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

Roberto Duque

I always wanted to draw when I was a kid. Unfortunately, negative feedback from my parents and pursuit of other interests got in the way. I went to post-secondary school for Television production with a major in writing and producing. Read more>>

SPIKE

I was in high school when I figured out that had a passion for percussion and noiz. At that point in time I seemed to find lots of random interests…I was ok at them but never great at any of them. Read more>>

Marion Ruta Segal

I came out of my “artist” closet recently. While growing up in the former Soviet Union, I received the message from my family, “you can’t make money with art.” Read more>>

Marshall Harris

I’ve always made things. Drawn stuff. Built contraptions. I can’t remember when I didn’t look at our world differently and ask “What if…?” Read more>>

Steve Gervais

Transformers the 1986 Animated Movie, I was a kid at the time, but I can remember clearly to this day, My mom had gotten me a ticket to that movie and, for the first time, she let me go by myself. Read more>>

Kieu Tran

My journey to art and finding clay as a mode of creative expression was an adventure and proof that it’s never too late to discover art, despite your cultural and socioeconomic background, institutional barriers, and societal pressures under capitalism. Read more>>

Yuliya Tymochko

I was 9 when I first know I wanted to be a singer, I wanted to be on a stage Read more>>

Brianna Cunningham

Hello, I’m Brianna Cunningham, and I’m embarking on an exciting new journey in content creation. My passion for this creative path began in high school when I discovered the world of influencers on YouTube, particularly those focused on makeup and beauty. Read more>>

Polin Huang

I like art since I was young. I drew lots with crayons and had fun with sketchbooks. Art was in my life, but I only thought of it as a job later. Read more>>

Helen Ho

I initially was a psychology major during my undergrad, with the intention of becoming a therapist. During my studies, I grew more detached to the US mental health industry and what my future would look like. Read more>>

Erin Brisbin

Creativity was always a part of my life since childhood. I was raised by a single mother who was and still is one of the most talented and creative humans I know. Read more>>

Maria , Celeste Cruz, Mason

We remember vividly the moment that we wanted to pursue a creative path professionally. We were in our hotel room after a long day at a business conference, and over spicy ramen bowls and HGTV, we said plainly to each other that we needed to design hats. Read more>>

Zeye One

When I was realized how much I hated working for other corporations/bad business owners. They expected too much for very little money Read more>>

Muskaan Sethi

Motion design was first introduced to me through title sequences that I watched as a young child in the cinema. Sometimes, more than the film itself, I would leave the cinema in awe of those graphics. Read more>>

Jeff Bulman

It actually happened by chance. My wife and I were out to dinner with friends and they mentioned that my friend John, was taking a jewelry class at Silverworks in Glen Echo Park (Old amusement Park that has become a creative arts center) Read more>>

Ted Chin

I’ve shown a lot of interest in art since I was young. I somewhat knew I wanted to pursue being an artist full-time back in high school or college. Read more>>

Rashida Bolden

I had a childhood filled with various artistic outlets but as I grew up I never looked at them as an avenue to pursue professionally. That is until I received a message from an old college friend asking if I would do makeup on a short film they were directing. Read more>>

EMMANUEL GONZALES

I’m Emmanuel Gonzales, a Florida native whose love for art began early on. It was during my time at Palm Beach Atlantic University that I realized art wasn’t just a passion but a calling. Read more>>

Elizabeth Anzelotti

Growing up in a family immersed in various crafts and woodworking, creativity was always a part of my life. Although I initially pursued a degree in Law, my heart was drawn to the world of crafts and design. Read more>>

Tiffany Tan

I didn’t decide to pursue music composition as a professional career until I was in my late 20’s. Although I have been exposed to artistic fields since childhood, learning piano, drawing, and so forth, they were mostly hobbies. Read more>>

Nicole G. Leier

I’ve always been deeply drawn to the arts; it’s a powerful force that resonates deeply for me. The arts have the unique ability to transport us to other realms, awaken emotions previously unfelSends a form of defiance, a departure from what is typical in order to embrace something exceptional. Read more>>

Trae Perry

For music, back in summer 2010, I released my first official track, entitled “iBLAZE” via Facebook. The immense feedback I received from my friends and family gave me the confirmation and confidence to want to pursue music as a career. Read more>>

Evelyn Lewis

Ever since I was a very young child I knew that I wanted to be an artist; although I had no idea what that would look like professionally. I used to make drawings for classmates in grade school, and I loved helping my grandfather with illustrations for covers of books he was writing. Read more>>

