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.

Grace & Carrie Key

We are a mother (Carrie) daughter (Grace) duo. We started candidly kind 3/21/2018 to spread light love and acceptance after Grace was excluded and bullied in high school. Read more>>

Shantishree Patil

My fascination with art and creativity began with nature. Looking at its amazing, breathtaking inventions made me rethink. How can the perfume of a surrounding area or an antique ancestral home influence your psyche and offer you peace? Read more>>

Angel Rosario Jr.

As a kid, I was a big fan of professional wrestling. The WWE (then know as the World Wrestling Federation) was my escape from the real world, and I loved every minute of it. Read more>>

Chris Clark

It was back in 2016 when I decided to finally take the leap of faith. At almost every job I’ve ever had, there would always be that one coworker who would ask what I was doing there. Read more>>

Shana Macheso

I feel like I have always known my life wouldn’t follow the ordinary path that has been laid out by society. It is only after the 2020 pandemic though that I realised that if I want to live a certain type of lifestyle, I could not just wait for it to magically happen to me. Read more>>

Steven Gagner

I have been a creative my entire life. I don’t think that I was giving much thought to being a professional when I was cutting toilet paper tubes and hot gluing them together as a child, but I can tell you now that it was very clear I was born to make things. Read more>>

Aaron Marshall

I feel like everyone develops this as an interest once you make some money from it. The idea of getting paid for doing something you naturally enjoy never crosses your mind until that defining moment. Read more>>

Jadalyn Borla

Since my early years, a passion for the arts has burned within me, steering me towards a creative and artistic path. My fascination with painting, drawing, fashion, and music blossomed during my formative years, fueled by the captivating styles of R&B artists in the early 2000s. Read more>>

Claudia Martinez

I always knew I wanted to be a hairstylist but it wasn’t until I was in cosmetology school that I realized I also wanted to do special event hair. Read more>>

Cassie Carpenter

My creative path has changed over the years, but it started off at a very young age. I was 10 years old and one evening I was being silly while doing one of my chores, putting the dishes away from the dishwasher. Read more>>

Taylor Eby

I grew up in an incredibly artistic family. My grandmother has a masters degree in musical performance and was a former pageant queen, and my late grandfather was a water-color painter, Read more>>

Drake Hudson

I actually didn’t. I wouldn’t say this was on my radar anytime soon. I had recently moved to Houston and I made a promise to myself to things I wouldn’t normally do. Read more>>

Jennifer Mosquera

Ever since I was a child I wanted to be an artist. At that time I did not understand that “being an artist” is inherently who we all are. That creativity runs through each of us, even if we do not claim it or see it. Read more>>

Miles Perry

As an artist, I have always gravitated towards self-expression. I never valued anyone simply because they had a lot of money or they were famous. I always gravitated to the person for who they are. Read more>>

Dan Monteavaro

I think like all creatives, it’s a mixture of not really having a choice to not do what sometimes becomes a part of who we are as people. How we identify our place in the world, how we make sense of it, and having a voice in it. Read more>>

Diamond Brazile

It’s actually really funny. I knew I wanted to be an artist at the age of five. As a toddler, my family and I used to orchestrate coloring book contests and sit around drawing my favorite cartoon characters. Read more>>

Marjorie Gaber

When I was in high school; I was a creative kid and definitely loved art, but didn’t think about what an art career could actually look like. For a little while I wanted to go into sociology and social work, but I wasn’t sure I had the stomach for it. Read more>>

Andy Morales

This is a very interesting question. I can’t pin point the exact day, but I can tell you it was my father passing away is what made me pursue a life where poetry and giving back to others just like myself. Read more>>

Kristina Martin

I have had a strong passion for art since I was a child but decided to pursue it as a business during the pandemic. I found myself in a depressed mindset after giving birth to my second child and juggling my 9-5 at home, Read more>>

Mattie Rose

Gosh, it feels like ages ago. From the time I was three years old in the back of my mom’s car singing along to a Disney princess CD I knew I loved music. Read more>>

Sylvia Tomayko-Peters

I often think I stumbled into visual art backwards. I learned technique and art history as a kid – growing up with two artist parents it was hard to avoid – but I had no desire to use it. Read more>>

Ryan Renner

I have always been an artist. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creating things. Whether if be painting, pottery, photography, sculpture… I have dabbled in many different artforms. Read more>>

