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.

Bianca Rodriguez

The first time I realized I wanted to do music professionally was back in college around 2012. My friends encouraged me to put out my first mixtape and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve always known that music was in me but I never knew if it could be something I could make a living off of until I joined my team: FE Music. I was teaching kindergarten and in school to be a therapist. I enjoyed those careers but there was always this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I wasn’t honoring myself or my gift. Read more>>

Will Day

I’ve always been a creative spirit. I have a specific memory of being 13 years old in Ms. Kay’s art class, working on a watercolor project that made the whole world stop. That was probably my first creative epiphany. Since then it’s been a journey that’s taken me from the Peace Corps in Tunisia to working on Wall Street. I started pursuing an artistic path full-time when I lost my job in the Financial Crisis of 2008. It was a big leap of faith for me, and it ultimately led me to where I am today, painting all the time, on larger and larger canvases, working with collectors, exhibiting in galleries, and sharing my journey of living a creative life. Read more>>

Freddie Harb

I first got into music when I was in third grade. We had a music class with Roland MIDI synthesizers that taught us how to make simple beats twice a week. I loved it and bought a little Casio keyboard at home. When I got into high school, I was really involved in the skateboarding scene which definitely shaped my perspective on music. I was constantly listening to local Z90 DJs on the radio like DJ Rags and Smally Bigs and other underground hip-hop DJs and groups that I fell in love with. Read more>>

Derrick Jack

I believe I was born to be a DJ. My mom was always connected to soul, funk, r and b, jazz, gospel, and classical music when I was growing up. She had many albums and two record players at all times. Every Saturday morning my older brother Brett and I woke up to some records playing and breakfast being made for us. When we got old enough to change the record, we started playing with the RPM ratio on the record player trying to make different sounds not knowing we were learning to scratch records. After a few needles being broken, my mom decided to get us our own record player. Read more>>

Raquel Aurilia

I’ve always had a passion for music and knew in my heart that I wanted to pursue this as a career someday, but never knew how to get started. There isn’t a company you go to and apply with or audition with. It is a process, and I wasn’t sure who to go to to help me get started. I had a friend whose brother-in-law was a successful producer named Tony Papa in Los Angeles, CA and she said she would introduce me to him. We actually spoke on the phone, first. He sent me a demo called “Tears” and then we set up something in his studio when I went to L.A. Long story short, I sang it for him, it went well and we decided to record an entire album from there! Read more>>

Gabriella Stella

I grew up listening to my dad bang his drums in the garage. He is in a British invasion band as the drummer; just to give a little context. During that year a tv show came out and it truly changed me for the better. That show that changed everything was Hannah Montana. I had always loved music and singing, but that show made me want to be a musician. I signed up for my first talent show at my school and the rest is history. The music bug had taken a bite out of me and there was nothing that could stop it. Read more>>

Marci Lundy

Growing up, I always thought outside of the box, which at that time I didn’t immediately identify as artist or creative type, but I certainly knew writing, photography, and happiness were the things that set my heart to racing. Read more>>

Cordney McClain

I grew up in Oklahoma City as a youth that always desired to become the role model that I never had; to see a certain Black man – authentic, dapper, educated, and virtuous with a strong community mindset. Following college, that was full of outreach and high hopes to break out into the world and become this immense community leader, I became enamored with school debt and the pressure of corporate success. Until one day while working a job that I hated (at the age of 25), my team lead said to me, “Cordney, be careful with your life choices. Read more>>

Ramon Bruin

The first time I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally was right after I was discovered by a reporter of the New York Daily News. I have been drawing and painting my whole life, but I was never encouraged to do it professionally. And when the reporter saw my 3d drawings online, she wrote a huge article about it. She wrote about art for years but she never saw such creative 3d drawings. Without realizing it I invented a complete new style which really fit this online/social media generation. After this interview in 2012 it really got wild. I’ve done hundreds, perhaps thousands of interviews. Read more>>

MeMe

I believe I’ve always known that this was going to be my path. From the first time I was handed a microphone. I was 4 years old. For some reason, microphones always found a way to be handed to me ever since. I was never shy once I got on stage or in front of crowds. It felt like and still feels like home. Read more>>

Oladipo Oyediran

I knew i wanted to pursue a creative path professionally before i even left to be a teacher in Kathmandu Nepal in 2017. I knew i HAD to pursue my create dreams when the job and my status fell apart and the music brought me through hardships in a foreign land. I was in Jail in Nepal when i wrote “Magic” by igimeji. And since then i’ve never looked back. Igimeji – Famous Exchange [Now The FEx] – 808 Saints – Group Nameless: All these projects and artistic lines came from this choice, and it has been all worth it till this day. Read more>>

