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

Meredith Kong

For me, I’m not so sure I can pinpoint an exact time but more of a feeling that I never wanted to work for someone else. I always knew I was a little bit different and never really knew what that meant until I graduated high school and hated being in a corporate setting. Once I had my son, I started making all of his food, including his dessert! When I got an ice cream maker as a wedding gift and started making ice cream for him, that really sealed the deal. I quickly fell in love with making flavors that nobody else was making in the Indianapolis area and the rest is history! Read more>>

Armonie Mcheard

Every since I was little. I was seven years old around this time when twitter first came out and this is around the time when I use to watch Disney channel a lot and always wanted to be on Disney channel (actor) I never gave up that dream I just turned more into a self made content creator making skits, reactions, vlogs eventually turning to music because I always had a love for music Read more>>

David Clark

We have always enjoyed reminiscing about the decade of the 80s. Then four years ago we were having a discussion about the best hair bands of the 80s and thought “hey I bet a lot of people would enjoy this discussion”. At that point DH approached DC and asked if he would be interested in doing a podcast. We then began the podcast with a cellphone and a 5 dollar microphone. The early shows were more top ten categories and driven by the thoughts of the host. Then during year 2 DC made the suggestion that we begin to take it to a video platform and start having guest on. The podcast has grown tremendously from there. As of know we are just two high school teachers having fun with a podcast that is based on having a fun conversation with friends. Read more>>

Julian Voss-andreae

At age 19 I painted a self-portrait in front of a mirror, with only one candle for lighting. I started with a pencil drawing and then used water colors and, finally, gouache. After 5 hours I was done. I had been in a flow state during the time of painting, without any conscious thought. All I did was looking at every detail and reproducing it on the paper, as faithfully as I could. Despite the lack of conscious control, the image at the end did not look random, not at all. It felt coherent. At that point I decided to become an artist without really knowing when or how. But witnessing the magic of creation, in a state of mind that is very different to our everyday, ‘alert, problem solving’ state, was deeply inspirational and I knew that I wanted to devote my life to that. Read more>>

Kenny Endo

Music has always been a major part of my life. Early in my career, I played Western percussion (primarily drum set). In college, I discovered taiko (Japanese drumming) at an event featuring the San Francisco Taiko Dojo. I immediately knew that would become my passion and life’s work. The stirring sound of taiko along with the sharp movements and infectious spirit had me hooked. Read more>>

Summer

I’ve known I wanted to pursue a creative path since I was a child. From a very young age, I was drawn to artistic expression, whether it was through drawing, crafting, or baking. I always felt a need to create, to make something beautiful out of simple ingredients or materials. The feeling of taking an idea and turning it into something real was always thrilling to me. Read more>>

Khadijah Curry

I have always known ever since I was a kid. In the 5th grade I worked very heard to get the lead role in a school play and having the role never fell short of feeling natural for me. I would later become apart of choir and may other forms of creative expressions. Once in high school I went to Digital Media and Design (DMD). Here I would realize that being creative was my passion. I Would spend the next 4 years making website, campaign flyers, commercials and other videos for my school and other organizations in San Diego. Read more>>

Xander Nesbitt

I was in high school and I came across this website called fiverr that my mother put me on. I started earning a lot of money there, and that made me want to start my own business. Beforehand, I didn’t know I could make money by drawing. But I guess I never paid it any mind and noticed that the whole world runs off of artwork whether it’s design or animation.  So since then, I’ve been on my grind as an Illustrator, digital creator, and animator. Read more>>

Raelyn Armstrong

My mom always had me work on crafts as a kid. When she was younger, she was skilled in pencil drawings and still has her work displayed in her home. I attended a math and science based charter school for middle and high school, which surprisingly, my favorite class was art. My senior year I transferred to a local public school in hopes of taking some fun classes. That year, I took at least two art classes every trimester. I really took off with drawing and sketching at that time.  Fast forward a year, I snagged a tattoo apprenticeship. While I disliked the canvas of skin, I really enjoyed creating custom work for clients. Read more>>

