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.

Lydia Gentry

Many of us in the band knew we wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally since we were in high school, some of us even younger. Brendan, our lead guitarist, knew he wanted to be a professional guitarist since he was in middle school! We individually have all been gigging in various forms since before college. Read more>>

Eli Burbage

This line of work truly found me, and while it may sound cliché, it’s absolutely true. After spending several years coaching soccer in Tennessee, I moved back home to Hawai’i. It was during this uncertain period of my life, filled with a search for purpose, that I stumbled upon a delivery jog. Interestingly enough, it involved delivering flowers for a talented flower artist named Michael Miyashiro. Read more>>

Amanda Bogdan

I have always had a passion or makeup since I was little girl. I remember buying books that were makeup related. I was so fascinated with makeup and the power of how makeup can make you feel. The statements that it can make. I remember seeing a MAC makeup artist when I was younger and thinking “omg, they’re so cool and I love their style!” Read more>>

Flavio Venancio

I have always loved drawing, since I was a little kid. My school books had drawings everywhere and I used to get in trouble for that. My very first experience with tattooing was in 2005. At the beginning I just tattooed friends and family in my neighborhood. And then in 2009 it was when I realized tattooing was what I wanted for my life. From then on, I started to take it seriously and professionally, to study more and participate in seminars to learn different techniques. Read more>>

Laura Vega

When I was Five and living in Mexico from kindergarten through 2nd grade I was a folkloric dancer as part of my school. The costumes, the energy and the fact that I enjoyed it so much was the first hint of my artistic journey. The idea that I wanted acting as part of my artistic expression solidified when I took an acting class and felt that same joy I felt as a 5 yr old. Read more>>

Madi Wolf

I grew up in a musical household in Virginia. My grandfather built all of my instruments and when I was around 7 years old I took up guitar lessons. Guitar lessons opened the door to songwriting for me. Nobody told me or “coached” me on how to write a song. I just did it in my own privacy and when I felt comfortable enough to share it I asked my parents to listen. Read more>>

Victoria Njideka

I’ve been “artsy” my whole life. From a young age singing in church with my sisters and cousins, then in middle school I became interested in theater and acting. When I realized that I had “talent” I was all in! But I didn’t grow up in a family where I knew anyone who actually made money being a creative. Read more>>

John Camino

My sensitivity and attraction toward creative arts started during early childhood. The first conduit for emotional connection and feelings in my life was music and playing guitar. During my teenage years, traditional education did not seem to provide an interesting offer for my professional development. I did struggle to visualize myself making a living from a “safe” or traditional career environment. Read more>>

Ella Clover

Growing up, I spent every day acting, singing, and dancing. I don’t think I realized how lucky I was in that regard until really recently. Every single day was my own personal artist retreat and I didn’t even realize it. In rural Pennsylvania, I had no distractions- just green trees, rolling hills, and silence. I was always so curious about everything, and I had the time and space to really ponder! I kept asking questions and coming up with crazy stories to deal with the uncertainty of it all. Read more>>

TieSha Carter

For as long as I can remember I have had a passion for the creative arts. However, because the arts industry is always one that is looked at as not very lucrative, I put my passions to the side and followed the career path as a Software and Systems Engineer. Throughout the years I would always continue to tap into my love for creating by painting, taking photos, and working on DIY projects on the side. Read more>>

Jon & Brandon Hutcheson

Brandon: When I was 18, I cut a solo album, but I had no idea about marketing, how to contact people correctly, or anything involving the business side. Unfortunately, it all isn’t about the music. So, that initial career was over quickly. I really didn’t think that much about attempting music again as a career until Jon started playing the guitar and playing out some. Read more>>

Erase-E

I knew from the first time I started writing songs. It’s kind of like when your doing something in a natural way and not forcing it, you know right away it can become something. I actually really felt like I could do music professionally after going into a recording studio for the first time. I recorded my first two songs in one take. I had some practice before the real thing, so that helped. Read more>>

Alivia Moe

Finding art as a path for a career began early and ultimately as a result of needing to find a way to cope. I feel as though I have always known I am an artist. From the time I understood the concept of identity, “artist” has always been a title I feel, see, experience, and receive myself as. Read more>>

Joy Strempack

I first knew I wanted to an artist in the creative field when I was small child. I have always been passionate about painting, singing, dancing, writing, playing piano, calligraphy. Later on in life, I became a graphic designer with my own marketing company and also a creative director for multiple brands. I am also a teacher, an established painter/calligrapher, and a recording artist. About 14 months ago, my love of music has me started a DJ career. Read more>>

Chris Edgar

I knew I wanted to play music professionally when I was around nine years old. My brother and I had long hair, listened to heavy metal and were obsessed with metal-related magazines, and we’d read stories in there about bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden going on tour and fantasize about what it would be like for us to do the same. We eventually did tour together, except it was as part of a folk rock band, heh. Read more>>

