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

Manisha Eerabathini

I grew up in the Bay Area, California and went to UC Berkeley, majoring in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. A child of Indian immigrants, my parents always had an interest in preserving the Indian culture in our family and enrolled me in classical Indian singing and dancing lessons when I was a child. Read more>>

Katie Harold

Being an artist has always been my calling. When I was little, anytime anyone ever asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, without hesitation I always said “I want to be an artist.” At the time I wasn’t sure what kind of art that would entail for me, whether it was painting, music, dance, or going into the fashion world, I knew I was going to dive into all of it. Read more>>

Ozzie Mandias

This is a very good question. And the answer to that is, it took a very long time to figure out. I started DJing when I was 14 years old. I did not have my own equipment. And my mother did not have the disposable income to buy it for me. Read more>>

Billy Byrd Sr.

In knee I wanted to pursue my artistic path when I was bout 8 or 9 years old, when me, my brother and friend went to our community center to try out for a talent show. My brother and friend got cold feet right before the audition so I auditioned (sang) by myself and we were picked to be in the talent show. Read more>>

April Pinto

Back when I was a little munchkin, my great grandma was going through this memory maze with Alzheimer’s, not recognizing a soul. But my grandpa, being the absolute sweetheart he is, busted out these nostalgic photo albums. He’d turn the pages, and in those split seconds, it was like my great grandma caught a glimpse of her past. Read more>>

Heather Thomas

I started playing drums when I was 10 years old and I knew right away that I wanted to make playing music a big focus in my life. I remember showing up to career day in elementary school with a pair of drumsticks and tap shoes (I was a tap dancer back then!) saying I wanted to grow up to be a tap dancing drummer. Read more>>

Rebecca Schachle

It was the beginning of 2023, when I created a hanging macrame shelf and posted it on Facebook to my friends and family. I received comment like “Let me know when you start selling!” It really got my wheels turning thinking it’s not a bad idea. Read more>>

Yuxuan Li

It all began during my childhood; the study of music has always been an integral part of my daily life and has become a fundamental aspect of my identity. I first realized my desire to pursue music professionally when I was 15 years old. Read more>>

Adalberto Angulo

My artistic journey traces back to childhood, where I was the perpetual class clown. Despite this early inclination, sports took precedence until post-college, when the 2008 economic crisis disrupted conventional career paths. Job market challenges propelled me to revisit the idea that lingered in my head as a kid – pursuing a creative path. Read more>>

Katherine Grey

I was very fortunate. Both of my maternal grandparents were artists. I spent my summers at their knee and they fostered my interest in art. I enjoyed countless hours in my grandfather’s studio with access to his art supplies and with his artwork gazing down on me from every wall and available surface. Read more>>

Abigail and Nicholas Graham

Since we were children, both Nicholas and I have has creative passion burning within us. When we met one of the major reasons we fell in love was based on the fact that we both had massive dreams that involved creating art, traveling, making music, and being an inspiration in the lives of others to help them realize they too can pursue a passionate lifestyle. Read more>>

Jasmine Arielle Barnes

I started my career as a vocalist. I attended Morgan State University in Baltimore Maryland in pursuit of my bachelor’s degree focusing on vocal performance, specifically classical singing. I was so sure of a vocal career in opera, being casted in my first role at the age of 19, even though I literally started training in the same age. Read more>>

Lara Mossler

My journey into a creative and artistic path began in middle school when I discovered the profound emotional outlet of painting. It evolved into a tool for self-discovery, enabling me to explore my identity, emotions, and preferences. Read more>>

Christie Jones

Ever since I was a child I had a fascination with learning. My grandparents owned an art & framing store and it happened to be the first place I visited when coming home from the hospital. I always say that imprinted upon me as an infant, and growing up surrounded by art and my grandfather’s artisan framing skills made me believe that art is a viable career choice. Read more>>