Apagnawen Annankra

It started in 2007 when my father passed away(a week before I turned 15 ). We wanted to do a photo slideshow at his wake keeping event . I checked on google and was introduced to windows movie maker which i used to create the slide. Later that year i was enrolled in high school and that’s when I made the decision to pursue it professionally. Read more>>

Chef Diervion (tank) Land

Ive always had an affinity and passion to food. Even as a child who grew up in the country. I loved to look at the different varieties of Heavenly Ham Books, in which My Little Lady would find in the morning. Funny little story but at 11 years old I told my mother I wanted to become a chef. I strive daily to never quit living in my dream, because she never quit pushing me to greatness. Read more>>

Rachel Lieberman

I realized I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally much later in life. I always loved music, but I was resigned that music would be a hobby. My high school poured most of its funding into musical theatre and jazz band, which wasn’t for me. Instead, I secretly recorded covers on Photobooth and posted them to YouTube or Facebook, and found friends to play in bands at local restaurants around my hometown. I applied to 2 music schools, NYU and USC. But when I got the call I hadn’t gotten into either school, I knew college was going to be about getting a bachelor’s degree. So, I went to the University of Texas at Austin for business. I loved music, but up until then, I had not found an outlet to grow my abilities. Read more>>

Christy Ross

I always knew I loved art but it wasn’t until my art teacher in high school Mrs. Ralston asked me if I wanted to apply for the new design major at UCLA when I actually considered to pursue an artistic path. My parents were always very supportive of me studying art. I had been taking life drawing classes at the Atheneum in La Jolla in addition to taking art in high school. Back in Jr. High at Digueño Jr. High, I took zero period P.E. so I could take an extra elective: drawing, in addition to drafting in school. I would start P.E. at 7am to get that extra hour of art in. My parents held very traditional professions. My dad still works in commercial real estate. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy and Harvard Business school. My mom was a school nurse in SD Unified and was a graduate of USF and Boston University. They understood and valued the joy I experienced while creating my paintings and drawings and they saw how hard I worked on them and this is why I think they supported me in becoming an artist and art teacher as a profession. Read more>>

Brooke Daub

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember, starting as early as four years old. It was always something I enjoyed doing and felt like I excelled at, as was evident in my elementary school assignments and art projects; I remember spending lots of time trying to make my drawings as good as possible. This passion stuck with me throughout middle school as I continued to grow as an artist both through my art classes at school and through drawing in sketchbooks at home. Read more>>

Jie Yu

I was born into a high-pressure environment where people blindly follow major trends without truly understanding what they want: a career that makes more money than others, is more prestigious, and so on. I was one of them too. I studied finance in college because I was told it would make me a lot of money. That field is full of crazy people—crazier than artists, at least. I hoped to find some sense of value through fighting for something, anything, but I couldn’t. Read more>>

Carrie Zurliene

For as long as I can remember, whenever someone would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say “I want to be an artist”. Being a relatively quiet kid, the fact that I decided to audition for my middle school’s production of Beauty and the Beast when I was eleven was shocking for me–and others who knew me well! I was cast in the ensemble as a town villager who got chased by a dancing palace spoon, but my life changed for the better when I joined a community I never wanted to leave. Read more>>

Gabrielle Heslop

From a young age, I was drawn to the arts, immersing myself in plays, memorizing my favorite movie lines, and reenacting plots with my Barbie dolls. Being an only child allowed my imagination to flourish, as I created entire worlds in my mind. It was in middle school, during a major theater production, that I truly realized my passion. When unexpected challenges like missing props and early curtain closures forced me to improvise on stage, the audience was captivated by the spontaneity. That experience marked a turning point, solidifying my commitment to pursuing a career in the arts, and since then, I have never looked back. Read more>>

Kiana Moattari

I’ve honestly always wanted to pursue a creative path. When I was a kid I always wanted to be an actor, but as I got older I suppressed that dream and desire and completely buried it for years – to the point where I’m sure lots of people I used to know back then might be surprised to learn that I’m an actor! When I really decided to go for it was during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. I was taking my college classes online and I decided to start doing acting classes on zoom because I used to love acting as a kid, and this was my dream that I actively denied myself for so long. Read more>>

