We asked some insanely talented artists, creatives and makers to tell us about when they know they were going to pursue a creative career.

Robert Zinni Brandon Black

Brandon Black & Robert Zinni met in 2020 when they were producing a small interview show for 5enses Magazine in Prescott, AZ. Zinni was the host and Brandon was the producer. During the pandemic of 2020, we interviewed local community members about how their businesses were hurting. Through that, we develoepd a sketch comedy show call “The TBD Show” to raise the spirits of people in Prescott. Dana Murdock, the owner of Thumb Butte Distillery allowed us to produce a sketch comedy show outside of their distillery. Read more>>

Gabriel Marian

Since I was a kid, around 5 years old, I liked drawing and watching my mum draw cartoon characters for me. But one of the most encouraging moments at that age was when I got a national award in a kid’s painting competition organized by UNICEF. During my teenage years, I started preparing for the admission exam at an Art School, but my family’s pressure to choose a college that would get me a “reasonable” job determined me to start with literary studies, to become a teacher, maybe. A few years later, while in Paris with a two-year scholarship, I resumed some art classes, and had my first personal and group exhibitions in a student context. Read more>>

Deborah Jaffe

I’ve been making objects out of clay ever since my mother enrolled me in a pottery class at the age of five. From that early age I knew clay would always be a part of my life. My father was a photographer, and unlike many parents, his greatest hope for me and my brother was for us to become artists. Growing up in New York City, I was exposed to so many creative places and people. I attended a middle school that emphasized the arts, and then went on to Laguardia High School of Music and Art, where art-making was a primary part of every day. I went on to major in Art History in college and eventually got a dream job working at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Education department. Read more>>

Emma Beck

Drawing has felt like second nature for as long as I can remember, something I can spend hours in solitude with, as a social device with friends and family, something I couldn’t stop doing if I tried.

It’s something I knew I’d be doing my whole life, but it wasn’t until a public art show during high school that I knew I wanted to make it my career. Seeing all kinds of people engage with and respond to something I made gave me an unexpected, incredible feeling, and I knew I wanted to throw myself into pursuing it. Read more>>

Logan Warren

We started our project Gone Before Us in 2017, almost 8 years ago. When the four of us met (Logan, Charlie, Ethan, Jason) we knew pretty immediately we had something special. We all had a deep passion for music, art and community and something sparked when we met. We all practiced together as much as we could, writing as much material as we could handle, and told every living soul about what we were doing. There was a lot exciment and passion, but it didn’t really set in until we started playing shows. Read more>>

Jessica Haw

I grew up oil painting and have always loved the arts. But with Taiwanese immigrant parents, I was encouraged to pursue a more traditionally stable career. Since I also loved working with kids, I became an elementary school teacher. When my husband started his medical residency, it made sense for me to stay home to raise our children, and life felt like a whirlwind—especially after managing multiple moves across the country to follow my husband’s opportunities. Read more>>

Anthony Lewis

I was 14 years old when I start teaching in an after school program in Queen ny. I was assisting teaching the steel pan to kids in a middle school ,I knew nothing about teaching at the time . Over the course of weeks I watch the kids faces light up as they got the music and was able to play it by memory,the more they learned the more I enjoyed teaching . Fast forward 22 years later and I am still teaching music.  Read more>>

Heather Schaefer

I knew when I was young I wanted to “be an artist” and I have always felt such a sense of joy and internal fulfillment when working on or finishing a work of art. Rarely does a day go by that I am not working on a painting in my studio – even if it’s just for 15 minutes as I walk by and look at what’s currently on my easel. When I was young I remember going to my aunt Sue’s house, who is a remarkable artist. I was enthralled looking at her work, and just hoped that someday I would be able to paint like her. The art gene definitely runs in my family in many ways – my Mom is a very creative and artistic person who always has a vision. Read more>>

Ladan Sedighi

Art has always been second nature to me. Even as a child, I found solace and joy in creating. My elementary school art classes weren’t just a subject, I thrived in them. The process felt effortless as if I was meant to do this.
When it came time to choose a high school, I knew deep down that a creative path was the only one I wanted to pursue. I set my sights on a specialized graphic design high school, Azadegan, in Tehran. At just fourteen years old, I had to convince my mother that this was more than just a passing interest—it was my calling. The decision carried weight because once I passed their entrance exam and enrolled, there was no turning back. Their curriculum was vastly different from a traditional high school making it nearly impossible to switch paths later. Read more>>

