We asked some insanely talented artists, creatives and makers to tell us about when they know they were going to pursue a creative career.
Cassie Marozsan
Ten years ago I was sitting in county jail because I was addicted to opiates and doing some pretty questionable things with my life. I violated probation and was sentenced to three months in county jail and three months in a county in house rehabilitation center. All I had was time to think about what I wanted in life. County was boring and repetitive but when I got to the rehabilitation part I had a lot more options to fill up my hours and hours of free time. I met some pretty cool women in there that had artistic abilities so I would sit with them and learn to do what they were doing with paper and colored pencils. Read more>>
Keisha Mayo
In 2014, I released my bestselling nonfiction book Deceived, a personal testimony about overcoming deception and turning pain into purpose. Writing that book opened my eyes to the power of storytelling—not just for healing myself, but for helping others feel seen and less alone in their struggles. Read more>>
Brant Yang
Growing up in a family of musicians, I never thought I could work a regular 9-to-5 job. My path was pretty much set on becoming a musician—I played the saxophone throughout most of my childhood and teenage years and was on track to pursue it professionally. Read more>>
Riyana McDowell
I started doing my own hair because I was tender-headed and honestly just tired of my mom doing it — she would pull too tight! 😂 What started out as me trying to avoid the pain turned into something more. I started doing my friends’ hair, and through word of mouth, I ended up with clients while I was still in high school. Read more>>
Kimberlyn Renee
I’ve always been drawn to creating art, but went most of my life being too afraid to take the risk and commit to it as a full time career. I fed into the belief in my younger years that it was important to get a degree as the “safe” thing to do, to have “something to fall back on”. I got my business degree in marketing and management, but I remember sitting through lectures in college and looking around at my peers with the overwhelming feeling that this was not where I belonged. I just couldn’t see myself being happy getting a “real” job after college and finding fulfillment being a part of that world (Though I am thankful that much of what I learned is applicable as a small business owner). Read more>>
Jayeola Joshua
As a visual artist, i knew what I wanted earlier in life while growing up. Art was more a passion and a hobby to me which I love drawing a lot at a tender age. Could remember vividly I do make drawings at the back of my notebook while in primary and secondary school days, my grandmother would always warn me to stop it because it takes up space and they see it as waste of notebook because I spent some moments with her while growing up. Read more>>
Meg Dickerson
After completing my undergraduate degree I pursued a job in that field, international business. After a few years with too much stress in my life, I starting taking art classes at the local community college as a way to unwind. I took a ceramics course not expecting much beyond a creative break. But from the first time I worked with clay, something clicked. I was drawn to tits tactile nature, the way it responded to touch, and the slow, grounding rhythm of the process. What began as a casual outlet quickly became a deep passion. Read more>>
Vivienne Flesher
when I was a child, I had the most difficult time with everything in school. the only places I excelled were riding horses and art. I figured I could join a circus but even as a child I saw something a bit creepy about the circus world. so it was art by default. Read more>>
Jae Woo
I’ve always loved performing, even as a kid. But when I was 15, I had an experience that completely reshaped how I viewed acting. I was cast in a lead role in a community theater production, playing a boy with cerebral palsy who dreamed of running a marathon. Until then, performing had been purely about entertainment for me—but this role demanded something deeper. Read more>>
Corinne Viruet
Hair has always been my passion. Ever since second grade career day, when I dressed up as a hairdresser—just a “cute” outfit and some scissors—I knew what I wanted to do. My inspiration has always been my aunt, a talented hairdresser who owns her own salon, The Hair Spray. Read more>>
Kay
2015-2016 was a crucial moment for me transitioning into an artist. I was in my senior year of college struggling but determined to graduate. It was probably the first time I had to sacrifice myself to achieve a goal. Long commutes and long days really took its tolls on me and I was on auto pilot for a year. I had this feeling that if I didn’t have something for myself that’s what the rest of my life would look like. I wasn’t creating at all but I told myself if I get my degree I will focus on art and see where it can take me. Read more>>
Danielle Smith