Delaney Rogers

I have always been interested in the arts. When I was a kid, I would tell my parents I was going to become a famous artist and move to New York. Read more>>

Selah Sapphire

My decision to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally was unexpected and beyond my wildest dreams! I wholeheartedly consider myself a shy and introverted person. Read more>>

Hillary Frazier

I have known since I was a teenager. I was constantly checking out books on “How to become a comic book artist,” drawing up fashion designs, and creating stories and worlds in my head. Read more>>

Hayley Price

I️ guess I️ always knew I️ wanted to be a professional creative, from teaching art camps when I️ was just a kid, to selling my artwork to interior designers in high school and college, to then going on to do marketing for a magazine, the creative draw was always there. Read more>>

Stanton Ridleuy

This is a great question. For me, I think I knew this freshman year of college at Hampton University. This is the year that our clothing brand started and I knew then that designing clothing came at a natural pace for me. Read more>>

Brittany Wilborn

I was around 6 years old when I watched Janet Jackson’s music video “Alright” moved me to the point where I learned the dance moves and would perform it for anyone who watched me. Read more>>

Monica Martinez

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative and artistic path when I was little. I just enjoy every dance competition, pretend I was in a movie and say random dialogue in my head or just watch movies and imagine myself in there. Read more>>

Carina Fagiani

I firmly believe that ones purpose can show at a young age if you pay close attention to what you’re energetically drawn to. I’ve been an artist for as long as i can remember and my life goal was always to be a fashion designer. Read more>>

Taylor Kirsch

I remember I was in 5th grade when it really clicked for me that art was something I wanted to pursue as a career. I really had no idea how to make this dream tangible until I was in my junior your of high school however. Read more>>

Ashley Claybrook

Pursuing a creative/artistic path professionally has been my goal since I took my first dance class with Ms. Candance when I was 8 years old. Read more>>

Jessica Terry

I’ve always loved to write but I was in college when I realized I actually wanted to be an author and put my works out there. Read more>>

Jordan Burton

I started off young drawing everything that I could, then soon I was introduced to painting. Which then led me to my first group showing with the top three painters between all the high schools in my city. Read more>>

Maelina Gibson

I was a kid when I realized that I wanted to be a creative. I just wanted to make everybody happy like I made my family happy! I didn’t really know what that would or could look like for me until I saw Whoopi Goldberg do stand up! Read more>>

Denise Gossett

I have always known I wanted to act…actually, it started out with “when I get older I want to dance, act, or sing”, I dabbled in all of these through the years, but, the acting is the one that really stuck. Read more>>

Caitlin Layne

I was a hairdresser in Atlanta and one day (for fun) I took my camera to a festival and took photos of the local bands. Read more>>

Diane Foy

“You can be a secretary” This was the only career option my high school counsellor could come up with for me. I knew that there had to be something else out there. Read more>>

Daisy Buckët

When I was in grade school, I entered a talent show and performed a show tune dressed in drag. I didn’t know that what I was doing at the time was drag but I just thought it was funny and entertaining. Read more>>

Shantel Day

Believe it or not, I was 9 years old. In fourth grade, my teacher tasked the class with writing a story about a character we created. My wild imagination came up with a horse puppet made from pantyhose and cotton filler. Read more>>

Morgan Dyson

My interest in architecture started with my love for designing things. Whether it be art, clothing, music, or spaces around me; I learned how design can make someone’s space much better to experience. Read more>>

Misty Lucien

I’ve always felt a longing to create. I can’t remember a time I didn’t enjoy loosing myself in the experimental process. My parents divorced when I was young and I was an only child. Read more>>

Christie Maxwell

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path, specifically that of an actor, in 8th grade after attending “The Idiots Guide to High School”, by Alan Haehnel, which was performed by the drama club of my future high school. Read more>>

Brittany Anderson

I have always been creative and previously served the beauty industry for 18 years when I ended up with a shoulder injury after years of hairstyling. Read more>>

Melione

I’ve always loved writing, performing, and being able to share my art/music. Since a young age I knew I didn’t want to work a regular 9-5 job. Read more>>

Mani C. Price

I knew I wanted to be an animator from a very young age. I worked hard and prepared my portfolios as early as 5th-6th grade. By 8th grade, I applied to enter either Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a.k.a. the “Fame” school, or Art and Design. Read more>>