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.

Quincy Moore

I’ve been around music my whole life. It all started when I was 2 years old. I use to run around the house every time I heard music playing. I use to go down the stairs to the basement and watch my biological father play the piano every time he was playing. I use to sing to the keys of the piano. That’s when I knew that I had a true love and passion for music. At the age 6 years old I started out singing in a church choir at Second Baptist in Kinloch, Missouri. Me and my two brothers. Read more>>

Jammie Huynh

I have been writing stories since I was 10. I was always so fascinated with creating my own worlds. I grew up in a tumultuous household and writing became an escape. I stopped writing in middle school because the world convinced me I had to pick a more lucrative career path. I wouldn’t pick it back up until I was a sophomore in high school in English II Honors. My teacher had a dry sense of humor and not many people liked him because he never gave compliments freely. Read more>>

Antoine de Villiers

After surviving a devastating motorcycle accident at the age of 17 that claimed the life of my friend, my diary was stolen and I lost my medium of expression. At the same time, my mother struggled with mental illness and it was then that she found her artistic voice as art became a means of survival. My work spread from an intention to cope with challenging emotions while seeking to find my place in the world. Read more>>

cortney Warner

For as long as I can remember, performing and being creative has been the only option for me. I have explored various mediums within performance art, from acting as a young child to playing music as a teenager and young adult. I am now pursuing stand up comedy and comedy writing. I have always loved making people laugh and feel joy. The first laugh I remember ever getting was on Thanksgiving when I was about 3 or 4, and fully obsessed with the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire. Read more>>

Nataline Pomar

I was always a very creative person both at home and at school. I excelled in drawing and creativity since I was a child. However, I studied in a nuns’ school where it was very difficult to continue studying creative subjects, so I had no choice but to study pure sciences: mathematics, physics and chemistry. My favorite subject was technical drawing, I was very good at it, so when I had to decide which university to go to, I opted for architecture. Read more>>

Ryan Price

I’ve been singing and writing since I was 3. Like seriously, my mom has a poem I wrote about a leaf I found at my grandparents house when I was 3 years old. When I was 13, I picked up my Dad’s guitar and caught the music bug. I played every day and told my parents I wanted to perform when I grew up. It was also around that time that I told my Mom I wanted to own a recording studio one day. Both of those dreams seemed kind of crazy to my parents, but they still supported it. Read more>>

Tokyo Trendz

The first time I realized that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was after my high school talent show where I had the opportunity to play in front of 700 people. Keep in mind that this was my first time ever performing in front of a live audience and surprisingly it went over very well and ended with me getting a standing ovation from the crowd. Winning the talent show and getting positive feedback from my peers gave me the confidence to be more intentional and want to take it serious. Read more>>

Courtney Krug

I have always been drawn to and more comfortable along the road less traveled. The Summer following my freshman year in college, I mapped a course for the West coast after securing a design internship in Huntington Beach. I owe quite a bit of credit to my Dad for that one. Initially, I had planned to spend that Summer at home in Florida and work in a local surf shop. Sure, I would have earned job experience and a pay check but for him and for me, as I know now, there was more to it than just a Summer job. Read more>>

Abria Davis

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue makeup – It was def longer than I can recall. I was a kid. Being feminine and beautiful was literally instilled in me as a child. I watched my mother get dressed daily for work and it was her style along that inspired me. She’s really the true inspiration and reason behind me being so artistic today. Her style and grace impacted my life. She still is the epitome of a poised powerful but yet feminine woman. I truly wanted to be her. She’s my biggest supporter and I don’t think I would of ever made it this far without her being the woman that she is. It made me who I am. Read more>>

Zach Sadetsky

It first starts out at me playing college parties at 18. I had needed more time to dive in and learn other things when it comes to the craft of turntableism, but I was having fun providing a positive experience for people when I performed!! Read more>>

Shakeeta Coleman

In my laste 20s, I decided that I wanted to do something more with my makeup looks when I went to special events or occasions. So I went to my sister for some makeup tips and it started there with me. My love for makeup grew from enhancing my eyebrows to trying different eyeshadow looks. Then one day, a friend of mines loved my makeup so much that she asked me to do hers. When I saw the look on her face when she looked in the mirror it brought joy to me. Knowing that I could bring joy to women by beautifying them ignited my creative juices. Read more>>