As a child, around the age of 5, my mom gifted me with a toy wallet that was full of plastic toy cards, such as business cards, bank cards, informational cards, etc. Of course, these cards made me feel like a little grown-up, but what mesmerized me most about them was how each card was so unique. The layouts were all different with various typefaces and colors. I even obsessed on how distinct each card’s set of content was arranged. I don’t think I initially fully understood what I was so mesmerized by, but I knew that I wanted to understand how these visual anomalies came about. Read more>>
Jess Marz
I picked up a camera for the first time when I was snooping through the bedrooms of my then foster mom, now adopted mom, Valerie Marz. I came across dusty old cameras that looked like they have been hidden away for years. I brought my findings to mom to inquire how I could start using these abandoned cameras and give them a new purpose. Ever since I was 11 years old, I have had a camera strapped to me. I was passionate about photography as a hobby, but it wasn’t until I took a dark room photography class in my junior year of high school that I realized I could pursue photography professionally. One of my images was chosen by my instructor for an exhibit at the Los Angeles Cathedral for a year and we even had a ceremony celebrating our work being displayed. Read more>>
Vladimir Kush
I grew up in a family with high cultural values. At the time of my childhood, Russia was still behind an iron curtain and the only way to see exotic and unusual places was by traveling in my own imagination. Books that provoked such imagination were always on my family bookshelves. I grew exotic plants from seeds and cuttings only to travel with them to their native. Read more>>
Travis Koch
I always loved to draw and had a strong creative side when I was a child. But my school and career took me on another path and I ended up becoming an engineer. Although still creative, I slowly lost touch with my artistic side until I was in my 30’s. On a whim, I started painting windows for a friend’s business one holiday season and it unlocked a deeper passion within me. During the Covid lockdowns, I had an opportunity to learn and dive further into that passion. Ever since then, my art has slowly grown and expanded into a small business. I still work as a full-time engineer, but this is what I love to do and will do as much as I can in my spare time. Read more>>
Cora Potvin
This is a bit of a long story, but it’s one I like to share! Realizing that I could pursue art professionally was a year-long journey for me back in high school, around when I was 16. My twin sister and I decided to start an Instagram art account together to share some of our old art that we made for fun. Growing up, my sister and I were above average with art but never took it too seriously, especially since our mom had gone to school for art and was a full time teacher in music, we didn’t think that you could do anything with art more than as a hobby. Well, after only 3 days of sharing our work, we already hit 100 followers and ran out of old art to share! So we decided we needed to make some art to post. Read more>>
Benjamin McFadden
I started acting when I was ten years old and signed with my first commercial agent at eleven. For the majority of my life, I have loved performing in front of an audience. It has been the fuel that feeds my soul and rarely have I considered other life options. After graduating from Cornish with a BFA in theater, I spent the better part of a decade working as a professional actor; primarily on stages in the Pacific Northwest. When I moved to Los Angeles in early 2017, my goals were to make the pivot from stage to screen with all the opportunities that being a “LA actor” bring. And though I have found some small successes since being here. Read more>>
Kareena Solanki
The creative pursuit of being an artist has been inherent for a very long time, however, it was only during the 2020 pandemic that I stepped up to acknowledge it. As a child, I would always paint, embroider, make paper crafts and dance. However, there never seemed to be a sustainable career path in the arts. I graduated in 2020 as a product designer, but felt confined by its requirements. That’s when I decided to take a leap of faith and pursue an MFA in Studio Art. During the pandemic, I began self-studying and became a self-taught artist, experimenting in my house studio. Read more>>
LaTeisha Melvin
Movement has always been a part of my story. Growing up in Baltimore—a melting pot of creativity—I was immersed in the arts from a young age. I began my technical training at TWIGS, a free after-school program, and later attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. After experiencing the rigor, discipline, and technical training the program had to offer, I knew I wanted to pursue dance professionally in some shape or form. After graduating, I continued my studies in Dance and Choreography at Virginia Commonwealth University. It was there that I discovered my passion for composition and choreography. Read more>>
Dylan Friedkin
I have always been an artist. I got my first easel when I was two years old and that was that.