David Wilkerson

I was in my junior year of high school when I realized that I wanted to pursue a creative career. I looked around and saw many of my classmates stressing out over their SAT scores and trying to convince themselves that they really wanted to be doctors and lawyers; while many of the adults in my life were frustrated with their careers as well. Read more>>

Kasha SofIa

By the time I was 10 I knew that I wanted to have a creative and colorful life. Im thankful that I had a mostly supportive environment growing up for me to start exploring drawing and photography. By the time I was 21, I was dreaming of my own art collective and learning how express my inner worlds more authentically. Read more>>

Speakeazie

There was an awakening moment for me as a creative a couple years ago when I realized just how deep the art of music can take you. While I have always been touched profoundly by music, it was seeing how my music impacted others that engrained my purpose. Read more>>

DTA EXPERIENCE

I got introduced to the Turntables at 8 years old by my older brothers DJ Greg G & DJ Maniac (RIP). By the time I was 13 I knew I wanted to do music for the rest of my life. Read more>>

Jo Mangieri

You spend your life chasing the dream… or what your head tells you the dream is. You spend years trying to find yourself. Working endless hours trying to fulfill that thing in your soul that is missing. The real dream is what you feel deep within your bones. Read more>>

Thadz Anderson

I started producing dance music when I was 16 years out. I grew up listening to techno music which was kinda ironic being a black kid living in the hood. As I got older and started going to high school, I got influenced by Ghetto House Music producers Dj Slugo, Dj Deeon, and at the time Paul Johnson and Stacy Kidd was doing Ghetto House. Read more>>

Phillip Boutte

My formative years were spent as a working actor. From the age of 3 until about 17, I worked on everything from films/tv shows, music videos, commercials, print ads, and voice over work. I decided to head behind the camera once I reached my teens as I felt that the roles being offered to me were not indicative of the positive examples I had of Black men in my life. Read more>>

Leslie Fawcett

When I first learned the technique of peyote stitch bead weaving, I was really just fascinated with the process, even excited for this cool new hobby I’d stumbled upon. The first time someone approached me about a piece I made, was very thrilling. Read more>>

Wade Koniakowsky

In my earliest memories of my childhood, I have a pencil in my hand. My parents could not find enough paper to feed my appetite for drawing, so they got used business forms from relatives and I drew on the back. At 6 years old my mother put me in painting classes, from then until graduating high school it was all art. Read more>>

Johnny Noire

Starting a fashion brand was a bold move for a forty three year old, husband, father, and grandfather. It required a unique vision, determination, and a deep passion for creativity and design. I knew that if I was going to make this transition to the world of fashion design, I’d need to lean in hard or find a different path. Read more>>

Derrick Williams

I have always known since I was a child that I was created by GOD to sing and play the piano. I have been blessed with genetics from a musical family of vocalists and pianists with my mom, Doris, a Gospel Recording Artist being my greatest inspiration. Read more>>

Nicco Quiñones

When I was 12 years old, I made my first short documentary for a competition called “Campaign Cam” that was hosted by the C-Span organization. The competition challenged high schoolers and middle schoolers around the nation to tell stories about election topics that they found important to them. Read more>>

Valentina Menasche

When I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally goes back to my earliest memories in the city of Medellin, at the tender age of 6. Interestingly, this dream originated with some pancakes and a warm tea lovingly prepared by my mother. Read more>>

DJ Crenson

I’ve pretty much always known I wanted to pursue a career in music. Kris (bass/vocals – stop.drop.rewind) and I started our first band when we were 11, and the goal has always been to make that our job. We like to think we’ve gotten better at pursuing that goal over the past 24 years, but we’ve been actively trying to achieve that goal together the entire time. Read more>>

Kylei Mitchell

I knew I wanted to pursue this path when I was in high school. I had always loved being creative and artistic, but I really indulged myself into makeup when I was fourteen. I didn’t start out with much but I always managed to do something different and make myself feel pretty. Read more>>