Nikki Vice

I was working for a corporate financial institution as a customer service representative/data entry specialist when I realized that even though I was making a decent wage, I had no time to spend with the people and creative pursuits important to me. Read more>>

Elif Geris

I have always wanted to be a performer in the music space. Always. I trained in classical piano and practiced sometimes starting at 7am before school in preparation for piano competitions my mom signed me up for. Read more>>

Yvette Leflore

I knew I wanted to create art professionally when I was 17 years old. I graduated high school a year early so I went to college a year early. I also had 2 jobs but in the middle of my semester I thought it would be cool to give painting a shot. Read more>>

Diane Goldie

I wasn’t allowed to do art at school despite it being a compulsory subject. Looking back with more empathy at my mother’s decision to insist to the head teacher that I was not to attend art class , I realise she was trying to protect me from a life of struggle. Read more>>

Nicolas Al Yacoub

Since I was a child, I have always been fascinated and curious about hair. The texture of hair is alive and can be transformed in countless ways. Read more>>

Susan Moncada

For some, the journey to becoming a professional artist begins early and follows a straight and narrow path. That was not the case for me! My practical disposition, German genes and Type-A personality ruled my life for many years. Read more>>

Danielle Ruth

It was a tail end of a weekend event on a Sunday afternoon in Foxborough, Massachusetts. I was standing in the middle of the Profound Market surrounded by incredibly talented artists from all over, a crowd of people, and friends squeezed into our 10×10 booth to buy our all natural soy candles. Read more>>

King Zell

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path was about 9 years ago. I knew I wanted to do something dealing with entertainment, years before that. Read more>>

Jon Oswald

I’ll start by saying that I never liked school. I made good grades but would literally have nightmares where I’d be told I’ll never finish school. I still have them sometimes. Read more>>

Ronnie Boykin Jr.

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was when I was 7 years old. As a child, Saturday morning cartoons were a highlight of my week. Read more>>

Kate Rufener

When I was a teenager, I used to write journal entries that felt really unfulfilling. It was kinda this popular thing to journal for healing, but I just found no joy in it. Read more>>

Michelle Banks

I knew I wanted to pursue my dream as an actor when I first saw my idol, Cicely Tyson, in the movie “Sounder.” I was so drawn to her and her character that I told my mom I wanted to be like her. Read more>>

Christina Helferich-Polosky

My name is Major (Retired) Christina Helferich-Polosky and I currently reside in Carlisle, PA. I was 100% disabled and medically retired by the US Army in 2009 because of multiple physical and mental injuries and illnesses I suffered after 11+ years of successful active duty service as a Transportation and Information Operations Officer. Read more>>

BreAnna Washington-Weatherford

I have always dreamed of pursuing art as a career. However, I had little guidance on how to apply that dream meaningfully. I attended art school until my second year of high school, when my parents began inquiring about what I was seriously considering as a career path. Read more>>

James Tu

I can distinctly remember one event that really propelled my passions for a creative profession. A bit of background – I’m a mechanical engineer by trade who spent the better part of 8 years working professionally in technical and project management roles. Read more>>

Zee

Even though I have been playing music since I was 4 years old (as a violinist), it was when I was about 13 that I knew I wanted to make a career out of it. Read more>>

Jihae Park

I didn’t until my first year of highschool, when I was offered by a family friend to go to a boarding school for the arts. A professional creative career was still such a vacuous idea to me, that I kind of went along with it even into college, not knowing exactly what kind of creative I wanted to be. Read more>>

Heather Hernon

After almost flunking my freshman year in college that was focused on courses related to the physical therapy field, I had one art class that I absolutely loved. Read more>>

Sarah Simon

“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us.” – Steven Pressfield As artists, we are usually aware of the desire to create even if it is something we have buried deep inside. Read more>> 

Mark Fiore

It was a lifetime ago when my initial “ah-ha” moment happened during my 9th-grade English class. Thanks to a good teacher, I found out that a few strange people actually make a career out of being a political cartoonist. Read more>>

Mollie Kellogg

In elementary school we were asked to write a paper on what we wanted to be when we grow up. My paper stated that when I grow up, I wanted to be a “farmer, artist, choreographer, actress, lawyer.” Read more>>

Kelly Kelly

I’ve been creating art since I was two years old, so it was never really a question of whether or not I wanted to pursue it as a career, since it chose me. Read more>>

Richard Courtney

I grew up in a small town in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. For a special treat for my 15th birthday, my mother took me to this movie called Fame. Read more>>

Mariana Cruz

When I was eleven, I created my first complete stop-motion video. After I finished it, the video deleted itself from the app I was using. With tears in my eyes, I decided to recreate it all over again. Read more>>