I fell into art professionally out of survival. In 2018 I ended up in a domestic violence partnership with a narcissistic abuser. One weekend they took me to San Francisco as a “break,” but when we got there I had essentially been kidnapped because they then said “we are staying here now and we are going to be homeless.” Read more>>
Julie Notaro
I consider myself a late bloomer. I began pursuing an art career professionally when I designed a line of scarves based on my artwork. Prior to that I was making art for myself and wasn’t showing/selling it much, other than to friends and family. A friend of a friend saw my art and suggested I try fabric design. I took it to heart and got to designing a line of scarves. I set up a kickstarter campaign and raised money to produce the line under the name Wandering Boho. Since then I’ve had starts and stops with my art career, but two years ago I got a retail studio in the Arts Factory, Las Vegas. Read more>>
Adi Segal
I have always been interested in a career that connects creativity and community. I double majored in art history and education studies in college, and went on to work in various art nonprofits. But I was always the facilitator/administrator, not the artist in the room. I remember a few years after college sitting on a park bench in Central Park with my roommate, and saying “I want to be an artist.” It was a very scary thing for me to say aloud. And even after admitting that to her, and to myself, it took me time to work up the courage to leave my job, and go back to school for visual art. Read more>>
Samantha Higgins
I remember going into a tattoo shop when I was a kid for the first time, for my mom to get a small tattoo on her ankle. I think that was what planted the seed about what tattoos really were because at the time, I loved art and drawing and I learned on that day they could be applied to skin! Ever since then, I had it in my head that it was what I wanted to do. There were other creative hobbies through the years that I tried, but nothing stuck as hard as wanting to tattoo. Between the history, the cultures that influenced modern tattooing, and the experimental ways it’s done now, everything about it piques my interest! Read more>>
Jiannan Wu
I first realized I could pursue an artistic path professionally right after graduating from New York Academy of Art. At the time, I wasn’t fully confident about turning my passion into a career—it felt uncertain and distant. But right before graduation, several galleries invited me to exhibit my work. That changed everything. It was the first time I saw real opportunities aligning with what I loved to do. Those invitations gave me both the confidence and the push I needed to start working as a full-time artist. It wasn’t just about being seen—it was about finally seeing the path myself. Read more>>
Logan Dean
My grandfather is an oil painter and art instructor so I’ve been lucky enough to have art in my life for as long as I can remember. Creativity was fostered and encouraged in my home and I was supported fully by my family (even when I made no money which is usually) Read more>>
Abel Zhang
Becoming a designer was not always part of my original plan—even though I had been practicing painting and calligraphy since childhood. My initial goal was to pursue a more STEM-oriented path, focusing on engineering and construction, as I had a strong interest in logic and mathematics during high school. However, my perspective shifted when I was introduced to digital media. It changed the way I viewed art and design—I realized that art could be integrated with technology, expressed through logic, and brought to life through video, music, and interaction. Read more>>
Giulia Martin
From when I was pretty young, my sister and I would constantly play with makeup. She is a great artist and loved to use me as her model. I have always been pretty artistic- loved to sing, dance and perform and makeup artistry was always a part of that world. It wasnt until I worked as an assistant to the entire cosmetics floor at Saks Fifth Avenue in NY and then Counter Manager for Bobbi Brown Cosmetics at Bloomingdales 59th Street that my true love for makeup took over. I got to try so many incredible products and brands, attend trainings and special events and even got the opportunity to participate as a makeup artist for Fashion Week and Bridal Fashion Week. Read more>>
Jasmine Rodriguez
The first time I knew entertainment is meant for me is when my mom was coming home from work one night and saw me with a skirt, some panty hose, and a red spaghetti strap watching the big TV emulating Beyoncé’s concert. I couldn’t have been more than five years old. After that I began writing poetry, joining choirs, and even recorded my first song in a recording studio. It’s been noticed that I really just become a different version of myself when I get on stage, it really takes people aback. I’ve always loved dance, film, singing, and overall having an outlet to express myself. Read more>>
Jeanne Rosier Smith
When I was growing up, art was always my favorite thing to do–but it never once occurred to me that it could actually be my ‘job.’ I came from an academic family and even though I was always encouraged to study what I loved, I knew no one who made their living creatively, and just could not envision that as a possibility. So I ended up a college professor with a PhD in English. Of course I never stopped painting. Little by little, over the course of about a year, I started getting commission requests, people asking me to teach them, and a gallery contacted me about representation. Read more>>
Jay Wooten
I’ve always thought that my life was meant for greatness and to inspire others, I just needed an opportunity to show my talents to a person who could actually make a difference. Read more>>
Layne Hubble
For as long as I can remember and from a very early age, I was absolutely enamored with the intersection between art and history. I used to look forward to the school day ending, knowing that a new documentary on Egyptian history was waiting for me at home on the DVR. I would look for programs on archeology, anthropology, or paleontology— not quite positive what I wanted to be when I grew up, but knowing that I never wanted to give up this feeling of discovery. Read more>>
Khalyssa Raechelle
My entire life, my family and friends have encouraged me to get in front of a camera, microphone, and stage at a very young age. As a kid I would get the neighborhood kids together and host talent shows in my backyard, and during the summer my cousins and I would pretend we were pop stars and make up a dance routine and preform it in front of our family. My gift has always been bringing people together and creating a safe space for people to be themselves. Read more>>
Aaron Reimschiissel
I never really set out to be a professional artist, especially not a pumpkin carver! For years, I just loved the process of carving for parties and small community gatherings. Then, a conversation at one of those small events changed things. Someone started talking about giant pumpkins, a world I didn’t even know existed. They were with the Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers Association, and offered me an opportunity to carve one of their giant pumpkins. Read more>>