Stormy Nesbit

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path was when I was a sophomore in college. When I began college I thought I wanted to go into the medical field because I was an athlete. However, that changed when I realized I wasn’t as passionate about that and i decided to take an art class as an elective and realized I felt happy and full of purpose. I decided to take it a step further and enroll into a class that gave me a little more insight on what a career in the art could look like. The class really changed my thoughts about art and what I could do with a creative career. Read more>>

Zaida

I was born into art. My mother is an amazing artist, composer, and musician. I remember sitting on the couch watching my mom’s fingers move graciously throughout the piano keys. It was mesmerizing for me. I learned how to play the piano from my mother when I was 12 years old. From then on, my love for music began, but not for the piano, my love was simply listening to the music. Read more>>

Dominic DeLaney

I think at a pretty young age, probably 12-13 years old, I knew I wanted to be a musician. Around the same time other kids were having dreams of being professional athletes, or doctors, or what have you, I was content with the idea of standing on a stage, bearing my soul. I had been writing songs in my bedroom (mainly to impress girls, which they never did!) and had fallen in love with the entire process. To create something out of thin air, with just a guitar and my thoughts, was very attractive to me. Slowly, the songs started getting better, and more complex. Read more>>

Trever Davis

Being a musician was something I was born to do. I’ve spent my entire life closely following my favorite artists, and their backstories. The one thing that each of these characters displayed was an absolute rejection of anything other than their passion. After years of jobs and studies I had zero interest in, I only had my mind set on music. The biggest moment that enabled me to take the dive into a creative career was when my father called me to tell me to pursue what makes me happiest, and to follow my dream of a music career. Read more>>

Patrick Kane McGregor

I think it was when I got my first big check from painting, which was when I was working in the billboard industry in the early 90’s as an apprentice to my mentor Art Pastusak. We worked for a company that hand-painted high pictorial advertisements on the sides of buildings, sometimes 10-15 stories high or more. After cleaning his brushes for a few years, watching and learning, I was let loose on a section (it was a Jersey of legendary WBA star Dane Staley for the USA Olympics women’s basketball team) to paint for a Nike mural we were doing in Philadelphia and it passed the clients inspection. Read more>>

Joshua Hanson

I have always had the desire to pursue an artistic path mainly through music. I grew up around my father and uncle’s band named Orange who gigged and were friends with Tripping Daisy, Pantera, and many other local bands in the 80’s and 90’s. So, I was surrounded by musicians influencing my love for the art. I officially began band in seventh grade and eventually went on to marching, jazz, all-state, ensemble performance, and solo performance in Everman, TX. I would get to the state level on a few ensemble performances but never got the top rating I was striving to get. Read more>>

April Alsup

When I was young my mother would make me play the piano and when I couldn’t continue playing with my friends it made me mad. One day after school I got so angry that I ripped off my sweatshirt, threw it across the room and shattered a family heirloom. My mom ran in and burst into tears when she saw what had happened. She looked right at me and said she never wanted to hear me play the piano again, gathered up all the pieces and started to meticulously glue it back together. It was an epiphany, that event changed my life forever, because since that moment a day hasn’t gone by without me playing the piano. Read more>>

Ephraim B. Riggins

Although there were a few people that crossed my path that awakened a passion of music and writing in me, the event that actually convinced me to pursue it was no more than than mere moments. I remember looking at Lupe’s ‘The Show Goes On’ single cover in my house and feeling especially drawn to it that day. I was admiring the black and red allure of it and how poised and at home Lupe looked in front of those masses of people. I looked at the crowd and how they look when it’s a wave of them with iPhone lights that look like stars. Read more>>

Jonathon Stalls

Zailuv

I think it started a few months after I started writing music. I started writing music when I was 14 in 8th grade. It was a difficult year because I was getting in trouble a lot at school and at home. Life was kind of hectic. I was looking for some kind of outlet. I always loved writing poetry. Even when I started writing raps time just seemed to pass by so fast. I really enjoyed doing it. I started off keeping my new hobby a secret from my parents. Luckily, in this day in age, it is pretty easy to get information off the internet. So, without my parents knowing, I saved up some money and built myself a studio. Read more>>

Kerri Sandve

Growing up, I was always a creative kid. I would sit for hours and draw, write stories, and cut/paste images from magazines into notebooks–I had volumes! I would get in trouble for drawing during reading time and trying to force other kids to “act” in my plays at recess. I first knew I wanted to be an artist professionally right out of high school when I fell in love with painting but like a lot of creative folks, the starving artist myth was reinforced by those around me and I was pushed to find a “real” career path. Read more>>

