We asked some insanely talented artists, creatives and makers to tell us about when they know they were going to pursue a creative career.
Sharon Champagne Terry
I knew I wanted to be a writer when life changed for me drastically. I call that moment, pain to purpose. I had an epiphany while I was losing everything that mattered to me in that moment of my life. I was lost in the midst of it all, but God turned it around for my good. I started journaling as a sense of therapy, and that’s when I realized I like to write and create stories. That actually lead to me writing my first book ” The Goddess of Lust, Love, and Infatuation. Read more>>
DiamondGrl
I knew this since the age of 3. Me being an all-around artist who pursues her career path as a singer-songwriter, visual artist, model and actress has been nothing but a blessing for me to be able to share those passions of mine to the world. I continue to pursue them by getting booked for shows, recording music in the studio, doing photoshoots, participating in different vendor events/pop-up shops, art shows, exhibitions, and participating in as many films and music videos as possible! Read more>>
Charles Freeman
I knew I wanted to professionally sell music when I was 16/17 years old. I knew it was more to it than just recording a song, performing it, and then going to the next song. Working with skillful producers and engineers here in Kansas City has allowed me to create my own lane and flourish in it. So major shout out to you guys. Read more>>
Lacyona Muldrow
I knew during some point in 2014 that I wanted to fully engage in music professionally. The reason behind the story is because I developed an even deeper passion for music after partaking in Drumline: A New Beat on VH-1. Read more>>
Dexter Morton
I would say roughly around 25 or so. I started to see how it made people feel after I created something. My love for my craft grew from there and I started to take it more serious. Read more>>
Zan Lee DuRoy
I have wanted to be an artist as long as I can remember. I mean, I have always been a creative person, with my decor, my clothing, always making things with my hands, jewelry, carpentry, macrame even! But art itself always fascinated me. To make something beautiful and original. And when I started reading about artist, painters and the creative lives they lived, I knew that was for me. Read more>>
Justina Moran
Around 5 years ago, I was going through a rough time in my life mentally. I felt like I was going through life with no purpose. One day I was so bored I picked up a canvas and some cheap paint from Walmart. Later that night, I sketched a girl on to a canvas, and spent the next 2 days completing the painting her. Those 2 days, we’re possibly the best days I ever had at that point in my life. Read more>>
Polina Bogomolova
Since I was a kid, I knew that I will dedicate my life to a creative field, something related to big shows on big stages. I don’t know where I got it from, I just remember that it felt like I was born with this feeling. Read more>>
Brittany Holdahl Donahue
My father is a professional baker and composer-musician; my mother was a model, an illustrator, and a ballet dancer. I’m all about challenging tradition, but when you come from such kind and artistic people, one can’t help but want to carry on that torch, too. I give special thanks to my maternal grandparents, Alice Marie and E.J. Read more>>
Jeffry Pavon
I knew what I wanted to be since I was a kid. I wanted to be the next Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Patrick Swayze or Heath Ledger. I knew I was destined for something great. All these actors gave me light, strong will power and motivation to become the best actor I can be. Read more>>
Rahul Nath
My passion for dancing and acting has always been there as far as I could remember. But like all people, I decided to take the route of being academic and leading the conventional route of studying and getting a job that relates to my degree, Read more>>
Misy Gardner
As a kid, I was a little performer! I started performing really early in musical theatre productions at my church, and that helped me realize quickly how much I loved to sing and perform. I also took dance classes and had recitals every year, and I looked forward to that day every year just as much as I looked forward to Christmas. Read more>>
Caroline Dargel
Growing up in Texas, I enjoyed creative projects at a young age – crafting, decorating my room, & sketching designs. My parents enjoyed renovating homes, so I developed a love for art + interior design early. As a competitive tennis player, I grew to love travelling because each new place felt like an adventure waiting to be explored. In highschool, I started taking painting classes and fell in love with creating daily. Read more>>
Breona Wilson