Aaron Sturgis

My path to becoming a professional has been more organic than intuitive. It started out just playing drums in Piedmont Park as a hobby, and quickly caught the eyes & ears of bypassers in the park, who admired my music style and creativity. This led to me to being invited to perform at small gatherings, which then caught the attention of organizers from larger events. Read more>>

Anelle Tarke

I always knew from when I was a child. I loved singing and acting. I would do impersonations of the people in my life all the time and it would make everyone laugh. They’d be shocked at how accurate I was. I would sing the songs I’d hear on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon and my friends and family members would tell me I have a natural talent. Read more>>

Nordine

For as long as i can remember Fashion has always been a true passion of mine. Since a child growing up in Jamaica, I loved painting, drawing and making clothes for my dolls. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a Fashion Designer or any career which allowed me to be creative. Fashion is an image of self-expression whether affordable or lavish. Read more>>

Chacko Finn

I knew I wanted to keep playing trombone as an adult but it wasn’t until my senior year of high school I wanted to pursue music. I was studing trombone with Stephanie Bryan, a well loved trombonist of several symphonies and education. She pushed me to be the best musician I could be, focusing on tone, timbre, and time. Read more>>

Eric Pabon

No matter what I was doing to earn a living, I’ve always had this nagging creative itch. It presented in different ways, this overwhelming need for expression. Creating something from that is just a part of who I’ve always been. It wasn’t really until my thirties that I acquired the tools to make a successful business out of the kind of self-expression that I’d always just done for myself. Read more>>

Brandon Williams

My journey started when I was kid at performing arts school. My mother empowered me to be into the artist. I took tap dance classes, ballet, theater, etc.This all happened at San Diego school of performing arts. Once a mastered the fear of others judgement, I continued to lean into rapping. Started getting into the battle scene 2000s and it never stopped. Read more>>

M. Marisa

Singing has always been a passion of mine. Truthfully, I never took it serious enough to sing or perform in front of others because I never thought I was that talented enough to do it or that people would really pay me any mind. Being told I have a beautiful voice, how good of a songwriter I am, and being so talented has gave me the perseverance to continue on with my music. Read more>>

Des McAdam

For me, I think I always knew I wanted a career in the arts. It started for me when I was super young, like preschool, I used to get dressed up, so my hair, and makeup (badly, but we don’t have to talk about it…), and put on shows for my grandma with karaoke machine. As I got older my love for the arts went more for behind the scenes work. Read more>>

Lacie Carpenter

I’ve always known that I would be pursuing a professional path in the arts. At nine years old, I witnessed the genius of Burt Bacharach where I yelled out during the concert: “I’m gonna be you when I grow up!” Music chose me. That may sound silly. It’s true. It’s almost as if, at birth, music came down and settled in my soul. Read more>>

David Onri Anderson

I have been drawing and using my imagination to play with color and form since I was 3 years old, as far as I can remember. Throughout my childhood and young adult life I never felt like I belonged anywhere exactly. I always preferred my imagination and enjoyed solitude and nature. At some point in everything I pursued whether it was a job, or a hobby or sport, I came to an end where I never felt like I was using my full potential. Read more>>

Dr. Antwan Amadeus”” Thompson Sr. Ph.D.”

As a baby I held drumsticks in my hand I had no idea that I was going to be in music but my parents recognized the God given gifts and talents I had as a baby and they tapped into it and they supported it and Im so grateful for that the moment I was able to be able to understand and recognize that it was music I locked in, dreamt big work extremely hard and never looked back and the rest is history. Read more>>

Goodsonny

I knew from a very very young age. For as long as I can remember I was dreaming of acting in the biggest movie of the year, singing on stage to thousands of people, having people greet me on the street to tell me my music helped them. Read more>>

Jesy

Since I was a young girl, I always dreamed of being a graphic designer. When I started college, I planned to finish, work for a big company and eventually create my own enterprise. During my first years of college, I saw a job opportunity to be a graphic designer for the Latinx cultural center of my school. For context, I opened Jesy Decorations even before starting college. Read more>>

FUSE JEWELRY COLLECTIVE

Creativity and creation have always been important parts of our lives. Before being introduced by a mutual friend, we had both been creating work and operating our own jewelry businesses independently for many years. The catalyst for FUSE Jewelry Collective was really the desire to share jewelry and business with each other. Read more>>

Joe Banish

I knew from an early age — kindergarten actually — that I would always pursue a creative path. In the 1950s, my first name was a common one, consequently there were three other Joes in my kindergarten class. One day the teacher, who had previously collected crayon drawings from us, returned them to each student. Read more>>

Rocio Diaz

I began pursuing my artistic path professionally after college, during the pandemic in 2020 when I taught myself how to make earrings. I quickly fell in love with making jewelry and that started my journey with my business, Earth Fairies Co. I had some experience as an entrepreneur before that but not with making and selling art. Today, I run my shop online and I’ve also sold at pop up shops in South Central, Compton, Huntington Park, South Gate, East LA, Westwood, Downtown LA, Long Beach, and more. Read more>>