Krista Parada

At a young age I was always drawn to art. Even though it was just for enjoyment it was something that was in my nature to do. As the years went on and I was a high school, I met my art teacher, who would then become my life long mentor. She introduced me to the world of art galleries, art exhibits, museums and chalk events to name just a few. Read more>>

Zay Suav

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally when I found myself falling out of love with the game of baseball. Read more>>

Natalia Echeverría

I have always been drawn to the arts. As a child, movie theaters were my favorite places to go. I found myself completely enthralled by the worlds created in films. Read more>>

Thompson Newkirk

I have pursued a creative path for the entirety of my life. Since I was just a kid, I was in piano and guitar lessons, I took ballet and other dance classes, and in middle school. and high school, I always played in bands and was writing songs. Read more>>

Alys Pearse

I first knew I wanted to pursue Makeup Artistry professionally when I was 13 years old! My older sisters, who I fondly looked up to, had tons of makeup for me to play with (in secret)! Read more>>

Kris Knight

From a young age, I knew I was headed towards a creative path of some sort. When I was 16 I took a free business class run by the Chamber of Commerce located in the town I lived in; that was when I started to consider pursuing my creative ideas and entrepreneurship. Read more>>

Vandalyst

From my earliest memories, I have been drawn to a creative career. Spending countless hours at the kitchen table as a child, I would immerse myself in drawing, reveling in the freedom to create anything my imagination could conjure. Read more>>

Trigger Trey

The first time I ever picked up a guitar, I was about 21. My friend made me sit down and just give it a shot. I was going through a huge Pink Floyd phase and he taught me the main riff of that song. Read more>>

Cindy Alter

I was about 21 months old, and my mom told me I used to hum along to songs on the radio while we were driving. She was quite mortified, how did I know these songs? She then realised, that I could hear a song once and then sing it the next time I heard it. Read more>>

Emily Antoine

I first knew when I was a little girl. I did not know what I wanted to do exactly, but I knew I loved the arts. I would draw all the time and was interested in music and fashion. Read more>>

Rosella Lucherino

I was probably 19 or 20, and I had already started a career in engineering. After a couple of years of numbers and letters, and always some little drawing or illustration on the same pages, mixed with mathematical equations, I realized that I was not happy. Read more>>

Christian Santiago

I was sort of forced into it because I kept getting fired from every “real” job I’ve ever had. I somehow fooled the University of Central Florida into giving me a degree in English and felt I had to have something to show for the money I wasted in earning it. Read more>>

Bobby McMorris

In year 2001′ I went to my first play, “God Don’t Like Ugly” by Carlton Hamilton, while visiting friends in LA. I still remember the feeling because that is when the theatre bug hit me. Read more>>

Chucke Red

I was in 10th grade when i figured that out! My boys Emilio, and Nate really are the ones who started me rapping, Seven the General kinda later lit the fire, by telling me to just simply keep going that was huge for me! Read more>>

Jiemin Yang

Since my childhood, I’ve always had a curiosity for artistic pursuits, but the environment I grew up in, in a rural area of China, didn’t provide much support for artistic expressions and education. Read more>>

Nick Anderson

I’ve always gone into hobbies with ardent enthusiasm. As I was falling down the rabbit hole of becoming a well-and-true whiskey enthusiast, I found myself writing my thoughts in a tiny little whiskey review notebook. Read more>>

Jen Ray

I loved art from a young age. I witnessed my father as an architect use his artistic talent professionally and I could see that path for me. I earned a degree in fine art but always felt drawn to the commercial side of art. Read more>>

Isea

I’ve been singing since I was 8 years old. It’s always been a deep passion but growing up it wasn’t what made me fully want to dive right into pursuing a creative path. I went to an arts high school in New Jersey and I learned sound engineering and singing at the same time. Read more>>

Ashley Junell

I originally found makeup during a rough time in my life. I had just had my third daughter. I was struggling to find myself, struggling with mental health, and struggling with post partum depression. Read more>>