Matthew Weinberg

The first thing I wanted to do as a child was to draw cartoons. I knew early on that I couldn’t get enough of the medium in my own life. I drew all the time on pretty much everything I could get my hands on, starting from the time I was in a highchair. Often distracting me to the detriment of my schoolwork. My teachers called me a daydreamer. When I think about it, there hasn’t been a time in my life when I didn’t want to be an artist. I love to emerse myself in different mediums. Read more>>

Holly Brown

From a very young age I knew I wanted to be a dancer when I grew up. The movie, “Flash Dance,” came on one afternoon after school. From that moment, I knew I wanted to be a dancer. I begged for dance classes for years. Finally, my family moved to an area of Middle Tennessee where there was a dance instructor after school. I spent the remainder of my childhood taking classes at various studios around Middle Tennessee. Read more>>

Call Me Spinster

We are sisters that come from very different emotional relationships with music. Amelia has always been an avid music listener, and led the charge of our collective taste as the oldest sibling, but shied away from performance for most of her childhood/early adulthood. Rosie and Rachel stuck with choir and voice lessons to pursue (mostly classical) music in college but never kept up with instrumental study beyond the bare minimum piano playing to plunk out vocal lines or accompany middle school choir warm-ups. Read more>>

Reckless Bound

Emma and I met about 2 years ago on broadway when someone wasn’t scheduled to work with Emma that day I decided to work the show with her. To this day that is one of the most fun gigs I’ve ever played. About a year into playing constantly on broadway in nashville together, we got more into writing with people. From there we knew we wanted to take a shot at doing something more original and creative. That is when Reckless Bound was truly born. Read more>>

Laura Lee Cobb

Back in 2012 I decided to quit smoking cigarettes. Through the worst of my nicotine withdrawals I developed (what I considered to be) a major problem with lolli-pops. I was eating more than a bag each day. Which, wasn’t the worst thing in the world in comparison to smoking but, I was concerned they might damage my oral health so I cut them out of my routine and replaced them with a camera. Read more>>

June Griffin

The first time I knew I was going to pursue being an artist professionally was when I was a senior in High School. I had disconnected with my peers and my surroundings altogether and it made me neglect going and ultimately I almost didn’t graduate because I literally didn’t have enough seat hours because I had spent so much time at home. I had got accepted into 12 colleges and I knew neither was the school for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like doing school work or learning, I guess I just didn’t like school because it felt like a place where you HAD to be a certain way or else you just wasn’t nobody… and when I started recording my music I had finally felt like I had purpose and like I was bigger than being just a student, or anybody’s student for that matter. Read more>>

Karlie Loland-Ringer

I never didn’t know I wanted to work in the world of entertainment and I never questioned that I wouldn’t. There are many things in life I look back on and can say “Wow, I never saw that coming or happening etc…” but the idea of it always being within my reach was consistent. I think we all know what we’re capable of – Some people run from it for various reasons and some people run to it. As a child, my parents gave me a solid foundation to explore. Year by year things fell into place. By the time I was a young teen I was already doing the things I love and setting myself up for the success I’ve found today (15+ years later). Read more>>

Shirley Brauker

My earliest memory of creativity came at a very early age. I was four or possibly five years old. I know this because I was still too young to go to school. I was actually at the end of our driveway in northern Indiana where I grew up. I was waiting for my older sister, Darleen to get off the school bus. While I waited, I noticed a large mud puddle. It had rained the night before and the mud was at just the right consistency for making things. As I sat there I created an entire village. I made a log cabin out of sticks, complete with clay chinking. I formed horses with stick legs, people and yes, pottery. Read more>>

Abbie Knights

I’ve always been drawn to entertainment! As a kid, I wanted to be a singer and literally spent hours studying performance tapes (back in the VHS days) by some of my favorite singers/groups at the time, I was about 7 or 8 years old. I think I just really aged myself with the VHS reference, today’s millennials will never understand the struggle of having to tap a tv to get a clear screen, clicking a dial with only five channels, or winding film back into place. Growing into my teenage years, I had the opportunity to attend MTV show tapings. Read more>>

JOSH B

I REALIZED I WANTED TO DO MUSIC ONCE I STARTED SEEING THE IMPACT IT HAD ON THE NEXT GENERATION. MUSIC IS LIFE, MUSIC BRINGS JOY, PAIN, LAUGHTER, MUSIC IS HEALING TO THE MIND,BODY AND SOUL. I MAKE MUSIC SHARING MY JOURNEY IN LIFE HOPING IT COULD EMPOWER THE NEXT GROUP OF DREAMERS TO DREAM BIG. MY STRUGGLES MADE ME WHO I AM TODAY, MY PAIN MADE ME THE SOLIDER I AM TODAY, MY MUSIC MOLD ME INTO THE MAN I AM TODAY. Read more>>

