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

Sandrine Colson

For me, everything has a story, every person has a story. When I create an art piece, I am imagining a story where that piece of art would fit. I am a versatile artist working in acrylic and mixed media compositions. My compositions are abstract, referencing natural forms and movement, filled with bright paint swirls, playful paper cut-outs, and three-dimensional objects, resulting in richly textured abstract canvases with intricate layering. My work is a continuing experimentation with form, color, and medium. It is a snap-shot representation of stories that unveil under my brush, or through various mixed-media, letting innovation and creativity materialize on the canvas, leaving the viewer to his or her imagination to finish the story I started, making imagination, visible. My inspiration comes deep within the human soul, nature, master artists, and the world around us. Read more>>

Allison Sipe

This story takes us back to around 2006 when I was reading Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon for the first time. I fell in love with her books immediately, and wanted to learn more about her. I ended up finding an interview where she talked about why she started writing. She said: “When I turned 35, I thought, ‘Mozart was dead at 36, so I set the bar: I’m going to start writing a book on my next birthday.’” That was the first spark that had me thinking, maybe I should start now in my early 20’s and not wait until I’m 35. Read more>>

Sunny Morgan

I feel like there were many times I felt this way, especially singing at an early age and always wanting to be informed. Asking my dad questions until he had no more answers. But I remember in high school, the dean recommended me to the principal for the morning announcements. I started doing them every day before classes, for the rest of my four years. This moment I realized that a pathway in media might be for me. It felt good to be in the know before all my peers and get to know almost everyone in that special way. Read more>>

Wesley Eagle

I’ve always been a dreamer. As a kid, my days were filled with storytelling, giving life to my stuffed animals with silly voices, and acting out epic battles with action figures. I loved making the mundane magical. In high school, that passion evolved—I found my way to the stage through plays and chorus, constantly immersed in creativity. But there was something deeper, an almost primal drive to do something bigger with my life. Read more>>

Lizzi Albert

I was 13 years old and playing my first leading role: Juliet in a 1960s-era Romeo and Juliet, complete with go-go boots, a Rolling Stones soundtrack, and my very first crush, a skinny redhead named Joe, as Romeo. We performed in the black box theater of the local college and it all felt VERY legit. But despite the costumes, the fake blood, and the stage kisses (my first), the most magical moment for me actually came during Juliet’s potion speech, alone on stage at the end of Act 4. My acting teachers had coached me through every beat, including the moment where Juliet begins to think she sees Tybalt’s ghost. Read more>>

Riley Paige Barnes

I always sung when I was younger. I loved preforming for my family in the living room just making up my own song. I started singing lessons when I was 5 years old and still have the same vocal coach today. My first ever performance was at The Norco Fair when I was 6 and I sang “Somewhere over the Rainbow” I remember being really scared but once I got on stage, I new that this is what I want to do. Read more>>

Victory Hill

I’ve wanted to be a professional artist since I was about 9 years old. I was taking classical, traditional art lessons from women in our community. I started with graphite drawings, then acrylics, and was even able to paint stage sets at a young age. Growing up in a large family, these lessons were some of the only moments of peace and I quiet I could get. I was able to disappear into my thoughts and fade out the background noise. I had a hard time in school; we moved a lot, and there was a lot of darkness in my childhood and adolescence, but art was the only thing that stayed consistent. Read more>>

Keiva Spence

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path was when I was a kid, watching Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video. That moment filled me with such intense emotions—fear, groove, awe. The creativity was mind-blowing, and seeing it all done by a person of color opened my eyes to new possibilities. Music was always around me. I’d go to Blockbuster and rent musicals like Cats and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and outside of sports, I loved going to the theater for plays and ballets. Read more>>

Drey Nelson

Growing up as a military brat, I had three things that always brought me joy. They were basketball, music, and film. I always knew I wanted to get into the performing arts, I just didn’t know when I would be ready to go full force with it. The passion has always been there, but basketball was my life. The game took precedence over everything. When I wasn’t in the driveway, a park, or the court, my days were spent watching films like, “A Bronx Tale”, “Casino”, “Scarface”, “The Godfather,” “New Jack City”, and “Goodfellas”. Read more>>

