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.

Anai Singer

Art has always been close to my heart. I grew up surrounded by art albums. I looked at their pages with passion.As a two-year-old girl I was already painting dolls where each one had a different dress designed.Over time I sewed clothes for them , knitted entire collections.My mom already had a feeling that I would became a fashion designer.Painting accompanied me every day. I devoted every free moment to it.I loved going to the Children’s Theater to see performances where after each one there was a competition for a favorite scene.I always took part in them and won the main prizes.Every year the love for art grew stronger and stronger, creativity had no end.When the time came to choose my studies, I knew it would be the Academy of Fine Arts. It was a very prestigious school. It was very difficult to get into, and each year they accepted only a few people. When I got there it was one of my happiest days of my life. The dream became reality. The tears of happiness were endless. Read more>>

Sara Levin

My creative journey began as far back as I can remember and has evolved significantly over the years, leading me to where I am now as a dedicated calligrapher.During my childhood, I was deeply involved in both music and dance, with dance becoming a passion that shaped much of my early life. This passion led me to pursue it as my college major, where I continued to grow as an artist. After my time on stage, I transitioned into a career in arts and design administration, where I had the privilege of helping creative leaders bring their ideas to life, managing projects from concept through to completion. Read more>>

Vanessa Jackson

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was when I started feeling uncomfortable. This quote says, “When God wants you to grow, he makes you uncomfortable.” This quote has been the epitome of my life but has pushed me to discover new levels of myself. Any transitioning part in my life happened when I began to feel uncomfortable not just physically, but every part of me felt uneasy. Growing up I was always creative and loved fashion, I had dreamed of being a fashion designer or a model. My creative side is a big extension of who I am, so after I graduated with my master’s degree in Human Resources Management, I thought my life would look completely different. No matter what I pursued my creative side has always been a space of liberty and self-discovery. I said this to say, I always knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally because it shows up in any work I do. Read more>>

Christine Jackson

Coming up under hustlers, at an early age I knew I wanted to be my own boss and a boss to others. I was about 13/14 really realizing what money was and when you have a certain amount, the power and mentality it gave. Watching my mother as a child already being a beautician, did everything for me! I knew as I grew up, doing something I love will have a better lasting feeling then going to school, which I enjoyed also graduating high school with a 3.4 but for longevity I knew that what’s I didn’t want to do. Graduating when I was 17 years of age, I hit the ground running as a stylist. Being my brand for the last 12 years been nothing but awesome. You always take the bad cause the good always being great. Read more>>

Daeun Cho

For me, the moment I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally came during my teenage years in Seoul, South Korea. Growing up in such a bustling and culturally rich city, I was constantly surrounded by artistic influences, including the vibrant K-pop scene that was everywhere. The music, choreography, and energy of K-pop deeply inspired me. I began performing freestyle-ish dance in front of my classmates during school events. The first time I danced in front of an audience, I felt an exhilarating rush of happiness and connection. The applause, the smiles, and the energy from the crowd were addictive. I realized that performing wasn’t just about the dance itself; it was about the shared experience and the joy it brought to both me and the audience. Read more>>

Scott Baldino

I’ve been an artist as long as I can remember. I was born with an eye for art and an ear for music. Most of my artistic pursuits involve entertainment as I have done work in the film, television and music industry Read more>>

Benny Bassett

I grew up in a family that had an expansive love of music. We were always going to concerts at the local University in Chico, California. Musicals, theater, symphonies, chamber music, and all those kinds of performances. My stepfather had an advanced degree in music instrument repair, and his parents owned a music instrument store. So music and performance was always in my life. I played in bands as a hobby and for fun all through my early childhood. I continued playing music with different groups through High School and College, and then it came time to choose a career path, and I decided to go to law school. I was very fortunate to have a great educational background, and some excellent professors that helped me narrow down that choice. In a weird twist, I never even considered music as a possibility. Read more>>

Lauren Dupler

My entire life, I had always been drawn to the arts, but it never really came naturally to me. I have memories of being in my elementary school art classes, admiring the works of my peers and wishing I was half as good as them. When I was in 5th grade, I took a career day quiz and my results came back as an artist, a writer, or a musician. Looking back, that was pretty on-par for the journey I took in life. A few years later when I was in 7th grade, our local festival – the Oak Harbor Apple Fest – was hosting an art competition for all ages. I decided to enter by drawing these very 2000’s-style blue and red dragons, and to my complete shock, I won first place in my age category. My prize included several professional drawing pads and different drawing pencils and supplies and I truly think it was those art supplies that fueled my creative fire first. I had always been a very creative child and channeled my creativity through writing instead of drawing, but those supplies opened up a new door for me and I started drawing everything I could when I had the chance. But my dreams of becoming an artist quickly died when, only a short year later, my 8th grade art teacher told me I was closer to becoming the next Stephen King, not Vincent van Gogh, and perhaps I should focus my attention on writing instead of drawing. I often wonder what my life would be like had that teacher encouraged me to keep drawing and creating art. Read more>>

Janel Kilnisan

I had a near death experience in my mid twenties that really put my life into perspective. I knew I always loved photography and had alway pursued it and studied it since high school as I was in college I worked bartending jobs to get me through school . But once I had my near death experience that left me in a wheelchair for a year . I realized that life is too short and I didn’t want to spend any more of my time doing other jobs while studying. I had already gotten my A.A the year before the accident in art and art education . And decided to go get my BFA and then pursue a career as a photographer. I worked a few years for other photographers and then finally decided to work solely for myself in 2016 . Read more>>