Andrea Meireles

I remember that when I was a child, maybe I was six or seven years old, at school the teachers told us to learn poems that we would then have to recite in front of the whole class, and I remember taking it very seriously, I would rehearse for hours in front of the mirror, I would dress up and try different ways of saying it, and then I would recite it in front of my mother. She has always been my number one fan, the one who has always supported and encouraged me the most and I remember feeling enormous nerves and excitement when I had to stand in front of the entire class to recite the poem. I ended up so elated that I just wished I could do it again. At that age is when the school let us sign up for theater classes, too. Read more>>

Lauren Mendoza-Routt

From a young age, I knew my world was inward. I spent hours creating realities inside of my mind and in my dreams, until one day I grabbed a pen and paper and started writing. First what began as a daily note taking of every day events, turned into descriptive words and eventually poetry and song lyrics. Since then, I’ve managed to pursue poetry and singing on the side, having received my MFA in poetry from The New School and taking up voice lessons at Wynwood School of Music here in Miami, Fl. Read more>>

Kitty Wang

I knew since I was a toddler, not thinking there was any other option. Starting from age 4, my mom put me in ballet, ballroom, violin, piano, guitar, chorus, drawing, and painting classes. She thought it was a good way to educate me and teach me culture, somehow expecting me to go in to a more STEM related field. In hind sight, she was basically training me to be a creative but it had never crossed her mind. She eventually put me in to Saturday and Sunday schools starting in around 4th grade to learn higher level English and Math. I absolutely hated it. Not that I hated the actual problems and readings, as I was equally as curious about these subjects, but the way they were handed to me and taught in a structure that was demeaning and overly structured. Read more>>

Shahv (Shahvteeaylah) Williams

I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I spent hours in the library renting comic books and animated movies, completely immersed in visual storytelling. I was drawn to the characters—the way they were designed, the emotions they conveyed—and I’d fill sketchbooks trying to capture that same magic. Western comics like Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley, alongside Japanese works by Rumiko Takahashi and Ai Yazawa, heavily influenced me. Miyazaki films, too, were a huge source of inspiration. At first, I was just copying what I saw, trying to improve my technical skills, but eventually, I started coming up with my own ideas. Read more>>

Erik Coveney

My journey into professional music began at age 16. I was your typical suburbanite: soccer, heavy music, keeping grades up, and backyard hangs with friends. With two engineers for parents, I was, by default, headed for a similar career. Or was I?

I had already quit the French horn from middle school band, hoping I’d have a better chance to “get girls” by playing in a rock band. The band my friends were starting already had two guitar players and a drummer, so, fatefully, I chose bass. Read more>>

Susana Elena Boyce

Since I was a child, growing up in the small city of Sonora, Mexico, I was surrounded by
very artistic parents. My mother worked at the biggest advertising company in the city
as a graphic designer and in her free/not so free time she was known for her sewing
skills and for making the most beautiful dresses. My father, also an artist, played in a
band. He was the lead singer and played the piano as well as the guitar. Creativity was
always around me. Read more>>

Brianna Grant

From a young age, I’ve loved arts and crafts, constantly exploring new ways to express myself through art. Whether it be through painting, sketching, scrape booking. I find my joy in bringing my ideas to life. Even in those experiences I wasn’t aware of my creative ability. It wasn’t until my sophomore/junior year in college before I transferred to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University that I realized I wanted to pursue Graphic Design. Read more>>

Kendra Castillo

I was that child who was always rearranging my bedroom furniture, doodling on everything, and turning every space into a canvas. Luckily, I grew up in a home that championed creativity. My parents gave me the freedom to explore artistic ideas in ways that, looking back, were pretty extraordinary—3D wall murals, gallery walls filled with my own artwork, and even the chance to completely remodel certain rooms in our home. Read more>>

Angie Cantu

I’ve always known I wanted to be an artist and a fashion designer from a young age. I was attracted to art in the 8th grade. My art teacher. Mr. San Miguel was always pushing me and said I had good vision and a great imagination.
Fashion wise, I started to love fashion around the same time. I was about 12 or 13. My mom and my aunts were very supportive. They were always buying me clothes especially my mom from second hand stores. My love for fashion started with Madonna, Prince and Cyndi Lauper. They open the doors for me. Not only in art and fashion but in music as well. That’s another avenue I want to pursue one day. Professionally my art and fashion didn’t start until I was pushed into it after a car accident in 2019 and Covid in 2020. Read more>>

Alicia Han

I think I knew, in some instinctive way, when I was still in kindergarten.
One day, our teacher handed out coloring pages and crayons. Most of the children scribbled freely, and their colors spilled beyond the lines. But I—without knowing why—carefully stayed within the edges. I wasn’t trying to be perfect. I just found it comforting, even joyful, to bring color into the right shapes, to let an image slowly come to life. Read more>>

Haniko Zahra

I think the first time I truly knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was during the protests in Iran in 2018. Up until that point, I had been trained in representational painting techniques and studied the history of Persian miniatures at university. My education was focused on tradition, restraint, and adhering to rules—mirroring the patriarchal and restrictive nature of the society I grew up in. Read more>>

Timothy Taratchila

Imagine you’re a high school sophomore in class. The teacher is going on and on about a subject you have absolutely no interest in. You fiddle with your pen on the paper and start doodling. A whole hour passes and your paper is covered with doodles.