Lindsey Lomis

Well I’ve been singing since I could speak and I grew up in Nashville so I got the chance to see live music constantly. I did a lot of music camps and open mic nights growing up. I knew from the start I wanted to be a singer, but it wasn’t until I did my regular Sunday kid’s open mic at this little clothing store called Two Old Hippies in downtown Nashville that I knew I wanted to play guitar and write songs. I remember doing this open mic all the time, but I would sing covers and perform with only tracks. Read more>>

Mike Gowen Jr

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to music and art. I started playing piano when I was 7yrs old and then progressed to the guitar when I was 16. I was constantly listening to music growing up and learned a lot about the relationship between music and film from watching skate/snow/and surf videos; but I didn’t really pursue music as a profession until the end of my time in college. I really wanted to play football professionally so my focus was on that. Read more>>

Vince Howard

So I’ve always been in Talent shows , Dance offs, and Plays growing up, but My first great feeling for being a Creative and knowing it was actually possible for me to pursue came back in 7th grade. My classmate by the Name of Jason Richter was starring in a Major film called “Free Willy” I think seeing him actually be in a major film really influenced me and opened my eyes to my future. Read more>>

Jesse Gracia

Since I was a child I’ve always wanted to be a musician. My family has a love for music ranging from metal, oldies, cumbia, techno to rap. I was always surrounded by instruments & or music playing loudly through portable cd players. I first realized I wanted to be a musician when I was able to listen to music and dissect each part to hear exactly what each band member was playing. I would watch people in videos on stage & pretend I was them behind the instruments. Read more>>

Sauce Brady

I first discovered my calling when I was in college. I graduated from Benedict College (Columbia, SC) with my bachelor’s in Mass Communication. While attending BC, I fell in love with being an on-air personality. My first movement was called Team Flat Radio. FLAT is an acronym that stood for Forever Learning and Achieving Together. I wanted to use my platform as a motivational platform to encourage my supporters to follow their dreams. I also wanted to provide the best playlist of independent artists, so I created a platform that combined motivational messages with good music. Read more>>

Stephanie Goodwin

I was very young when I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path. I was a dancer growing up and I think it was definitely a way for me to have an outlet for my creativity. I always had such huge dreams growing up, I wanted to be a professional singer, I wanted to be an actor on Disney Channel, I wanted to be a writer. But ultimately I wanted the rush of doing something fun and earn a living while doing so. Read more>>

Ryan Bronson

The first time I stepped on stage. I had only recorded a few songs at that point. And they weren’t good. At all. But I landed a show near my college town in Rochester, NY & as soon as I was up there I was like yup. No going back to a normal job after this. And it’s been pedal to the floor ever since. Read more>>

Charles Houska

I always knew that I could draw and had the awareness that I had creative talent as early as elementary school. I loved art projects and found joy and ease expressing myself creatively. It wasn’t until going to college and thinking about what I wanted for my future that I decided on a creative path. At the time, I thought making a living with art would involve working with a corporate focus, so I pursued a degree in advertising. Read more>>

Raphael Bahindwa

I don’t even remember when I started doing art honestly. Even my mom say I was always drawing. I was that kid who used to draw comic book characters that i used to watch everyday on TV. I feel like that passion as a kids, really develop overtime, and when I came to America, and I study painting at SCAD, that’s when my creativity got something that I call a “super boost” Read more>>

Faith Creech

I first knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path when I was around 14 and got my first camera which was a Canon Rebel film camera. In fact I still have that camera and my first camera bag. That camera went everywhere with me! I became a freelance photographer for the semi pro hockey team in Florence, SC. When I was 16 I started getting into landscape and nature photography. My family moved to Argentina, South America and that really sparked my love of photography even more. I really loved being able to capture a moment and tell a story with it. Read more>>

Alexia Castaneda

Every kid says one of three occupations when asked the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The most common choice is usually a Doctor or a nurse, then a Police Officer, and lastly, a Veterinarian. For me personally, I wanted to be a veterinarian. At least until the 8th grade. At the end of my 8th grade year, there was an after school meeting held by the school counselors inviting the students and their parents to come discuss high school classes. Read more>>

Kayla Got The 411

When I was growing up, I was never an academic scholar. I did the work but really shined in art classes, and writing classes. During my junior year of high school, we had a field trip to visit University colleges. I remember everyone so excited to attend a HBCU or University. The tour guides went over the courses, and none of them had anything to do with design. Read more>>

