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.

Anika Simeth

Despite being passionate for art my whole life, the idea of pursuing it as a career didn’t occur to me until my late twenties. Not because I didn’t want to, but because of the believe system society has taught us. Read more>>

Brittany Selmants

I have always had a passion for creating – when I was younger I would take art classes after school, and I went on to study fashion in college. I bought a Cricut a few years before my wedding and used to to make crafts here and there, then really enjoyed it and knew I wanted to make fun projects for all of my own wedding festivities. Read more>>

Billie Slum

I’ve always been fascinated with melodies. I can remember being a toddler riding with my mom and mimicking the melodies from Prince records. But the exact moment I knew this was what I wanted to do for a living was the first time I heard Nas. My mom introduced me to hip hop. She listened to everything from Kurtis Blow to LL Cool J, but something about how Nas put words together sold me! I was a small child, but I definitely caught the bug right then and there! Read more>>

Cera Marie

In high school I enjoyed art and made it a regular part of my life and the classes part of my schedule, but I was fully intending to pursue a career in the sciences. On a whim, I decided to visit a college portfolio review during senior year and loved walking down the academy halls covered with art and design projects. Read more>>

Jim Francis Meza

It dawned on me that I wanted to professionally pursue my craft when I felt entrapped into a 9-5 job that felt like your typical dead end job. You see, I had bigger dreams and aspirations. I wanted to be an actor, be famous, and travel the world. As a child, I always felt I would be somebody that would leave a mark in this world. Read more>>

Jay and Aaron

Well we’ve been in group chats with our friends for quite some time discussing various topics and one day we decided, HEY! why don’t we start a podcast because we’re already talking about all of this stuff everyday anyway so it was just a natural transition to turn it into a digital brand. We’ve always had a passion for sports, music and other media looking up to the sports anchors and other media moguls growing up, this has fell in line with our dreams to become well known content creators. Read more>>

Chris Aguilar

I always had a passion for music, words, and poetry in general. Throughout my scholastic years I was always involved in poetry clubs, speech projects and pretty much anything that included public speaking. It was during high school that I really able to sharpen my skills and become comfortable in my craft. Read more>>

Lauxx Vixen

I first realized I wanted to pursue music when I was in middle school. I have always been involved in music such as the school choir or praise and worship at church. What made it a real dream for me was when it was time for the school talent show and there was a girl that sang “Blue” by Beyoncé and another girl sung an Adele song and another did a Rihanna song. I noticed that all of them were seniors, so I wanted to be different. Read more>>

Kathleen Finch

I was working as a nurse during the pandemic & felt a crushing sense of isolation & sadness. In my youth I had been heavily involved in the arts through music, dance, & theater. The art that spoke most clearly to my heart was hip hop music, rap, break dancing, & graffiti art. I was grasping at air during the pandemic. Read more>>

Sophia Claire

It’s actually something I stumbled into! I started my instagram as a mental health project during grad school. Writing my dissertation was really mentally taxing, and I wanted something fun and much less serious to mitigate that labor. Read more>>

Jennifer Moss

I announced at 5 years old that I was going to be an artist, of course like all children that shifted many times over the next few years, but by time I was in 5th grade I was pretty set. At the time being an artist meant painting, but in high school I was able to explore sculpture and time based media like film and animation. I went to university for art and concentrated on sculpture and metalsmithing. Read more>>

Lizzie Clark

When I was about 9 years old, my best friend and I would spend hours sitting at her kitchen counter, looking out at the lovely back yard, drawing floor plans and talking about how we would design and furnish the spaces. MANY years later, and some career path detours on both sides, we are still best friends—she is an interior designer and I create patterns to decorate spaces. Read more>>

Mara B

I know at the young age of 10, I wanted to learn how to braid so after getting my mom to show me, I started practicing how to cornrow on my barbie dolls and then moved to learning how to on myself. I would braid my own hair and then moved to adding extensions and learning how to sew in hair. I would stay up for hours and even wake up early in the morning to make sure my hair was perfect. Read more>>

Olivia Sabellico

I first knew I wanted to pursue a career as being a manicurist in the nail industry in 2020. In the mist of figuring out my future as a college student, Covid hit. Leading everyone indoors, I decided I wanted to embark on a new hobby/craft. I came across a tik tok online of a girl doing après gelx extensions on herself from home. Which sparked an idea, this idea then snowballed into a vision for my future. Read more>>

Heidi Johnson

The journey starts back in Hudsonville, Michigan in 2012 when I created Sarah’s Tiny Treasures in loving memory of my 3rd daughter, Sarah Faith, who passed away shortly after birth of that year. Shortly after losing our daughter, I needed an outlet to grieve; then in December of 2012 after I participated in an “Online Ornament” swap with the “Still Standing” online magazine between other bereaved parents. Read more>>

Xenia Willie

The first time I knew I wanted to make music was when I was 11 years old. I always loved to write poems and sing. Music was special to me. But around the age of 11 my brother started listening to some songs by Jon McLaughlin. He had one on his MySpace page (haha!!) and I remember that I immediately knew there was something different. Read more>>