Funny how we’d do anything to avoid listening. Luckily for me, I found my passion doing just that. Ever since that day in math or English or whatever class it was, I started doodling, and I didn’t stop the rest of high school. Once high school ended I didn’t want the doodling to end so I just kept on doing it. The doodles turned into paintings, the paintings turned into piles of canvases, and those piles of canvases turned into an art show! I don’t know much, (probably should’ve payed attention in school) but I do know that I’m meant to be an artist. Read more>>

Marlene Lamora

After working at the corporate level of a college for many years and dealing with considerable stress, I decided to go for it and pursue art professionally. I knew I was an artist since I was a little girl and I had all these ideas. I got the opportunity as a hobbyist home designer to redecorate an apartment in Miami Beach. That opportunity led to another and so forth.

During that process, things stood still for several years as I moved to Ocala and became a caregiver for my mother during her illness. Finally, in 2020 during the Covid lockdown, I began to reflect on my home design work, particularly on how I always incorporated a piece of furniture in my work. Read more>>

Mara Frey

From an early age, I always dreamed of a career in dance, but it wasn’t until my late 20s that I truly began to embrace that passion. After taking a break from dancing following high school, I found myself on the sidelines of the vibrant dance community. It was a chance suggestion from a friend of a friend that reignited my journey—I choreographed a musical one summer at the age of 26, and that was the spark that ignited my creative pursuit. Read more>>

Naomi Townsend

I saw this question and immediately thought, how could I ever just pinpoint one moment? There was no single realization, but rather a series of experiences that gradually led me down an artistic path.

Growing up, I was convinced I’d be a ballerina, dreaming of joining a prestigious company like the Royal Ballet. I competed internationally, winning multiple awards, and performed classical ballet pieces with the renowned Conservatory of International Style of Cultural Arts (CISCA) in major cities across China. I loved every moment of it! But as much as I focused on technique, my teachers and competition judges always highlighted something else—my passion for storytelling. They noticed how completely I immersed myself in each piece, fully committed to expressing my emotions. Read more>>

Joanna Cretella

Honestly, I really never wanted to be an actor. My mom was an actor when I was growing up, so I knew all the pitfalls of the job. She used to tell me all the time that 90% of actors are out of work at any given time (a statistic that I believe holds true today). I saw how hard she had to work and how much we had to scrimp and save, and I wanted a path that wasn’t quite so financially and logistically challenging.

But at the same time, I started acting when I was around 9 or 10. My mom was teaching an acting class in our basement, and I surprised her by telling her I wanted to take it. After that, I did the school play and school musical every year through middle and high school. I did at least three shows a year in college. I took so many theater classes that I accidentally picked up a double major. Read more>>

Gabriela Domville

My creative journey began at an early age, probably around seven or eight years old. My grandmother used to take me fabric shopping, and I fell in love with the textures and patterns, wrapping myself around the fabric bolts.
My brother, who is also a creative, and I built my first dollhouse using wooden market crates, shoeboxes, and scraps of fabric and rugs from the local tapestry shop. I even designed my own clothes, using newspaper as a pattern to cut simple shapes. Read more>>

Patrice Mullin

For me as a musician, the performance is the most exciting aspect of my work as an entertainer. Being on a stage singing, dancing and interpreting the song to the audience is where I shine. From the first time I performed in front of a crowd, I knew that this is what I want to do. My most enjoyable moments involve getting lost in the melody and striving to sing to the best of my ability while combining this with a visual presentation the crowd can relate to. Read more>>

Elizabeth Alcala

What led me down a creative path was growing up watching my father draw for his architecture school. I also saw him create 3-D models with his own hands. He introduced me to the world of creativity, being a big DIY enthusiast himself. He was the one who taught me how to sew and use a sewing machine. Every year for Halloween, he hand-made all of my costumes. Creating things with my own hands brings me immense joy, especially when I can share my artwork with others, allowing them to wear it every day. Read more>>

Dori Baggs

I was involved in creative interests and pursuits since childhood. When 7 years old I remember constructing an art museum out of a refrigerator box and hung drawings I made on the walls for my family to view.

In high school I was involved in Junior Achievement and gained business knowledge through planning and creating products to sell. I won a college essay scholarship in my senior year of high school by writing about my dream of owning my own store one day selling things I made. Read more>>