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.

Jessika Cantu

It all started from the very beginning as young as an elementary student. I grew up wanting to model, I would put my moms coat and heels on, grab a purse and pose for a picture. I’d always want art supplies for my birthday presents and paint, draw up clothing, make crafts. My big sister and I would come up with dance routines and perform them for my parents. Read more>>

Samantha Warren

All through grade school I have always choose to take an art class as an elective. I absolutely love the process of coming up with an idea and then bringing it to life. Painting, drawing, photography, you name it and I’m down to try it! Being a bartender, crafting cocktails is one of my current favorite artistic outlets. Read more>>

Timothy Ramirez

It was way back in elementary school when I knew I had an aspiration to pursue a career that involved creativity. I began to write short stories, poetry and pros, even as a teen. When I would audition for a role in a theatre production, I would almost always land a role. By my last years of high school, I was landing Lead roles and was even scouted out when I played the King of Siam in The King and I. Read more>>

Tara Battani

I have to blame wanting to become an actress on things. The movie ANNIE, Hayley Mills, and Amelia Bedelia. When I was around four years old, my Mom was a Christian singer and I went on tour with her. She also had my perform songs with her on stage. At the time I was obsessed with Amelia Bedelia books, the maid who was absent minded and who was always getting in trouble. Whenever she got in trouble, she would say “I’m at my wit’s end!” So one day on stage, my Mom asked me, “Tara, what does Jesus mean to you?” Not used to talking on stage, I looked at her strangely and said the only thing that came to my mind. “I don’t know! I’m at my wit’s end.! The crowd roared. I have never, to this day, heard laughter like that. It hurt my ears! But I remembered thinking, “Oh. I kind of like this.” Read more>>

Kris Meenan

few detours on the way to allowing myself to pursue this creative career that I’ve always dreamed of. Starting all the way back in Elementary school, I was always enrolled in some sort of visual arts program and eventually went on to study at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This was pretty short lived due to a combination of unfortunate life events and my deteriorating mental health, and after just one semester I had to drop out and move back home to Florida. Read more>>

Prince Archie

I first wanted to pursue songwriting and becoming an artist was through the encouragement of family and friends. Making songs was a hobby for me and I love making up songs about anything, even if it was to make people laugh. Read more>>

Jen Frost

If you had asked me a decade ago if I would be leading my own business as a professional quilt pattern designer, I would have laughed – I didn’t even know where my sewing machine was! My journey into the fiber arts is one of three subtle but monumental shifts of my very core being. Read more>>

Amanda Arbeter

As a child being creative was always my thing. I pursued pathways in life that left room for creativity. In college at the University of Michigan I majored in Art History but always took fine arts classes to fulfill my passion. After college I worked at a textile company in design & product development. I later moved on to get my Masters in Early Childhood Ed and became a Kindergarten teacher. Read more>>

Claudia Hafner

I come from a family of creators so I suppose it is in my DNA. And what I also remember is that the desire to earn money, albeit, a living doing ones art or craft was an ongoing discussion around the holiday dining table gathering. There seemed to be doubt that one could do it without a “patron”, and my dad would kid that what was needed was a patron. While I have never wanted a patron, I have wanted to make decent income from my art or craft. Read more>>

Kristian Johnson

I can remember being a young child dreaming of pursuing music professionally. By young child I mean at least 3 or 4 years old. My mom would always talk about me being a small child singing all the songs she had in her cassette collection at the time. The Clark Sisters, Musiq Soulchild, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, Mary J, the list goes on. That’s definitely where my love for music or creative expression as a whole began. Read more>> 

Rebeca Hernandez

First time I knew I wanted to pursue doing makeup is when I got laid from my office job in early 2015 . My mom owns a beauty salon so I said to myself , let me give it a shot and do makeup at the beauty salon. Read more>>

 Miami Beat Wave

I would have to say I knew I wanted to have a career in music by the time I was in High School. Approximately 11th grade. Before that I had been in band and competitions for music theory as well as I was taught the piano from a young age. My grandmother started my love for music but professionally I’d say it was 11th grade. Read more>>

Zoé Sosa

Growing up I always had a love for the arts and aesthetics. It was an escape for me as a younger individual and I knew that going out into the real world I felt I wasn’t meant for a typical corporate career. I knew I’d only flourish if given the room to be creative in my day to day tasks. I got to pursue different paths and then one day I finally found one I really wanted to invest my time in which further led me to going to esthetician school. Read more>>

Carolina Sardi

My first elementary school teacher told my mom to send me to art school. I was drawing all the time. If we have to illustrate a subject, I will do pages and pages of drawings. I started art school when I was 10 years old. I believe that I was able to finish school because I was in art school. Read more>>

Tashalyn Spraglin

I was living in South Florida at the time and i needed some extra money always. I was taking photos of my friend and she was a model for an agency out there.. she’d always mention i should take photos professionally. One day I got in a bind with my living situation and i decided i needed to get a side hustle. Read more>> 

Cecilia Lueza

I believe artists are born with the need to express themselves by creating something that’s purely visual and I’m not exception. I went to art school to gain my formal training in fine arts. My dream at that time as an art student was to exhibit my work in the prestigious art galleries and art fairs throughout the world. Read more>>

Angie G.

