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

Quinn Heinrichs

I’ve been creating art as far back as I can remember. I always knew that whatever professional path I took would be centered around creativity. My vision of what my professional path looks like is always subject to change because I want to give all of my endeavours the energy and time that they deserve. I hope to always be exploring new art forms to fall in love with. Read more>>

Futuristic Edge

Around the age of eight years old, I wanted to be an artist as I drew often. Things around me, cartoon characters, etc-family members could draw as well. Read more>>

Gianna Perani

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative career when I was just a kid in elementary school. I was always the quiet kid in school and enjoyed quietly working alone for hours. I was interested in anything creative. Instead of soccer camp, I went to art camp and I was totally happy with that! I even have a book from the first grade that says “when I grow up I am going to be an artist!” Read more>>

Warren Hynson

I was incarcerated for 28 years and for ten of those years, I was given access to an empty storage unit that was converted to an art studio. During those years, I honed my craft of painting photorealistic portraits for the incarcerated individuals families and friends. I was selling portraits between $250-$500 and made enough money on my own to obtain the best lawyer in Maryland, Erica Suter. Read more>>

Keri Hardman

I knew I wanted to pursue the creative path professionally last year. Although I have been posting on Tiktok and YouTube since 2019, my purpose/goal has changed for this career path. It started because people were naturally keen to my husband and I’s relationship, so we wanted to capitalize on that. Read more>>

Shardaya Jones

One of my earliest childhood memories is a dream and revelatory moment as an artist. As a little girl, I constantly dreamed I was in a white room filled with nothing but shapes of color, and at that moment, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I have always been a dreamer or one to have their “head in the clouds,” Read more>>

Zhaochen Wu

Growing up in an art-loving family, my passion for creativity was nurtured from a young age. Immersed in vividly illustrated books, I was inspired to create my own stories. A pivotal moment came when I watched “The Lord of The Rings,” drawing me into its believable and alive world. This work influenced me deeply, motivating me to craft such worlds myself. Encouraged by a supportive family, I embarked on a creative career, expressing my unique narratives through art. Read more>>

Amo Zhou

I knew I wanted to be an artist as early as I could remember. To me, art has always been my language. I started my artist training back in primary school, and I never stopped making art ever since. Every time people tell me they feel the same emotions I had while making an art piece, I feel that part of me has connected with them. Read more>>

Ryan Heflin

Written while listening to film-noir like jazz (maybe the reader should do the same). Read more>>

Lindsay Hanson Dukes

When I was about 8 years old, I started to understand that I was never going to be the serious, career-driven type. I’ve always been artsy & funny & creative. I was diagnosed with ADHD later on in life & it makes perfect sense now why I do what I do. It took me awhile, but I nowconsider my abilities to hyper-focus, create, and collaborate as super-powers. Read more>>

Savannah Daniell

I never had an exact moment where I knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally. Growing up, I always thought it would be so exciting and fulfilling to live life as a professional, full-time artist, however it never occurred to me that I could do it. Other people, sure, but me? No way. That is why I went to school for financial planning and worked in the financial planning industry for 5 years during and after college. Read more>>

Steve Standeford

I grew up in the rural southwest in the 1980s. I was in high school when I had a vocational class for drafting which changed everything for me. My mother was an artist, so I had been drawing and painting most of my life. My drafting instructor recognized I had some skill and really inspired and encouraged me. Read more>>

Ismael de Anda III

I always drew as a child. When I was in college at UTEP in El Paso, Texas, I visited New York and the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Guggenheim museum for the first time. I saw an exhibition of German Refigured Painting, which included artist Anlsem Kiefer. I was blown away by the combined experience of the architecture and the scale of the paintings in this show. Read more>>

John Whoriskey Jr

When I was in high school I had a group of friends I used to make some of the most outrageous and pointless content with. At the time it felt like were just a few kids trying to make our friends laugh at birthday parties and in our video classes. But when a few of those same friends made the decision that they wanted to go to film school it made me realize that having a creative career was actually possible. Read more>>

Davion Rodgers

I think the first time I realized I should pursue being a full-time artist/creative came in a series of events. Ultimately creating a stream of affirming experiences that lead me to believe I was fulfilling my God given purpose. Read more>>

Gabriel Cece

Growing up, I played baseball, and I was pretty good at it, like real good actually, and I dreamed of playing professionally, but I stumbled into skateboards and punk rock music, and those newly found (deviant) passions pulled me away from my previous boyhood dreams. Read more>>

Jac Benford

At the beginning of high school, I did not think I would go into a creative field. When I made my senior spring formal dress from a tissue-paper commercial pattern, I rediscovered my love for garment construction, and I learned I wanted to work in the clothing industry. I applied to Savannah College of Art and Design with the intent of double majoring in fashion design and fashion marketing. After my first few construction classes in my sophomore year, I realized construction was my niche. Read more>>

Bertha Robles

The Makeup path chose me, I didn’t chose it. I was never a girly girl growing up and makeup was something I never thought I would be into. Until one day my friend did my makeup and my reaction was realizing I truly didn’t know how beautiful I could be until I had makeup on. It activated my desire to bring that same feeling I felt, to everyone else. That is the goal for my clientele still til this day. That feeling and moment is when I first knew I wanted to be a makeup artist. Read more>>