Zainab Olagunju

I realized I was meant to go down the creative path since I was a child. I would stay in my rooms for hours working on some type of creative project, weather it was painting, drawing, crochet/knitting, or sewing. I just loved creating so much it took up most of my time. I had a rough childhood so creating something was a major outlet for me and a way to express myself. Self-expression is something important to me, and it wasn’t till high school where I had the decision to make on what school I wanted to go to and what my career path would be. Read more>>

Pat Pattyg” Gill”

I believe I’ve always known I was a ‘Creative’, I just didn’t know what to call it! I started writing and illustrating my own stories when I was around 6-7 yrs old and tried to sell them to the neighborhood kids. My mother was a master seamstress and taught me to sew when I was 8–that’s when my love of textiles/fabrics began. I would go through mom’s box of fabric scraps so I could design my own toys from patterns that I created-they were definitely ‘unique’! I even designed my mom an apron from my own pattern! Read more>>

Lisa Zhen

I was always “crafty” as a teenager and used to craft different things (Jewelry, sand art terrariums, candles, etc), but in my mid 20’s I met a Native American jewelry maker named Yellowbird, and he taught me how to make traditional Native American Buffalo bone chokers. I owned a record store at the time and started selling them in the store, then expanded to creating Rosary Necklaces and it took off from there. I started doing pop up shows about 8 years ago and I absolutely love to create jewelry and accessories!! Read more>>

Scharine Kirchoff

I grew up amongst creatives, so I guess it was just natural that I would eventually follow an artistic path. My mother is a couture designer/seamstress, my grandmother was a kimono maker, weaver, and indigo dyer, my grandfather was a woodworker/cabinet maker, my uncle was a stage-set designer for NHK television in Tokyo–the creative traditions run deep in my family. My own education is actually in the sciences, and I worked as a professional geologist for many years. Nevertheless, I always had textile artwork projects that I practiced on the side each, and everyday. Read more>>

Kevin Tan-Perkins

I remember being invited to be on a tv set for a week when I was visiting my friend who’s brother is an executive producer for a major tv network. I was just there for the experience but I remember on day two of filming this lady told me I had a unique look and that if I was pursuing acting. At this point in my life I was a tennis pro so I told her I had no inclination whatsoever to pursue film but I always enjoyed films and productions in general. I kept coming back the next few days and she kept teasing me about it until the last day I said, “Ok, where the hell does one even start with this journey?” I figured she’s in this industry so she must know what she’s talking about. Read more>>

Colin Gribble

I moved back to Arizona from the midwest in late 2016. I discovered EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and raving, festivals and most importantly SHUFFLING. A dance style within the EDM culture. It was actually my first EDM Music festival Global Dance. September 2017. I was new to the EDM scene and through word of mouth was how I found out about this festival. Long story short, I met an amazing group of girls that taught me how to dance and express myself while there. Read more>> 

Kayla Martinez

It’s crazy because I always knew I wanted to pursue in art. I just never thought of it as a profession just as a form of expression. When I was in 1st grade and for as long as I could remember the thought of being a artist was always on my mind. Yeah I was doing my school work and learning but everyday I was just trying to create something in real life form that was just chilling in my head all day. Little kayla filled with happiness every chance I created. So she created a lot, with all mediums and anyway she could. Being a professional artist to me just meant I get to create and feel good no matter what I created because in my eyes it was all perfect. Read more>>

Deuandra T. Brown

I’ve always known from a little girl that I enjoyed being an entertainer. I perform songs for my family members at the age of 3 and 4 years old. When I was 10 years old I wrote my first song and started performing around town in local talent events. I continue down a path of acting, modeling, singing and film making. As time went on I released my 1st album Spoil Me back in 2012 and received my BA degree in film production in 2010. I now own an indie film/music company called Detaron Productions. Read more>>

Ashley Martin

We often think we choose our path, but often our paths choose us. Life’s events have a way of pointing us in in the right direction. Even though creativity is in my DNA, I didn’t tap into it until I became an adult. My mother is a creative and my father writes. In addition, there are other creatives in my family. I have witnessed first-hand how some paint and a blank canvas can become a masterpiece, how a piece of fabric and some thread can become a ballgown, and how words can become melodies. Creativity showed up for me first through writing. Read more>>

Myshel Wilkins

My love for singing started as a young girl traveling with my missionary father to various foreign countries. We mostly served the beautiful people of South America. I would sing and lead worship at many ministries in various countries. When I saw the power of music transcend culture and language. When I witnessed how music can penetrate the heart and be a vehicle to administer healing, I knew that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. When God breaths on a gift, it can empower, uplift, rejuvenate and inject hope into a broken soul. What a beautiful thing. I don’t take the gift lightly and I look forward to sharing it with others whenever possible. Read more>>

K9Carlo

Well, as a child I always had my attention toward explosive music and performances, growing up in an environment where music was everywhere around me. I always pictured myself being on those stages performing music that gave someone some urge to get up and feel like they were a part of something. I guess you can say at a young age I knew at some point I was going to take this professionally and get the ball rolling. Read more>>