I have always known that I wanted to share my creative talents. This was a skill that was nurtured throughout my childhood. Makeup and modeling came in to play specifically while I was in college. I joined a modeling troupe in my uniiversity and started modeling with them,. When I graduated and moved back home I continued to pursue modeling. I worked part time at sephora as a cashier seasonally and that’s where the love for makeup flourished. Read more>>

Huncho Bri

I always knew I was different, I knew that I didn’t want to stick to the status quo, and I wanted to curate a life worth living and that life consist of me doing everything I love to do and generating a livable income from it. I’ve always felt like this, even in middle school and high school but my freshman year in college is when it all clicked. That’s when I recorded my first song and knew that I love expressing myself with music and the world needs to hear it. Read more>>

Ben Speakz

It was actually in 2020. I have some very close friends who have built a very successful YouTube channel called “In The Clutch” over the years, and one of them, everyone knows him as Dub came to me with the idea to create another YouTube channel (Don’t Just Dream Prod.) catering to short films and skits. To do so he asked me to be a part of this new venture as a writer and assistant producer. Read more>> 

Joseph Watson

I first wanted to pursue a creative / artistic path professionally in 1989. I was a teenage kid with a twisted understanding on what a professional art career encompassed. Up until that time, knowing who designed my favorite animated characters, toys, movie posters, cars and clothing remained a mystery. Mainly, airbrushing T shirts and graffiti art was my understanding of the options where to apply my talent. Read more>>

Slim KuttaR

I come from a long line of talented singers and entertainers with a family that includes the late, great Paul Williams of the Temptations. My grandfather, James, was a five-octave singer with the Ensley Jubilees, a popular gospel quartet in the 1950s and beyond. Read more>>

Carley Bearden

I knew I wanted this when I felt something I had never felt before performing on stage. The feeling of creating something, sharing it (performing) and seeing people really experience the song in their own way, made me realize I need to do this forever. Art is something that can be universally understood, that’s why it’s my job to create it & share it to anyone who will listen. Read more>>

Zena Gottholm

Ive always felt like a artist, and I don’t think I could ever be anything else. Drawing was my first love, I used to collect little plastic dinosaur figurines as a kid and would sit at the kitchen table and draw them for hours in different poses. As I got older and my drawings became more refined I began working on my own creatures, folklore, and ways to express myself through fantasy. Mapping out the characters in my mind and exploring what could be to escape everyday life. Read more>> 

Sunflowaa Cee

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path was about 19 years old. I was always told I should but I didn’t really believe in myself. I remember sitting at home and I started writing a song, Sunflowaa, and thought gosh I could really do this. Shortly after I started thinking about how music has always helped me. Sometimes we don’t always know how to say what or how we feel but there’s always a song that describes it perfectly. Music truly is a way of communicating and bringing people together. Read more>>

Kaeley Chapel

I was in my late teens the first time I seriously considered a non-traditional career. As a young child, I always wanted to be a famous singer and I remember making that my birthday wish every year, but since I didn’t magically get discovered at age 12, I started thinking maybe I needed a back-up plan. Around high school age, I started to get more interested in body modification and alternative fashion. Read more>>

Kyle Shold

In some way I had always been interested in the creative arts. Stemming primarily from movies and film scores for movies with ‘Star Wars’ being a major early influence. I loved early behind-the-scenes documentaries detailing the artists and creatives involved in bringing these big films to life. And, of course, there was drawing. I think instinctually I felt that I wanted to do something creative but it wasn’t at all a conscious drive. In the mid/late 1980’s I was introduced to comic books as an art form. Read more>> 

Eduardo Lara

During the start of the fall semester in 2017, I had already planned to finish my studies as a forensic technician. I learned everything I needed to be certified. I just needed one class to seal my fate, Fingerprint Processing. Because this class was in high demand, being the only one offered each year, it was difficult to get in, forcing me to be on the waitlist. Read more>>

Laura Micallef

I always remember wanting to be an interior designer. As a child, I thought about other career paths as a nurse, a teacher or a flight attendant but my love of homes drew me back to my true desire. My grandfather built the house he lived in with my grandmother. I thought that was so wonderful he built the home they lived in and raised their family. Read more>>

Donald Reynolds

The first time i knew i wanted to pursue an artistic path was when I was 14. I was always drawing as a kid, in school, at home, but when i was 14 my life changed a little bit. I got my first tattoo. I was so excited. The process of it, the smell, everything about it intrigued me. But what really had me hooked was the fact my artist left his mark on me. I’ll forever carry his work on my skin. It doesn’t matter if it’s 50 years down the road, you’ll always remember that person, the place it was done, the vibe. It was so cool to me back then, and now, it’s even better. Read more>> 

Tabitha Benedict

I was in the second grade when I won my first art award for my first life drawing of my hand holding a rose. This became the cornerstone of my knowing that I would be pursuing a creative /artistic path. My talent was then nurtured in the talented and gifted program. I continued to pursue the arts throughout high school collecting newspaper clippings of many awards, recognitions and scholarships. Read more>>