Ilias Anwar

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative and artistic path professionally was when I was a kid who was deeply immersed in the world of video games and skateboarding. I grew up creating my own trick-shotting clan called Tactical Network and building communities around my favorite games like MapleStory. I was constantly inspired by how these digital spaces allowed people from all over to connect, share stories, and create moments together. This passion for bringing people together through creativity only grew stronger as I got older. During my college years at VCU, I initially thought I would pursue fashion design to create my own luxury line. But it wasn’t long before I realized my true passion lay in building something more dynamic a platform that could help connect artists, creatives, and audiences across different mediums. I switched gears and started TCC Entertainment, which began as a blog focused on up-and-coming artists but quickly evolved into a full-fledged creative agency. Read more>>

Celeste Gomez

I always knew I wanted to work professionally in my craft. Writing has been something special to me since I was young and I worked very hard to be good at writing English, so I can be an someday. The very moment hit me when I was 8 years old and I attended a writer’s camp. My teacher at the time, Mr. Perkins believed in me and told me I could pursue my passions. After going to the camp, I knew my passion for writing wasn’t just a hobby. Not only was it self-expression for me, but I knew if others could pursue it, why couldn’t I? Read more>>

Kelly Waltrip

I had an upbringing that was rich in the arts and had many opportunities to pursue artistic endeavors. While I took those pursuits seriously, as I thought about my long-term career, I saw that going in a different direction. My parents identified that my switch in direction may have been driven by shorter-term challenges like a bad teacher fit. They encouraged me to pursue music in college and gave me the freedom to change my mind if I didn’t enjoy it after the first semester. I never looked back as I fell back in love with music during that first semester and found an incredible teacher.  This teacher, Lori Sims, had an incredible impact on me. She identified a set of skills and a path for those skills early on. When a skiing injury during my freshmen year presented a possible limitation in my future as a musician, she opened a door I didn’t know was a possibility in arts management. She gave me the confidence to explore internships locally and to pursue arts management as a career. Once I was a part of creating artistic experiences for my community and the power of access, I was hooked! Read more>>

Annie Rob

From a young age, I knew I was destined to pursue a creative path. Art was the one subject at school I truly enjoyed. After I left school, I completed an Art Foundation course which was the natural stepping-stone to a creative degree in the UK. It was exhilarating to be among others equally as interested in art and liberating to be in an institution that took art as seriously as the ‘traditional’ subjects. It confirmed the art world was for me and not just a waste of time as I’d been told many times.  However, my dad still wasn’t convinced. He worried about my future. It was hard for him to understand how working in the creative industry could offer steady work or a decent salary. Following the Art Foundation course, I decided to study graphic design and applied to the University of Brighton; its course was the highest regarded in the UK for that field. He told me that if I didn’t get into the program in Brighton, I’d have to get a day job and give up the idea of studying art. I’ll never forget it because his ultimatum only fueled my determination. That day, I decided to prove to my dad and everyone else that I had what it takes. And it was the best decision I made. I worked hard and got accepted into the program. Read more>>

Scott Seagren

I was captivated by film at a young age and always let my imagination run away with me. As a kid, I thought maybe I wanted to be an actor and spent every minute of free time I had, making comics for my stories or acting out scenes from movies that I loved. A concerned neighbor approached my parents once when I was riding my bike up and down our street with a pair of shades and a BB gun rifle. They thought maybe I was a disturbed child who was trying to kill birds, but I was just trying to fight the T-1000 and save John Connor. I also raised concern on various occasions when I was trying to defeat Scorpion in my backyard to win Mortal Kombat, as well as duel Darth Vader in the driveway or shoot my way out of a burning house as Billy the Kid. Read more>>

David Nevue

That my life has taken this path has been a surprise. I never expected, really, to make a career of music. Sure, as a 1980’s teenager, I loved music and dreamed I might someday play in a rock band, but playing the piano as a career wasn’t a life goal or even on my radar. If you asked my 18-year-old self what I wanted to do in life, I would have said I wanted to become a professional writer of words, not music.I started composing for piano right around 1984, my freshman year of college. I was inspired by pianist George Winston, who played music unlike any I’d heard before; melodic, songlike in structure, but not classical or jazz. I was completely taken by his style, and with his work as inspiration, I began experimenting with writing melodies of my own.  However, my artistic energy was, at that time, mostly devoted to creative writing, and that, mostly poetry. I had the idea to write a short story and compose original music at the piano to go along with it—a soundtrack of sorts. So I started writing songs, like musical paintings, to follow along with each chapter of my story idea. Read more>>

Tori Berghoff

My maternal grandmother “JoJo” was a beautiful artist and person. She was loving, accepting, eccentric (I loved it!), talented and smart. As I’ve always seen it, she lived a tame life with a wild heart. She was a textbook suburban housewife and mother but she always sought ways to express her ideas and creativity. She was a painter, an author, a poet, and the best gift wrapper to ever tie a bow. She even snuck in flying lessons while her husband was deployed and in her early 20’s she adventured off to work at the 1939 NYC World’s Fair.  Wherever she lived she had an art studio – in the laundry room. I loved visiting her. She made me feel loved, safe, and appreciated. And one of my very favorite parts of visiting her was going to her studio/laundry room. Even as a young child, I LOVED the smell of linseed oil that would overtake my senses the second I walked in, followed by a waft of Tide and Downy. And then I would marvel at whatever beautiful landscape was coming to life on her easel. Read more>>