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

Jared Allen Price

At a very young age! I want to say…seven or eight years old? I grew up surrounded by my family being in the industry. Both my father and grandfather were set dressers for television and feature films, my mother did photography…I’ve been surrounded by creatives my entire life really. Then my grandparents took my sister and I to see the National Tour of The Lion King at the Pantages and I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do. To be on stage and perform! Read more>>

Melina Alter

my name is Melina Alter, i have 23 years old and i live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since I was born I already knew that my life was going to follow the path of art. When I was very young I became interested in the subject of photography and painting. At school I couldn’t stop painting and taking photo sessions with my friends. I always knew how to do everything self-taught until I began to train more professionally once I finished high school. Read more>>

Melvin D Nix

I worked as a computer technician while in the Air Force. After my honorable discharge in 1997, I saw the movie Toy Story and it inspired me to try my hand at 3d animation. It moved me enough to start teaching myself 3d Studio Max and the Adobe Creative Suite resulting in the development of my first digital portfolio. With these skills in hand, I transitioned from being a computer technician to a broadcast graphic designer. Read more>>

Vale Penaranda

I distinctly remember that I was in my sixth year of classical piano studies at the Conservatory of Music in Bolivia, on the brink of High School graduation, and I knew for sure that I wanted to continue pursuing the music path. I must confess that, during that time, I wasn’t very passionate about classical piano, but I still found joy in playing it and it was one of my areas of strength. Read more>>

Jernard Pinckney

After wrapping up my career playing college sports i was intrigued to peruse a different medium in life. Graduated and was back, I knew I had to make a plan to explore the world through my own lens. Read more>>

Jake Ross

I was working in an Underground agency, which we specialised in Graffiti/Gorilla advertising. I was a creative Director of some events, and thought, instead of hiring and sourcing Artists, I could do this. Read more>>

Madeline Adams

I first knew I wanted to become a model during my sophomore or junior year at Boston College. I had developed a love for photography in high school and I even created my own photography business in college for senior photos, portraits, events, etc. I also joined the Boston College Yearbook Club and worked my way up to the photography editor managing a team of 20 photographers. Read more>>

Rob Czar

I had always been pretty good at art and had painted a few things throughout my life but never thought about it anymore than an outlet for my boredom and anxiety. When the pandemic hit and both of those things were at their height I started painting again. Ordering canvases and paints from amazon and spending days in my basement. it wasn’t until nearly 3 years later when I had hundreds of canvases in my house when I decided I should probably make this more than a pandemic project. Read more>>

Rashan Smith

Andre 3000 famously said in a song “Rebelling to me is like an itch” and nothing resonated more. That is 100% how I feel about being creative, it’s all expression and that’ is everything to me. I became aware of this at the early age of 12. My mother was no longer picking out my school clothes the responsibility was all mines so I took that as the opportunity to express myself to the highest limits I could ever think of and since then it’s how I have did everything in my life. From my everyday to the music I make, art I paint and clothes I design. Read more>>

Timea Laczko

The first memory I have of myself mentioning acting was when I was about 3 years old. Growing up, I was a shy kid believe it or not, but when I was on stage (for our kindergarten plays) I was a different person, I was confident, shining all the way. So it must’ve been after one of these productions. I looked at my mom and said, when I grow up, I am going to move to Hollywood and be in the movies. So that was me as a kid with a dream; now, the real plan began when I was about 15 years old, and the acting spark lit up in me again. Read more>>

Ruben O’Neill

As silly as it may sound, it was all for my dad. Read more>>

Sadeja Jones

About six years ago, when I moved to Atlanta from New York City. Growing up I would doodle in every book during class, I won an Christmas themed art contest in 1999 for Time Magazine. I remember drawing a tall brown skin female Santa next to a decorated tree with presents all around. From that day forward I would continue to sketch and draw as far as my imagination would take me, experimenting with oil pastels and markers. Read more>>

Tenzin Tsering

I think I knew I first wanted to pursue a creative/artist path professionally since I was very young. Both my grand parents on my mother’s side are artists themselves, and when I was over at their home, I used to watch them paint. So, needless to say, I had a pencil in my hand at a young age. Read more>>

Ariana Cimino

I always loved to draw and paint as a child. I would doodle on any paper that was in front of me. Even with school work and my teachers would either praise my drawings or tell me to focus on my actual school work. In middle school, I began to draw frequently and the art I was making reflected how I was feeling. As I got older people began to ask me “what do you want to be when you grow up?” or “what do you want to study in college?” Read more>>

Zeynep Gedikoglu

I have been a sculptor since 2008 when I was pregnant with my 1st child. It was a sort of inspiration. Since then I attended collective exhibitions, When COVID-19 started my job contract wasn’t renewed. I had all the time to think about the creative process and my sculpting ideas. Then I felt like it was the time to pursue an art career. Read more>>

Dhruvi Darji

As a child I knew I had to in front of the crowd. PERFORM! Be the star of the night. I started dancing jazz and folk at first until I had to give up on it due to a health problem. And then I found Music in my life. It inspired my at a whole different level. The energy, the vibration, the atmosphere that music can create is and achieve is just incredible. I pursued DJ’ing at an early age during my middle school and performed at various venues back in India. Read more>>

Vivek Thakker

Let me start with a story. Read more>>

Michael Alan Alien

As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be an artist. My notebooks in school were covered in drawings. Back then it wasn’t popular to be an artist how it is now. When I was young I didn’t know it was possible to make a living being an artist, but I knew I was one. Read more>>