Shange Jaara Lilaa

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was my Junior year in high school. There was an audition for a play called “Once On This Island,” and I decided to audition. I booked a role; it wasn’t a main character, but a few days into the audition process, one of the women who secured the role of Erzulie, the Goddess of Love, stepped away from the opportunity, and I was asked to fill the role. We auditioned almost every day after school, and I felt my voice becoming more powerful. During one of the evening shows, it was time for me to sing my lead song—a beautiful love song that made me feel so emotional. Read more>>

Sara Jones

One of my earliest memories of knowing I was meant to be a performer was when I was about 4 or 5 years old. My parents had a classical music station on, and I was showing off the ballet moves I had learned at preschool—it just felt so natural! From then on, I was always putting on performances for my family, entering school talent shows, and eventually joining the music class offered at my elementary school to learn the violin. The rest is history! Read more>>

Kenneth Millyun

Ever since I was a kid, music has always surrounded me whether it be an overshadow to fights or Laughter. The liquid courage is something (he laughed) my family would always blast oldies and I’d be in the back with my cousins, just chilling, listening to the music. That helped shake my ear and fine tune it to know what music really is. there’s places music can go that a lot of things can’t touch. Read more>>

Jocelynn Only

That question brings back such a vivid memory! I’ll try to paint a picture: During summer vacation before going into the fifth grade, I remember being so excited about a movie that was coming to theaters before summer break ended. As a way to promote that movie, there was a behind-the-scenes special on TV. Watching that behind-the-scenes special before the movie came out sparked the idea of wondering what it would be like to act professionally even though I had no idea how to make that into a reality. My dad took me to see the movie and I was beyond excited to see the finished product after watching that behind-the-scenes special a couple weeks prior. Read more>>

Ruth Galdamez

About 20 years ago I was working in the banking industry in a very stressful and fast paced career. I read an article on Pottery and how soothing this art was to the Potter. I began a series of classes and found myself immersed in the world of Pottery. I presently work on my Pottery in my home studio. It continues to allow me to relax in times where my work in ministry with women and marriages gets overwhelming. It is also the only time my mind totally focuses on what I’m creating on the potters wheel. A time where no other thoughts can distract me and this is a way for me to decompress. I totally recommend it.  Read more>>

Enaka Beteck

I first knew music was what I was meant to do when I was in high school, at the time I was a senior in high school. I realized this because I was a great storyteller and I had a very creative imaginative mind. The songs I was making were very unique in terms of the concepts, themes, and stories I put in my music. But my music didn’t resonate with the locals because I stepped outside the boundaries of just making street and gangster music, so many people couldn’t gravitate to my music. Read more>>

Yueyue (lydia) Zhang

Art had always been my companion, especially since I wasn’t very outgoing, and drawing became my way to express what words couldn’t convey. As a child, I loved drawing on the walls, and my bedroom was filled with my artwork. I’ve always been easily drawn to colors, beautiful paintings, and landscapes. It was during high school that I realized I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally. While others prepared for exams and followed conventional academic routes, I quietly spent my time sketching in the margins of my notebooks and textbooks. Read more>>

Ian Braga

When I was three years old, my mother took me to see a play. There were adults playing children and animals, everyone spoke, danced and acted with a lot of energy and joy. The colors of the stage, the sets, everything was very lively. At the end of the show, my parents took me to see the actors (who were still singing and dancing) off and I felt that there was a lot of life there, a lot of will to live, a real pulse of vital energy. My eyes lit up. I asked my mother who those people were and she said they were actors. That day I decided I was going to be an actor and I’ve never put it out of my mind since. Read more>>

Jonathan Lagudi

I think since I was a kid I’ve always been interested in the creative side of things. I’m from a loud, Italian-Australian family so I was always up performing for them, doing impressions or funny voices, relaying jokes I heard at school. We’re all pretty dramatic in one way or another, but for me it just seemed something that brought joy to those around me, and I loved that. Read more>>