Chauntal Lewis

I don’t think being an “Artist” was ever a question. Or option;)). I believe you’re either born with it, born into it or unintentionally fall into it. For me, I don’t remember life not performing or creating. Read more>>

MattOnTheTrack

From a young age I was introduced to instruments and music. I learned to play a few instruments with lessons but not for long mostly learnt by ear on my own. Once getting familiar with instruments and spending years going through fazes of different genres I had a pretty good understanding of what sounded good. Read more>>

Chris Reed

I always knew I wanted to be an artist, when I first say Will Smith on the Fresh Prince I would always copy his lines from his shows down to his movies. Then even to the point of making up my own stories in my head and acting them out in the mirror. Read more>>

Cloudy The Weatherman

I’ve loved music from the first second I heard it. Of course I have my favorite genre but I have an appreciation for all different types of musicality. From the point I started making music to the point I started pursuing it professionally was about 7 years… I didn’t believe in myself or my potential to make a career out of music for 6 years and 11 months. Read more>>

Greta Weisser

I’ve known since childhood that I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path. Art class was the only subject in school that had my full attention. I used to be so drawn to our school’s art supply closet, dreaming of all the things I could create from the materials at hand and wishing that art class could last forever. Read more>>

Elsa Sroka

It was very obvious to me that the only path for me was a creative one. Academics did not come easy. I was and still am an extremely visual person. I take notice of everything around me, all the time. Almost to a fault. Read more>>

Kiyoné

Growing up my parents exposed me to a lot of different extracurricular activities. I’ve done nearly 12 sports and various arts during that time. I enjoyed my time doing these activities but my heart always drifted back to music. Read more>>

Nicholas Humphries

I think I’ve always known it’s something I wanted, I just didn’t know that it was possible until later in life. I grew up writing and making silly short films in my backyard but I graduated from university feeling pretty lost. Read more>>

Collette Jones

When I was growing up my two biggest loves were stories and music. You could find me constantly reading books, acting out stories with my siblings, or re-watching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron for the hundredth time. Read more>>

Liz Hamilton Quay

From my earliest memories, I felt a pull toward a creative destiny. The turning point happened during elementary school’s “Career Day” when I dressed up as an artist, complete with a smock, beret, and a paintbrush and palette. Read more>>

Megan Rei

I didn’t actually know I wanted to pursue a creative career path until I was in my 30s! I was always more of a math and science person, and I previously worked in environmental conservation and in public health. Read more>>

Lolo, Larissa deHaas

My first inkling was in 8th grade. It was my second year of having a true art teacher who taught me art fundamentals, and not just art crafts during art class. I had started to draw portraits and found it exhilarating. Read more>>

Tiffany Hendrra

As a child, I would explore any avenue that cultivated my artistic expression from learning to sew to collaging my bedroom walls with magazine images to cutting my Barbie’s hair to give her an edge to tinkering with my dad’s old Canon camera. I started modeling at 14 which fulfilled so many artistic and creative pathways. Read more>>

BJ Williams

I always knew that I would want to be apart of the industry since the age of 4. I grew up as young church boy who came from a bee strict Christian Household. Read more>>

Kerr Lordygan

I hated sports as a kid; my parents insisted I try them. I was miserable. But in 3rd grade we had to do a “play” in front of the school. We basically all stood at the edge of the stage and had to pass the microphone around. I noticed I was the one who knew best who was to have the microphone to whom. Read more>>

Amanda Szeglowski

​​I’ve been drawn to storytelling since childhood. I started begging for dance class when I was three and at eleven I wrote my first play. I cast all of the neighborhood kids and scheduled rehearsals in the garage, but I never actually produced it. Read more>>

Reina Mora

Every summer since I was born I would go to Puerto Rico to visit my family. I mainly stayed at my grandparents home and my grandfather was the catalyst of my love for songwriting. He would play guitar as I’d sing and make up songs with him. Read more>>

