We asked some insanely talented artists, creatives and makers to tell us about when they know they were going to pursue a creative career.
Willie Soul
When Willie Soul thinks back to the first time he knew he wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally, he was actually 3 years old and his mom would take hear the bands at the venue the former Jacksonville Landing with his fisher price toy drum. As he was playing along with the bands, it was a great feeling when others in attendance would start laying money near him for his high entertainment playing my fisher price toy drum. Read more>>
Jakob Core
When I was seven, I saw a bunch of kids gathered together. They were marveling over an album. I was always an outsider, so I didn’t feel like I could join them, but I caught a glimpse of the record cover. It was Rock & Roll Over by Kiss. Read more>>
Mark McKinnon
I didn’t always know that I wanted to be an actor. Growing up, my focus was sports (Football, Basketball) and becoming an architect. It wasn’t until the fall of 2004 that I went to support a friend at our high school audition for the play. At the audition, the director came out to the waiting to see who was next and she saw me. Read more>>
Tré Campbell
So I first picked up the pen in 7th grade, around 12 or 13 years old, and looking back on how it all started…I’d have to say it was divine timing/the universe/or whatever you want to call it. It all happened and aligned perfectly. Read more>>
Shalon
Two things I always knew I could do effortlessly since i was a little girl, were singing & drawing. Even before I knew what I wanted to, I have always been drawn to creation. Growing up, I’ve always kind of felt out of place & different. Like the black sheep. It seemed like most of my classmates had an idea of what they wanted to do after highschool & I was still trying to figure it out. It wasn’t until after completing a year of college that I realized I wanted to pursue music. Read more>>
Allison Dyg
My mother would say I’ve always wanted to pursue a artistic/musical path. I’ve been singing for years! Since I was about 4 years old. I remember wrapping myself in a bedsheet with a paper “torch” trying my best to look like lady liberty. Then I’d sing the national anthem for my grandma/mom and anyone who was in my grandmother’s kitchen- that was the hang out spot for my family. I’d say for me however… Read more>>
John Veiga
Honestly, since I was 13 I’ve been obsessed and completely engulfed in my creative journey. It all started with just re writing other artists lyrics from the inserts in the cd’s, thus learning song writing, and the same process of learning applied for every aspect of my creative knowledge gathering Read more>>
Borey Unlimited
Always loved to create, I feel like I was born to create whether it’s involving music or fashion or any art. My backstory pretty much realizing you can do anything you put your mind to. Life’s an experience you either learn from it or get lost in it. Read more>>
ryn
Finding music was kind of a wandering road for awhile! I started dancing was I could barely even form a sentence and I think that where my love for music with a good beat that makes you want to move comes from. When I heard my first hiphop song at 9 years old, I legit lost my shit LOL! I had never listened to music that made me want to move as much as this type of music did. Read more>>
Panic 8577
14yrs old when got my first opportunity to get into a studio and record the first song was singing I believe I can fly with my mother. She didn’t tell me that’s what we was going to do I remember coming home from school we had been practicing the song for a few days. So I figured that’s the plan this day after school. To prepare for this talent show so when I get home my mom tells me we’re leaving the house at 5pm. Read more>>
REV
At 16 years old I knew I wanted to start my journey as an artist. At the time I had no equipment, or studio experience. So me and a friend of mine who I refer to as my brother, Nalan, sat outside of his house on the river bank in my old beat up car late night where we would write and record remix to songs off of our phones. The finished product, no matter how bad the quality, made me extremely proud. Read more>>
Lindsay Reed
Believe it or not, I picked up my first camera shortly after getting married as a way to bond with my mother-in-law (she was a hobbyist photographer). It wasn’t long after that, I really became passionate about it and began diving into online classes and practicing as much as possible. At the time, I was working as a Registered Nurse as a local hospital and some of my pregnant coworkers asked me to photograph their new babies. It was so rewarding getting to see my co-workers become parents and capturing their first few moments as a family. Read more>>
Gillian Kohn
The moment I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally… Read more>>
Clare Wuellner
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. Read more>>
Diana Rosa
I grew up in a creative environment. Many musicians in my family were rehearsing and playing . As a child I enjoyed making the dresses for my dolls. From 7 to 11 years old I was doing extracurricular activities in the school: singing and painting. Read more>>
Cindy Hamilton
I come from a creative family, with musicians and artists on my mom’s side, and my dad was always an innovative creator, constantly trying new things. I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to do something creative, but the exact career path changed a few times. When I was little, I would perform concerts for my family, and I wanted to be a singer like Mariah Carey or Janet Jackson. Read more>>
Sierra Barnes
After I was diagnosed with (Craniopharyngioma) brain tumor and underwent surgery to remove it along with my hypothalamus and pituitary gland in 2002, my Mom gave me a small canvas to paint on to express emotions. I painted my first painting then. When my mom asked me to tell her about the piece I titled the piece “Complicated”. Read more>>
