into his lap. After the untimely death of his cousin in 2006, Big Stove vowed to continue his cousin’s dream and legacy through music. Always musically inclined; it comes as no surprise when he’s able to hold a note on his songs as he sang in both a church choir and in the choir of his Alma Mater; Kent State before embarking on his rap career. Read more>>

Helen Keaney

When I was around eight years old I would watch TV and want to crawl into the Magical fantasy box of fun, otherwise know as a television set. I did my first professional TV acting job when I was 17, it was a McDonald’s commercial. It just all kind of morphed into stand up comedy. I loved writing and performing, more so than saying words other people wrote. Read more>>

Nhan Huynh

I was working as a mechanic at a shop in my hometown. I always enjoyed drawing. It’s always been a passion of mine. One day, a buddy of mine stumbled upon my drawings and told me he wanted one as a tattoo. I didn’t know what to say -I’d never had anyone wanting my work on them at that point. I told him he was more than welcome to have the piece and that was when it clicked for me. If one person wanted my work, who else would want my work? The ball started rolling when I was introduced to the person who would allow me to be their apprentice. Then, when I was given the opportunity to draw as a full time job, I was more than ecstatic to take the leap and fully commit myself to my passion. Read more>>

Justin Snead

As an elementary student I often dabbled in art classes but never took them seriously. Although I was gifted in drawing, the use of pencils and brushes amongst a canvas never stirred my soul. It wasn’t until I picked up a camera in my mid-twenties that I had an inclination a new journey was about to unfold. I didn’t know what I would be shooting, but I knew that my calling was at my fingertips. Read more>>

Gregory La’Mon

I always knew I wanted to sing/act from a very young age. I would always have a microphone in my hand singing. I grew up singing with family and in the church like most, so it’s always been a very strong passion. While in school it just grew more and more from being in drama, I really discovered my love for acting and my love for singing continued to grow while participating in chorus and the Black History Program. Being able to use my gifts and talent during those stages of my life and enjoy it, reassured me that this was the path that I wanted to be on professionally. Read more>>