I first noticed I had a drive for modeling after I got discovered at 13 by a vogue model, being a nervous teen I wasn’t sure I had the confidence to pursue such a big field with such such expectations, competition and drive. But once I began training, getting in magazines, runway shows etc. I began to realize something awoke in Me that made me feel alive, happy and worth living for. Read more>>
Yerae Kim
I have been practicing the art of tattooing for over three years now, fueled by my lifelong passion for drawing. Although I wasn’t able to pursue formal art education due to my family’s emphasis on academics, my love for art and painting has never waned. I constantly pondered how I could nurture my artistic aspirations and forge a career in this field. Read more>>
Tina Le
I picked up photography since I was a little girl using point and shoot camera. It was not until high school that I had my first DSLR camera. It was a Nikon D300, weighing almost 2lbs and only has 12mp – even less mega pixel than the iphone 13 pro max camera. But I carried that camera every where I go and captured so many good memories with it. Read more>>
Tina Crossley
I knew at a very young age. I started performing in plays, and programming drum machines, as well as learning to play piano by ear at 5 years old! I have always had a fascination with music. Read more>>
Sarah Gorski
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been making jewelry. Even as a kid, I tried to sell friendship bracelets on the playground. That operation was busted by teachers within a week, so I set my sights on family members at holiday gatherings. They humored me, and then returned to their cribbage and drinks. Read more>>
Ann Floyd
After doing so much wire-wrapped jewelry, I’ve realized that I could do so much more. So in 2020, I decided to take jewelry courses with professional jewelers and with GRS, a company who is known for engraving, providing amazing high-end tools for jewelers and also training people professionally when it comes to jewelry making. These includes stone settings, metal fabricating, fire-arm engraving and many more. Read more>>
Ann Floyd
After doing so much wire-wrapped jewelry, I’ve realized that I could do so much more. So in 2020, I decided to take jewelry courses with professional jewelers and with GRS, a company who is known for engraving, providing amazing high-end tools for jewelers and also training people professionally when it comes to jewelry making. These includes stone settings, metal fabricating, fire-arm engraving and many more. Read more>>
Jiaming You
I’ve been an art museum goer since my childhood! The beautiful, the sublime, the passionate, the dramatic, the penetrating of art captured me in the first encounter, I learned splash-ink painting from a “water and ink” master from age 7 to 18 in my spare time. In college, I tried biology and psychology, worked in labs. But it never felt right until I made up my mind to declare an art major. Read more>>
Kit Fox
From very small, I always had some comic book or comic strip I was making – I think the first one was The Evil Doctor Whacko when I was five or six and no, there is no longer any evidence of it, for anyone trying to blackmail me. It didn’t hit me until maybe the beginning of high school that what I really wanted to do was create comic strips for newspapers. Read more>>
VFC’s Travels
Years ago my grandmother had suggested I keep a diary, especially when my career took me to many beautiful places around the globe. My grandmother was an immigrant who had lived in many countries and spoke many languages before arriving to the USA. I never started my diary, but when my children started a YouTube channel, I thought, “Here’s my chance to start that diary my grandmother always said I should.” So VFC’s Travels was born. Read more>>
Ruwaydah Amin
I first knew that I had a passion for performing arts at a very young age. I started by performing in school plays and at different events. I starting writing songs and poems around the age of 8. I would make my family listen to the songs and they were impressed with my skills and abilities. I would put on concerts in the living room for my family. Read more>>
Sarah Greene Reed
I’ve always made things. My mom had a story about waking up one morning when I was 5 to find me creating a little house out of a shoebox, paper, and tape. That tracks – everything has creative possibility to me. I’m from a family of very driven people, it seems like everyone found a distinct career path early on. My sister knew at age 8 that she wanted to be a cellist. Read more>>
Alexander Austin
I realized I wanted to change my career and my major! To pursue something greater in my last year of college at the University of Central Florida. It was the fall of 2019 and it all happened pretty quickly. I called a couple of Florida schools, trying to decide the best fit for me. FAU, FAMU, and UF but I didn’t want to go anywhere major. Read more>>
VLAAD