Samarie @2samarie3
It was 2019 I had just gotten let out of high school because of Covid and in that time of being on lockdown I really hit the ground with networking and using social media to connect and soon got my first placement. Once I got paid for that first one I knew I had something and there was nothing else to do but build on it. Read more>>
Suthernbreed
The first time I ever performed on stage. It was an open mic known as “The Scene” at The Billiards Club. It was the first time I realized that people genuinely enjoyed my music and it was the birth of a plethora of networking opportunities and authentic connections that I still share til this day. I’m forever in debted to the guys at what was then Roman Empire for that platform and all the connections I made there. Read more>>
Kathleen Steegmans
I don’t have a lot of childhood memories, but my parents opened a photo gallery when I was six, and I think that’s where the seed was first planted. When I look at pictures from that time, I can see why I’d be fascinated since there was always a very cool, artistic vibe that felt different from other occasions or events. Read more>>
Mia Miller
My personal journey actually started with deadmau5 when I was in middle school. I heard his song Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff on Sirius XM one day on the way to a hockey game with my family and I was awestruck. I had never heard anything like it before and as soon as we got home, I was on YouTube attempting to find a song I couldn’t even begin to describe. Read more>>
Brittany Eve & Dom
Brittany Eve: I’ve known from an early age I wanted to do something creative with my career. I remember watching America’s Next Top Model & the Rachel Zoe Project as a teenagers and thinking, “I want to create magic like that.” It was my dream to get into fashion coordinating and creative produce fashion shows for Fashion Week. I graduated high school to attend college with a major in Fashion Merchandising. Read more>>
Taylor Paige
A part of me has always known I would pursue a creative career path. As a young child, strangers would approach my parents in the mall, stopping them to ask if they thought of putting me into acting. When I was seven years old I went to my first audition. The casting director prompted me to say a line about asking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Read more>>
brian beegle
I was 8 and the first play I was in was Cheaper By The Dozen, and I did not get a role so they gave me the part of the dog. So I sat on stage and did my thing as the dog, which included scratching, rolling around, and distracting the audience from the rest of the play. I had so much fun as the dog, and Trinity school probably realized they better not give me a non-speaking role again, so I became the lead in several musicals like Pirates of Penzance, which I still sing a few of the songs in my head from time to time. Read more>>
Jonathan Monroe
When I perform at very first showcase and it was sold out…. I was doing jokes about being a single father and raising a daughter that comes with a lot of problems and barely with solutions so keep me in your prayers 😂 but after the show an lot of single mothers came up to me and hug me and gave me wisdom and advice about raising an daughter Read more>>
Nam Kim
I majored in advertising design, a track of Graphic design in Tokyo Design Academy in Harajuku, Tokyo. After graduation in 2009, I went back to Korea because I received a job offer as a designer creating advertisements in newspapers and magazines. I worked for ADCK, which is a design company in Korea, for two years. I created a variety of designs for colleges, medicines, and apartments and often worked overtime to finish projects through the weekend. Read more>>
JoeLeo Moss
I knew as early of the age 6 that I wanted to create something visual that would be admired by many. I hadn’t narrowed in on the what just yet. The what, came at the age of 11 when I discovered my talent for drawing. I’d spend hours drawing my name, team logos, my favorite cartoon and comic characters. I soon learned that symbols and logos were the most frequently seen items in my day to day. Read more>>
Aprajita Lal
It was March of 2020, the world acknowledged that humankind has been hit by a pandemic in every part of the world. Things started shutting down, I was actually fortunate that I have anyways planned for a 3 month sabbatical leave from work between April -June’2020. And believe me, I was looking forward to this time off, as during the last 17 years of my corporate career I never took a break from work. Read more>>
Shauna Moon
I think as children,we all want to become stars. We are naturally awed by talent, and as a child, I was no different. My mom enrolled me in ballet lessons when I was three that I don’t even remember much other than being picked up from the lesson. When my mom did well financially, she would enroll my sister and me in weekend activities. Read more>>
Charlie Cakessss
When I first moved to L.A to purse my dreams of dance, I when through moments were I had to pick either working my 9-5 to meet life needs and I stop dancing for while till I figured things out and I figured things out very quickly. When I don’t have dance it put me in a dark place to not be able to move my body to release my movement magic.When I dance I just feel so free and inline with my soul & my ancestors. I knew dance wasn’t just for fun this is something I want to do professionally and create generational wealth with these talents. Read more>>
Reid Kappele
I knew I had art in me. I always had a strong appreciation for artists. As a teenager, the walls of my room were covered in paint. But it starts way before that. When I was a kid, I used to run down into the kitchen to draw the fruit out of the bowl. 17 years later, and I’m a freshman in art school being formally taught how to do so. Read more>>