Gabrielle Geiger

If you ask my parents for camcorder footage from my childhood you would most certainly find me singing, dancing, and performing in any way I could. I had trouble reading so I would just make up my own stories to match the pictures. Read more>>

Nicholas Di Blasi

I remember as a kid, I would always translate every idea, concept, even music, into images in my head. I guess it was a simpler, more comfortable way to digest the world around me. Read more>>

Richard Provencio

I knew from a very young age that I wanted to do something creative. I didn’t realize it back then but I really was a master of overcoming boredom by using my imagination. Read more>>

Klaudia Kovács

It all started when I got the entertainment industry bug at the tender age of 3. Since I continued being passionate about film and theater throughout my childhood, in my mid-20s, I started to write, direct, and produce professionally. Read more>>

Ellie Peterson

For most of my adult life, I was a middle school science teacher. Twenty one years, in fact! And note that I say I “WAS” a teacher rather than that I was EMPLOYED as a teacher or WORKED as a teacher. Read more>>

Amy Morken

Early on, aged 2-3, I was drawing full figured ppl adorned with jewelry, expressions. I’ve been a lifelong observer of the figure. Read more>>

C Wills

I first knew when I wanted to pursue this fully is when I had my first placement with one of my favorite artist named Yonas Michael from this group called “ U-N-I ”. It was his first Solo album called Black Swan Theory. Read more>>

Dustin Ragland

I had been a musician in various projects for 5-6 years, playing in bands across a few different music scenes. I had, however, stayed relatively pragmatic about the unlikelihood of full-time music work once I had finished college. Read more>>

Leah Brown

When I was a child, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian, because I love animals, and vegetarianism is basically the closest thing I have to religion. But then I did a middle-school internship with a vet where we had to declaw a cat, and I just remember the feeling of being completely disillusioned. Read more>>

Yihsuan Lu

My creative journey began when I was very young, thanks to my mom’s love for art. She always encouraged my sister and me to draw and join art classes. In many Asian families, parents usually want their kids to become lawyers, doctors, or teachers, and pursuing art is seen as less common and often not supported. Read more>>

Alejandro Áboli

I have always felt a fascination for creation and storytelling. My earliest memories are tied to questions about how a movie is made, and I had immense admiration for my uncle, who was a painter. Read more>>

Sterling Wilson

I’ve been a collector for as long as I can remember. Posters, comics, magazines, cassette packages – no discernible commonality but their arresting aesthetics. By high school, my compulsions turned those unconscious appreciations to active intellectual pursuits. Read more>>

Amanda Vehlewald

I decided to look into beginning my professional career as an artist after the birth of my second kiddo. I knew I wanted something flexible that would allow me to be at home with him and my firstborn, but also something that I would really and truly enjoy. Read more>>

Ms.TiQ

The moment that I first knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was my 1st day of summer camp. I was about 11 years old when I attended an arts-oriented summer camp in the inner city of Baltimore at BCCC (Baltimore City Community College). Read more>>

ANJXLXE

I always knew that I would pursue a creative path. I’ve had a deep love for music and art for as long as I can remember, and singing has always felt like second nature to me. Read more>>

Melissa Ximena Golebiowski

I picked Penn State for their communications program since it was one of the top in the country at the time (this was 2005). I started out in journalism, in what I thought might be a more “practical” area of writing that would allow me to explore the world and engage with others in a deeper way. Read more>>

Naomi Lawrence

I was discouraged from going to art school not because of lack of skill but because it wasn’t seen as the most wholesome and stable environment for me to be part of. Read more>>

Denise Stewart-Sanabria

My earliest memories were impulses to cut up anything I could find with scissors and rearrange them. The impulses were all consuming. My aunt was an artist, my grandfather a newspaper and wedding photographer. Our house’s walls were covered with paintings and framed drawings. Read more>>