My old high school mascot was a Spartan. In an attempt to create a trusting and free environment for the students, the faculty created Spartan Hour: an hour of free time where all students could do whatever their hearts desired as long as they were back before the designated time. Me and my only other two rapping friends would meet up during Spartan Hour at the school courtyard and show each other our most recent verses/songs. Read more>>
Kiki Reavis
I have always loved creating and making art and I wanted to make something that would feel authentic to me. February 2023 is when I decided to start sharing my creations. Read more>>
Jeanine Colini
From a very young age–around 10–I’ve always had an innate sense of wanting to pursue an artistic path. I was one of those kids who was always drawing or making something with my hands. I was particularly obsessed with alphabets and drawing letterforms. I have no idea what that was about! Read more>>
Kipp Tribble
I had done a handful of plays as a kid, but it wasn’t until I was talked into auditioning for a high school production of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – and getting a role – that I knew this was for me. So it was that production that made me want to pursue this path, but being in a small private school in South Carolina that didn’t exactly encourage a life in the entertainment, I had no idea where to even begin. Read more>>
Kipp Tribble
I had done a handful of plays as a kid, but it wasn’t until I was talked into auditioning for a high school production of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” – and getting a role – that I knew this was for me. So it was that production that made me want to pursue this path, but being in a small private school in South Carolina that didn’t exactly encourage a life in the entertainment, I had no idea where to even begin. Read more>>
Jasmin Stephen
I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally when I had gotten my make up done for a high school performance. It was my first time I had ever really had my make up done “professionally”. I remember how much attention to detail she had, how much she enjoyed doing it, and the process with the make up artist (which was actually the choir heads daughter lol). Read more>>
A.D. Scott
I honestly knew when I was around 11 years old. I used to walk around the house all the time acting and singing, and imitating things I saw on TV. At first, it was to entertain my family and siblings. But once I started seeing kids my age on TV, I started feeling like there’s a possibility that I can do the same thing that they are doing, as a profession. So when other kids at school started saying they wanted to be a doctor or lawyer, I started saying “I wanna be an actor”. Read more>>
Mel Soul
I knew I wanted to pursue my own musical journey once I dropped out of college. Music to me felt free flowing and an easy way to express my own story. College felt structured and strict to deadlines and grades. I needed freedom in order to create. Read more>>
Luke Leetham
I knew I wanted to be a performer and artist at a very young age. I think what really drove me into music was the first record I made. I was 14 years old and had started producing songs with my dad’s laptop. My piano teacher had a recording studio in his basement. I brought the songs to him and asked if he’d help me lay out vocal tracks. Read more>>
Brooklynn
My soul always knew that I was meant to create for the sake of creating. However, growing up in a strict religious household, my dreams of being a singer were often met with the upmost resistance. I was told I’d never be good enough to make it. I was told that I would become a bad person if I pursued a creative career of any kind. Read more>>
Maddie Aunger
I think a part of me always knew that I wanted to be a creative in some capacity. Both of my parents had artistic hobbies throughout my childhood and encouraged my creativity from a young age. My answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was always either “artist” or “art teacher”. In high school I became confident that I wanted to be on a creative path, the specifics of what that meant to me have just evolved. Read more>>
Scotty Bramer
Early on in my musical journey, I was inspired by blues and rock musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton. When I was 11, my love for the music and expression deepened – and it felt like a calling. I told my parents I wanted to be a professional guitarist. Read more>>
Olivia “Ozzie” Bonich
I grew up in Troy, Michigan, dancing competitively for Juliana’s Academy of Dance. I could not wait for school to be over so that I could head over to dance class/rehearsal. I felt like I had a true purpose and talent when I was there. I felt truly loved and cherished when I was there. Although I was never the most talented kid, or “star” at the studio, I felt my happiest when I was at that dance studio with my best friends. Read more>>