Matt Christian

It was a slow burn for me. Some people have grand stories where it was like a lightning strike and all of a sudden they just knew. My experience was more gradual. Like a bunch of little lightning strikes that culminated one evening. One of those small lightning strikes was growing up loving movies, another was getting signed with my first agent, and yet another was starting to work regularly with my first acting coach. But the moment I knew I wanted to pursue this professionally and there was no going back was actually a quiet night where I went to the movies by myself. I had a free ticket to see Pitch Perfect 2 of all things back in the summer of 2015. Read more>>

Jaquez Robinson

I discovered my passion for storytelling in eighth grade when I participated in my first play, “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” That experience ignited a love for the craft, leading me to realize I wanted to pursue it as a career. By my sophomore year of high school, I visited the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), where I saw professionals in the industry doing what I aspired to do. Witnessing their talent and the opportunities AMDA offered young artists solidified my determination to follow this path. Additionally, seeing my first Broadway show, “Les Misérables,” inspired me even further. In my junior year, I attended the Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA), where I thrived in an environment filled with fellow passionate students. Each day challenged me to grow as an artist, and performing in shows like “Sweet Charity” and “Little Shop of Horrors” helped hone my skills in preparation for what AMDA had in store for me. Read more>>

Idara Tom

Growing up, I’ve always been fascinated by the power of creativity and self-expression; but the turning point came when I was in high school. I still remember the thrill of watching tutorials online and the excitement of experimentation. While taking art classes, I honed my skills and participated in local art competitions organized in collaboration with my school.
My parents’ support and my personal determination solidified my resolve to make arts my career. Read more>>

Chrissy Taylor

In 2022, I had the opportunity to go to Miami to be featured on a women’s empowerment billboard showcasing plus-size women for Mesh Dollhouse. It was during my time in Miami, when I discovered that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally as a model. My experience in Miami with Mesh Dollhouse included a beach photoshoot, power shoot networking event, billboard reveal party, and a photoshoot with Vivid Magazine. It was during this epic weekend when I realized that this could be my life. I could travel the world for photoshoots and be featured on billboards and in magazines. Ever since this experience, I have been working diligently to perfect my craft as a model. Aiming to turn my passion into a full-time career.  Read more>>

Jusef Rene

I first got the singing bug when I was 7 years of age. I was out playing hide and seek running around our apartments and I heard myself truly for the first time. At this time, the passion began and I haven’t turned back. I professionally realized after being in the military and traveling so much, I realized that I wanted to do music full time. I started releasing seriously in 2009 and after noticing the reaction to my music, I decided I need to totally submerge and invest emotionally. Read more>>

Austin Abaca

Growing up, I always believed I wanted to pursue a career in medicine, thinking that becoming a doctor would be my path. However, on the first day of senior year during my anatomy class, I realized it wasn’t something I was passionate about. It just didn’t resonate with me. I always had a creative eye, even in how I dressed — fashion was my way of expressing myself when I didn’t have the words. Clothing and sneakers gave me the freedom to communicate my personality and style. This realization helped me find my voice, which I had struggled with as a kid, and ultimately led me to explore capturing my life through photos and videos. Fashion was the gateway to discovering my true creative passion. Read more>>

Raf Lindia

I don’t know if there was a specific moment I can point, I just know I always loved writing.  It started with poems when I was a kid. Then, as I developed a passion for movies, I tried my hand at writing screenplays.  But I realized that for me to reach an audience with my stories, which ultimately is what I was looking for, I decided to focus on writing a novel. It was the notion that I had all of these thoughts, ideas and stories that I could share with thousands of people, to entertain them or move them, that drove me on this path. I was a Marketing manager in Sicily when my first novel (La Moglie del Sindaco) was published by a small local publisher.  People would recognize me on the street and stop me to ask me about the last twist and why I did that, and what was going to happen next!  That pushed me to keep going and do better with the next story.  Read more>>