Keenen Baker

This is how my passion evolved into a creative/artistic profession; Ive been an avid movie enthusiast for a very long time. I was the kid watching commentary videos and behind-the-scenes of how certain films were created and how the costumes were made. After pursuing my four-year degree in film/media production, once i was able to fuse the passion and the profession, it produced the person that I am today. There’s a special feeling I get when looking over concept art. I become inspired to create my own concepts and versions of certain characters, Read more>>

Jacob Gurganus

I knew I wanted to be an artist from a very young age. For as long as I can remember I was drawing and creating art, although I wouldn’t be able to make a career out it until I was in my late 20s. Up until then I would only have small commission jobs such as graphic design and mural jobs. I was working at a restaurant when a tattoo shop opened next door and a friend convinced me to try and get an apprenticeship. Read more>>

Caitlin G McCollom

I have always known I am an artist. From a very young age, I have been working in a focused creative way. When I started college, I knew that pursuing a fine art degree was very important to me and that the possibility of a career as a full time artist was my highest goal. I also knew that it was going to take effort and audacity, and ultimately real commitment to my craft above many other conventional pursuits. Read more>>

PIVE

I fell in love with hip-hop at a very young age at 10 years old. My first hip hop cd was Nelly Country Grammar, I remember soon after my mom had bought me a key broad, I started playing piano, making hip hop beats & falling in love with every aspect of the hip hop genre. While most of my friends were listening to pop, country or rock. I was studying every hip hop album I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter if they where super stars or underground legends. Read more>>

Nah’Ryan Reed-Crawford

To begin my story, I would like to start with a quote “Age doesn’t make you older, experience does”. It all started at 4 years of age, when I began to understand that I could sing. I took after a handful of amazing elders, who were also talented. Singers, dancers, artists, athletes, and more is a huge part of my family tree. My mom took notice of my repetitive singing of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ at ages 4 to 5 and knew that I too was given a gift. From that point, I went through my early years of life singing at family gatherings and even attempted to sing in church when I could. Read more>>

Jaime Foster

I knew I wanted to be an artist ever since I can remember. I would sit at the kitchen table for hours and draw and construct things out of all sorts of material. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I was gifted my first art easel. I wrote my brother a letter and told him that I could no longer care for our family dog because I need to focus on my art, so he needs to step up, Lol. Read more>>

Kiandre Jackson

I remember it being 2012 and Trayvon Martin had just been killed in Florida. I father had Nancy Grace on all the time because everyone was watching the trials. I remember being a young black kid and watching this and just feeling so angry, so hurt, and just grieving for someone I didn’t even know. I took those feelings and I just started writing a song. I put it all on paper at 11 years old and created a tribute to Trayvon. I hate that it had to be under these circumstances that I found out I was truly gifted in music, but this is one of the first songs I’ve ever wrote and I never stopped from here. Read more>>

Skottie O’Mahony

All my life I’d been involved in some type of art or creative endeavors. I think that I knew when I was very young that this was to be my path in life, but I must admit, it has been a rollercoaster to get where I am today. In 4th grade I had an Art Teacher who recognized that I had potential and she was looking for a helper in the art room. Someone who would prepare materials for classes, help with inventory, come up with ideas for class exercises. Read more>>

Atlas Cage

I’ve been in music all of my life. I was in a metal band in high school, got into producing and mixing in college and after I graduated, began interning at a recording studio called “The Sonic Ranch” in Tornillo, Tx. I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of different artists in a lot of different genres, which really influenced my passion for music. Getting experience in the trenches within the industry inspired me to want to start a label years ago. I wanted to be independent and create a hub for musicians that I liked and admired. Read more>>

Marcus Murphy

The first time I knew that I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally was during my freshman year of college when I booked my first national print ad. It was the year 2012 when I was living in Hiram, Ohio attending Hiram College. I was sitting in my dorm room and researching modeling jobs that I felt I could contribute to with my look as an African American man. I stumbled upon an casting call from The Department of Health initially highlighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but after I was cast for the job the focus was for K2 known as synthetic marijuana. Read more>>

Alfred malone Jr

Ever since I was a kid I always wanted the host my own show. Always love to watch skits from Benny hill, Johnny Carson and Arsenio Hall. So just a little background, I was always a shy individual coming up and was afraid of public speaking or speaking in front of a crowd that was not familiar to me. As kids me and my cousins used to plan out our own TV shows. In August of 2020 I was suddenly awakened around 3:00 4:00 in the morning and I just started writing podcast episodes and interviews that I wanted to do. Read more>>