Carol McDonald

I was a left-brained, analytical administrator for most of my career and identified primarily with WORK. If I wasn’t at work, I was thinking about work. I had some very creative friends and loved hearing about what they were doing. I would attend art fairs and admire all the talent and creative energy that I felt being around artists. When I met my husband 23 years ago, one of the things that attracted me to him was his creative abilities—he did woodworking and back and white photography. We started attending art galleries and shows whenever we traveled, and he would come home all inspired and energized. Read more>>

Liz Ferron

When I realized I have this gift of making people laugh and for articulation. It became clear I should be in show business! I started stand up comedy and that, plus a new degree in broadcasting led to my first morning radio job. The two are the perfect blend for a radio personality to be k factious and entertaining. Read more>>

TaKeshia Chapple

I have always known that I wanted to make a living as a Creative, even as a teen, I just didn’t know how. I have many gifts, and I juggled with what to pursue first so I ended up working a job like everyone else. When the pandemic hit in February 2020, I had lost my corporate job and was 6 months pregnant- lots of uncertainty. This was the moment it resurfaced for me; that I could live my life as a Creative! Post-pandemic, everything has changed, every structure of society has shifted. So, over the past years, I’ve worked hard to get clear about my vision and what I really want so that I could “remember my why”. Read more>>

Michael Anthony García

When I entered undergrad, writing- specifically poetry and short story science fiction- were my creative goals. I didn’t feel nurtured or understood by the faculty but would later discover the poetics of objects and imagery that opened me up to more varied forms of expression, eventually changing my major to visual art. I’d always made work and performed in many different ways but had not considered them to be my preferred media because “artist” was a title I’d not yet felt comfortable enough to use. Read more>>

Cristina Ayala

Since I was little, I have been interested in expressing myself through art – I drew on walls, filled notepads with drawings and typefaces I found interesting, and I remember drawing cartoon characters while watching them on television, trying to be quick enough to finish before the tv show ended – this was before we could hit pause on shows. Because of these interests, my mom put me in oil painting classes, pottery classes and ballet lessons. When the time came to choose what to study in university, I knew it was going to be related to art or design (although for a brief moment I considered psychology). Read more>>

Gail Delger

I took my two young sons to NorthPark Center in the early 1990’s and came across the Southwestern Watercolor Society Show on display in the middle of the mall. I was blown away by these phenomenal watercolors. There were bright colors and photo realistic paintings that I never knew could be done so beautifully in watercolors. After seeing that show, I decided that I wanted to learn watercolors. I knew I just needed a lesson to get me started and then I would be able to paint on my own. I took a 6 week watercolor class at the Garret Art Gallery in McKinney and I was hooked. Read more>>

Ashley Toman

I think I always knew music my destiny, for as long as I can remember. Music was really instilled in my DNA- my dad opened for the Everly Brothers when he was five, my brother is a professional drummer in Austin and my mom has always kind of been the glue that held us all together. I can remember back to kindergarten being so shy and music being the one thing that really took me out of my shell. I didn’t speak all throughout kindergarten and one day I stood up on the desk and started singing “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” from the Lion King- and I kind of never shut up from there. Read more>>

Zephyrin Victor Jr.

I’ve been into the arts since I was in Elementary School where my teachers had me in many plays and musical programs. Throughout the rest of my years in school I continued to show my talents in performances, state competitions and television appearances. Comedy was not in my thoughts, but acting stayed in my mind. I was ushered into Comedy by a cousin and a few family members and acting opportunities came with it. I’ve been taking the stage for almost 7 years now and I plan to keep going hard at until I can’t anymore. Read more>>

Heather Neiman

My earliest memories of art making are at age 10, although I was well versed in “let’s pretend” way earlier. My mother gave me just about every art medium and tool to create with, and the creative genes I have. She was a piano player, seamstress, gardener, and probably many more things that I never knew-she died when I was 12 at age 37. My sixth grade art teacher taught us how to draw Disney characters, and I was on a path to devour as much art as I could. I took art classes every grade from then on until I exhausted them in 12th grade. Thank goodness I went to school in the 1980’s and funding was not an issue for public schools. Read more>>

Micaela Dartson

I’d had a love of writing short stories and poems since 6th grade and did such for our school’s publication, “The Crusader.” Fast forward to college, I wrote a critical essay on ‘The Glass Menagerie” and my English professor was beyond impressed with my writing. I then tried to double major in Biology Pre-Medicine and English but the science labs were conflicting with the English courses and I had to stick with the pre-medicine curriculum. During my residency, I began writing and realized I had a true flair flair for story telling and my creative passion soared. Read more>>