Jason Manzano

I knew as early as grade school that I was not meant for the corporate 9-5 world, but it took me a while to believe that it was a sustainable path. I spent my first 3 undergrad years pursuing Engineering. Even though I was good at it, my motivation was non-existent, Eventually, I switched to a music degree and this path made all the difference as far as holding my attention and encouraging my motivation. Read more>>

Danielle Holloway

Fashion has always been apart of me. I love expressing myself through fashion but it was hard finding fashionable clothing for my size. I started to dip and dabble in sewing to make cute pieces for myself. I also had to see if I could stick with it. I really enjoyed sitting behind the sewing machine and making things. I knew my services were needed and I had no choice but to pursue sewing; but I still wasn’t quite ready to jump into it. Read more>>

Amanda Chang

At a very young age, I knew I wanted to become an artist. I enjoyed drawing and painting over reading. In school, my favorite subjects were not the academic classes but the art-related ones like painting, ceramics, music, and performing arts. They made the most sense for me. I remember taking one of those “what will I be when I grow up?” quiz and got “artist” as a career.  Read more>>

Ally Paige

Pursuing a life as an artist was never a choice, it is who I am as a person. Everything I have ever done, including becoming the artist I am today has been my art. My entire life is an orchestrated creative act, one where I have learned to trust the process and experience life as it happens and express how I perceive it through my eyes. Read more>>

Nika Bisono

I’ve had a passion for the creative arts since I was very young. From the age of 6 or 7, I knew deep down that I wanted to pursue a professional path in art and fashion design. My after-school hours were filled with creative projects, whether it was making clothes for my Barbies using crepe paper or spending hours immersed in drawing, using water cups as makeshift heads. I would create mood boards and let my imagination run wild, envisioning a future where I would establish a successful artistic and fashion brand called NIKA BISOU. Read more>>

Eddie White

As a child. Just being around my father who sings. I always Loved singing and when i learnt About recording music, it was a clear vision for me from there. Read more>>

Alfredo Ponce

I was aware I wanted to be an artist at an early age. I was inspired by my older brother Jose. He was an is an amazing artist. As a child, I wanted to be just like him. Unfortunately I did not get the gift. I gave up this dream for over four decades. Although I gave it up, the desire was always burning. Read more>>

Walter Redondo

At a young age I always sensed I had an inkling to create artistically. However, I was guided into the world of sports due to my families circumstances. When I was 7 years old I began playing tennis on a regular basis and excelled quickly. By the time I was 12 I was already the number one player for my age division in SoCal. Read more>>

Jess Burgess

See next page – tell the whole story there. Read more>>

Kevin Carey

Around 18 months back, I came up with an idea to convert my storage shed into a Tiki Bar for my loved ones to hang out and have a good time. I put in a month of hard work and dedication to bring my idea to reality. As I began to document the process on TikTok, my videos started to gain traction. Initially, I was just creating content for fun, not expecting it to go viral. Read more>>

Daniel Maffett

When I was a kid in highschool, Overhaulin was just about the biggest show on tv. Leading up to this I loved cars and I loved drawing and creating things with my hands. I watched Chip Foose drawing a beautiful render of a vehicle and then in the same episode commence to building a car and making that drawing become a reality. Until I saw this, the idea of cars, and art were some how so far apart to me. Read more>>

Bibby Gignilliat

When I was age 10, I loved painting. Every Saturday, I walked a mile to take a class at the Art League in Oak Park, Il. The time would fly by as I was in the flow. My art was colorful and free. At age 12, I had a critical teacher and I stopped painting and my creativity went into hiding. To paraphrase Julia Cameron from her book The Artist’s Way, if you really want to know what you are supposed to do in life, look at what you loved as a child. Read more>>

Eduardo Vildasol

I knew pretty early on that this is what I wanted to do. My mom was a single parent who worked a lot, so my younger brother and I found ways to keep ourselves entertained. It was almost a daily occurrence that we’d be putting on some sort of skit together. Whether we were pretending to be detectives solving a made-up cold case or playing as Power Rangers, we really found a love for storytelling. Read more>>

Noah Lynch

The signs were there when I was a child. When I was younger, I always imagined scenarios and adventures in my head and didn’t hesitate to act them out in real life. But I couldn’t share them with anyone. Not just because of the difficulty, but also because it was hard for me to interact with others, being both a high-functioning autistic and an introvert. Read more>>

Kurt Giehl

I spent most of my professional life working for JPMorgan in various roles across the Private and Investment Banks. When I turned 50, I had a bit of a mid-life crisis when I realized I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do with my life. While my time at JP was amazing in many ways, I wanted more out of life. Read more>>

Lisa Adams

I knew I wanted a career in radio when I was 10 years old. I had this old school cassette recorder that I would record music from my dad’s albums off our record player. I would play DJ in-between songs talking about the music and the artists. My baby brother was the sportscaster, and my dad would play the part of the news guy. We had quite the station! Read more>>

Becca Blumer

I think a part of me always wanted to pursue a path like this. I grew up looking at Seventeen Magazine, and Vogue, always wishing I looked like the women I saw on those pages. I would look in the mirror and see only my flaws and how I didn’t measure up to those glossy pictures. As I got older, I knew I would never be rail thin with a thigh gap. That wasn’t me, it wasn’t how I was built. But what took more work was realizing that this was okay! Read more>>

Da’Shawn Covington

I was 13 years old when I was sitting in class. As my classmates and I were indecently being chaotic, our substitute teacher Mr. Pendleton abruptly turned and asked us “What do you all want to be when you grow up”? Before that day I was never certain on what it is I wanted to be. Read more>>