Maggie Weakley

As a little girl, I was constantly drawing and loved studying and copying Disney characters. Growing up, I continued sketching but never thought art could be a career. When I was a Senior in High School, I took a Marine Biology class and an Art class. I loved both of them and was torn about the direction I wanted my life to go in. Read more>>

Meghan Cavanaugh

I always knew I wanted to be a musician, and performer. I believe this started when I was little girl running around singing “Annie” and “Cats”. I was also very lucky to be raised around music. My father was musical and we would get together with his side of the family and sing songs around a campfire. My father, and uncles all had guitars and would play and sing. I do believe that was transferred over to me from my dad. Read more>>

Tyler White

The moment I knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was after seeing how a beautiful body of work could effect me, to transport someone within a three minute song was so fascinating to me. It’s about the moments you are fully invested into a project where everything fades away and it’s just magic. Read more>>

Karishma Bhandari

Thanks for having me! It’s great to be able to share my story with you. When I think about how I ended up on this creative path, it takes me back to my childhood. I grew up in a household where both my parents had full-time jobs, so our family time often revolved around watching TV shows and going to the movies. Read more>>

Natasha Morales

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally when I realized that dance was something that allowed me to give back and connect with others on a deeper level while being my most authentic self. It enabled me to inspire others in a way I had never experienced before and teach something I was incredibly passionate about. Read more>>

G0ldilock

I first knew / had the thought I wanted to be an artist about my junior year of high school. I was recording music and releasing it on SoundCloud my junior year but it was for sure until my senior year I figured I can really do something with my musical talent. Read more>>

Micah Akers

I wanted to do music ever since I was little kid I would always be rapping or singing a song before & during football games I was playing in Read more>>

Julien Johnson

Ever since I was three years old, I’ve known I wanted to be in front of people. Growing up, I always loved to sing everywhere I went no matter the time or place, and eventually, that turned into making my own music, making podcasts, acting and hosting events and shows. Read more>>

Brian Pearson

My parents were both music teachers and musicians so I followed in their footsteps. They exposed me to many live music experiences growing up and eventually I began performing in many genres of music through the years. Music has always been exciting and fun, but sharing that with people is what makes it so valuable. Read more>>

Maria-Victoria Checa

I started painting for practical reasons in 2018. I had never painted before. I did not even know the difference between oils and acrylics, let alone watercolors. Read more>>

Kathy Street

I retired from my career in Information Technology five years ago, working for the same major insurance company for 38 years. As an IT Division Manager, I worked long hours and I loved my career. My position allowed little time for hobbies, but I always did some artistic endeavors, such as painting bird houses for my yard. Read more>>

Pollux King

I don’t think I ever had any big realization. That’s just my job. That’s what I’m here to do. I knew that ever since I was a tiny, sassy little kid. All I wanted to do was sing to everyone and tell them I love them and they’re special. Read more>>

Kendra Lynece

I have wanted to be a photographer since I was 8 years old. My grandfather, who was a photographer, always amazed me with the work he created. One Christmas, my parents gifted me a film camera, and ever since then, a camera has been glued to my hands. When I reached high school, I discovered that people could make a living through photography, and I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. Read more>>

OTW Kilo

I first knew this when I was a kid. My first time ever recording, all my friends in the studio went crazy! When I was in highschool, I almost got kicked out of school for a music video I did. We were minors smoking and drinking. I did 5k views in one day, that’s when I knew I wanted to do this forever. You can watch that music video on my YouTube of when I was in highschool. It’s called Kilo&Zero – Fucked Up Read more>>

CALLIE BUSSELL

Since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an actor. I’ve always had big emotions and loved performing as my outlet for them. My parents were very traditional and weren’t very supportive of my passion to pursue art professionally, but I was very blessed that they were willing to help me pay for my college education. Read more>>

Grace Tong

I had my start in dance training at an early age, like many folks in the professional dance world. I was probably about 3 or 4 in my first creative movement class, and I then had predominantly classical ballet, modern, and jazz training until age 18. Read more>>

Joanne Rose

I’ve always been drawn to creativity, whether that was getting lost in a fantasy novel, drawing, or writing short stories as a kid. I got my sense of humor from my dad who has a wild imagination and sees the funny side in almost anything. Read more>>

J.R. Curtis

I think I’ve always known that but didn’t want to admit it to myself initially. It’s fun to think about but another thing entirely to really dive in and just go, “Yeah, this is what I do now. For better or worse, this is my job. There’s a very good chance I’ll be a starving artist forever and that’s alright.” But yeah, I tried the other routes, normal job, school, traditional path and I was just miserable the entire time. I guess I’d rather be poor and happy than financially stable and depressed haha. Read more>>

Sasha A Bombfox

I was a tap and jazz dancer in my youth and I remembered how much I loved it. As an adult I remembered watching performers on TV with fabulous costumes with tons of feathers and rhinestones. And then I was introduced to Dita Von Teese by watching a video of George Michael live in London. How amazing she looked and graceful. Read more>>

Natalya Holbrook

Since I was a little girl I liked to draw what I saw. With great persistence, I copied old postcards. I adored lessons in fine arts at an art school, so I decided to continue my studies at the Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical Institute. There were no artists in my large family, and no one thought that my hobby could become my profession – a teacher of drawing and drafting. Read more>>