Amber Despain

Stories have been a part of my life from the time I was barely old enough to walk. My dad always loved to share stories of me taking hold of his pinky, leading him to a spot on the floor, and indicating that I wanted him to sit down and read a book with me. To use a phrase I heard my daughter say, I would disappear into the words of the story and in the connection with my dad. Read more>>

Evan Bailey

It all started in elementary school, slapping a cassette tape in a baby blue boombox and recording the Greg Street and the hot 8 at 8 on V-103. These mixes I’d make would become my first way of writing to beats as I entered middle school and by the seventh grade I knew I had a passion for expressing my self in ways that no conversation could convey. Read more>>

Clementine Darling

packed up my dog and guitar in my handmade “woodie” teardrop trailer, and hit the road bound for the desert in search of super bloom flowers. I left my partner and our problems in my rear view mirror with no lovely words or promises. Just blank space. After time spent in Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego, Death Valley, and ultimately the Las Vegas Strip camping in the Circus Circus parking lot, I drove back to the place I call home- Sonoma County. Read more>>

Londi Brooks

I knew from the age of about 13 that I wanted to be an actress. I had taken an acting class and the first time I began practicing my monologue on stage in front of the class, I was not afraid at all In fact, I could not wait to get on stage to do it again. Fast forward about 20 years and my very first gig was as Background on the Feature Film, Patriots Day with Mark Wahlberg. Read more>>

DJ Skillspinz

I knew this from an early age. I was 6 years old while over my grandmothers house I over heard much older cousin doing something that I had never heard before. He was rapping. I learned his rhyme and recited it to him the next day. Fast forward to 1984 just at 9 yrs old, my mother brought home The Fat Boys “Jail House Rap” along with “Stick’em” on the B side. Also Roxanne Shante “Roxanne’s Revenge” and Rappin Duke. From that day rap/hiphop was planted in me and I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Read more>>

MarKus A

In 2015, while residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I began transitioning my work from the streets to a canvas. Initially a mere hobby and a distant dream, everything changed when I embarked on a work trip to NYC. The experience sparked a profound shift within me, compelling me to chase my career aspirations, eventually leading me to relocate to the bustling city. Read more>>

Yibin Wang

I spent my formative years in Hangzhou, China, navigating a unique upbringing shaped by the stark contrast between my grandparents’ staunch revolutionary ideals and my divorced parents’ embrace of modern capitalism, heavily influenced by the transformative political and economic reforms of the 80s in China. The clash of these divergent values has been a constant theme in my life, prompting me to reflect on the individual’s sense of belonging and their relationship to societal norms from a young age. Read more>>

Tamika Gaskins

I have always had this desire to create. For years I wasn’t quite sure what that could look like for me. Ive written blogs, shared ideas with family and friends, Ive created headbands for babies. This creative spark has always been a part of me. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to really give myself a honest chance. Read more>>

Talyn Edelson

From age seven, I threw myself headfirst into acting in theatre and musical theatre in addition to spending all of my time participating in various activities such as martial arts, horseback riding, cheerleading, dance (jazz, clogging, contemporary), basketball, track, club soccer, snowboarding, rock climbing, wakeboarding, etc. I even did competitive acting competitions in high school and enjoyed a stint of being a prosecution attorney in mock trials. Everything I did was consistently related to movement and acting until I left University after attending school at University of Missouri- Columbia and Oklahoma State University. Read more>>

MENDEL MCCOY

I knew that I wanted to be a stylist when I started creating outfits that I envisioned of having.with this I grew a sense of personal style and started receiving compliments and traction with how I dress. I started making what I wear a priority even if it was just to go to the grocery store I would dress up then overtime individuals would ask me where I purchased certain looks from and. That grew into asking me to style them but I would do it willingly not with intentions of making it a full career until I did my first photoshoot as a stylist ,and saw how I was in control of the images and the importance of an amazing look! Read more>>

Alexa Wisnieski

I grew up with a pencil in one hand and a sewing needle in the other. Anything hands on was a no brainer as a kid. My aunt started me on a sewing machine at the early age of four. Projects in 3D always made the most sense and I could easily understand. I was Irish step dancing at the same time and the competitive dresses were too expensive to continuously keep up with the trends. I decided I needed to learn how to make them myself so I could stay competitive, but when people started buying my costumes from me that is when I really knew that I wanted to be in a creative field and the most logical choice was fashion design. Read more>>

Eleonora Desole

Creating has always been a necessity without me realizing it. For me, living every day and looking at the world inevitably creates a situation of inspiration or reflection. Maybe talking to people who have the same needs as me has made me realize what I want to do in life. Read more>>

Meshach O’Brien

My initial inclination towards a creative and artistic path crystallized when I was casted as a lead in a church play when I was around the age of 10. The electrifying sensation of being on stage, coupled with the fulfillment derived from positive feedback, left an indelible mark on me. The second “first” was when I was cast in a McDonald’s commercial back in 2015 years after I no longer was acting in plays for my church. Read more>>

Silje Engebretsen Herstad

I’m a third generation Goldsmith, so it was always in the cards for me. My love for jewelry has been there as long as i can remember and i’ve loved dressing up since i was a little kid. My grandfather started our family business which i’m currently spend most of my days at along side my parents, whom both are goldsmiths as well. My mother is an artist too. Mostly painting. I probably inherited my creative side from the both of them. Read more>>