Inkari Walker

I knew from a young age that I wanted to pursue a career in the arts. Music has been a part of my life since childhood; I’ve listened to a variety of genres, watched musicals, and immersed myself in anything related to music for as long as I can remember. Read more>>

Catrina Higgs

I have minimal memories of my childhood- but I do have a few memories of being artistically talented at various ages and then as an adult despite the bullshit I would get into as a young, nieve adult, without quality work, money, a vehicle,addiction I would find a way to paint, and then December 2019 i had my 1st child & when she turned 3 months old, the entire world had a pandemic and went into lockdown and everything changed. Read more>>

Jesse Hughes

I’ve always enjoyed entertaining people. I was the class clown who wanted the attention, but only as a way to help people smile and have some fun. I gravitated towards movies at a young age. Read more>>

Sheleah Monéa

The story of how I came about singing is a simple one. My mother explains it like this: “Sheleah was singing before she could talk and form sentences.” My father who is also a singer, use to create music and perform often and I naturally gravitated toward music. Read more>>

Autumn Payne

I grew up with an amazing dad who was an electrician and a mom who is a nurse. Despite not having much growing up, that was never an excuse. If we didn’t have something, we could build it. Read more>>

Babyghost

The earliest memories I have are of music, singing. Sonic landscapes have given me safe places to hide and live for as long as I can remember, honestly. I joined the Santa Rosa Children’s Choir at 5. Read more>>

Samantha Keely Smith

As soon as I started painting at 16 I knew that I wanted to live my life as an artist. At the time I had no idea how to go about making a living as an artist or that I would probably need gallery representation in order to do that. Read more>>

Bonne Bedingfield

I consider myself to be quite fortunate to have grown up with parents who fostered my creative abilities for as long as I can remember. I have always known that I was meant to create and be creative. Read more>>

Alanna Dunn

As a child, I always gravitated towards creating things. I started painting at a very young age and never stopped. When I was younger, my mom would buy large sheets of paper and cover our dining room table with them and I would paint with watercolors. Read more>>

Danielle Burrows

I knew I wanted to be an artist in high school. It was never really something that was brought up as an option when discussing my future but I knew that I needed to do something creative. Read more>>

Eric Nguyen

Growing up, I’ve considered a lot of different avenues of what I’d pursue as a career. Some of which included being a veterinarian, a musician, a psychologist, and even the family expectations of being a doctor. Read more>>

Mia Lake Marshall

As a child, my family and my community were very supportive of my interest in visual arts, In fact, there were musicians, visual artists, teachers and poets living all around me. Read more>>

Jazlyne Wooden

I realized that I wanted to pursue a career as a professional artist when my first son was one year old. I had always worked in education and at that time, as a black woman from a small town, I never really saw being an artist as a viable career path. Read more>>

Tiffany Mcfarlane

I have always been artistically inclined and it used to be something I would do as a hobby or in my spare time. I started out with every intention of pursuing a career in Biochemistry. Read more>>

Elsie Ahachi

For as long as I can remember, creativity has been a part of who I am. Growing up, there was always music playing around me, and that naturally drew me in. Read more>>

Justine Schumacher

My mother has been sick my entire life and helped animals even when she physically couldn’t. About 5 years ago I had the owner of American Wildlife Refuge come out as a make a wish for my mother with 3 owls. Read more>>

PAMELA COFRE

When I was about 9 years old, as a nerdy, isolated kid. I discovered I had a good eye for copying objects. I especially liked faces and pretty ladies with long straight hair. (It was the 70’s, after all.) Read more>>

Jazzie Jay

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative career in college while attending Buffalo State College. I knew I wanted to be immersed in the performative arts world. I enjoyed the behind the scenes work of building and producing a showcase and hosting shows. Read more>>

Ramilia Up

From early childhood I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I was telling that I will be a musician and even if I was a pianist at the time I knew I’ll use my voice, sing and become a great singer. Read more>>