Rebeca Victoria

My early twenties were a whirlwind of creative exploration, a passionate dance between the lens and the world of fashion. At 21, I found myself immersed in the backstage buzz of runway shows, capturing the raw energy and artistry of local designers for a fashion magazine. Armed with my trusty film camera, I documented the makeup artists weaving their magic, transforming models into ethereal visions. Each click of the shutter was a step deeper into a world I longed to be part of. Read more>>

Evander

When I was about eight years old, my parents had me start taking music lessons, but they let me choose any instrument I wanted. I chose electric guitar–I don’t come from a family of musicians or anything, but my dad is a huge Jimi Hendrix fan, and I really looked up to my dad. However, my relationship with the guitar was definitely not love-at-first-strum. For one, I was painfully shy, and I couldn’t bring myself to make eye contact with my guitar instructor, which was embarrassing. And secondly, I was already super into gymnastics, which felt thrilling and exhilarating on a daily basis. Compared to flying and flipping through the air, guitar just felt like work. So I never really practiced any of my music very much, and I used all my time on the guitar to “mess around”–mindlessly noodle and improvise. Read more>>

Cheryl Bains

I think there have been two distinct moments — The first time someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was clear – “singer”. I was around 5 years old then, and every subsequent time I was asked this question, my answer remained the same! I didn’t know what it was about music and singing that pulled me then, but just that it did and it felt natural.  Read more>>

Billy Gaines

I was 17 years old when I knew I was to pursue a career in music. I had become a Christian at the age of 16 and after seeking God’s purpose of my life and He revealed to me that He wanted me to use my musical gift. Read more>>

Brooklynn Graham

Pinpointing when and where I learned what I do is a more difficult task than I anticipated. Though I’ve tried analyzing and deconstructing my life for a satisfying answer, the truth is that art and making have always been a part of who I am. This is a passion that took root as a child. A child who learned to paint and sew from her grandma, to draw and craft with her mom, and who learned woodworking and an appreciation for material work from her dad. These crafts and skills were the foundation that allowed me to make what I do today. Read more>>

Vincent Veloso

The first inclination of seriously pursuing a creative/artistic path was in high school. I am a first generation Filipino-American. A running joke we have is that when you meet a Filipino, they’re probably either a nurse or a musician. I actually had intended to go into the medical profession after high school. However, I’d always been artistically inclined from a young age: singing, music, painting, drawing, movies and films. Read more>>

Tendai Mukuka

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a career in dance was my sophomore year of high school. I was taking a health course as I had hopes of potentially going into medical field. However, going into the medical field was something I realized I didn’t want. Anyways, my health teacher was giving us some motivation and encouraging us that we should go for the career we want. Don’t let what our parents want or what we think we want get in the way of what we actually do want. Hearing this made me realize that I the only reason I wanted to go into the medical field was because my mom was encouraging it. In our culture, it is common for us to study medicine or law because it “makes the money”. I realized here that I didn’t want to live my life according to others & instead I needed to go for the life I was dreaming of, which is performance & choreography. Read more>>

Terrez Toyer

I’ve known I was a creative since a kid. I dabbled in different mediums of art over my years but I never expected to be a full time artist. Growing up I use to draw and do music as a hobby, but football was my dream. I got back in to art from my brother and a friend telling me to start tattooing Read more>>

Corinne Pulsinelle

At 6 years old, I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I wrote down “Artist.” I can’t say that I had any real idea of what that would look like as a career path, but as soon as I had the motor skills to hold a crayon I was serious about it in a way that was different than other classmates. Read more>>

Sam Posthumus

I have been drawing and making things for as long as I can remember but it was always a hobby. About twenty years ago I started making my own music and that was my first entry into the public art space. The first time I sold a song I knew that I had found a path and profession that I genuinely enjoyed. I slowly evolved back to my first love, visual art, and have been pursuing that for about a decade. Being able to have a profession that you truly love is a rarity and I am fortunate to have found mine. Read more>>

Negareh Ayat

The first time I truly knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally wasn’t so much a decision as it was an evolution. I grew up in an artistic family, surrounded by the sights, smells, and rhythms of creation. My parents’ studio was like a second home, a place of both experimentation and play where I could explore with freedom. Early on, I was captivated by the process, working with my own drawing board and becoming familiar with brushes, pastels, and oil paints in the midst of their projects. Art was woven into my daily life; it felt natural, even inevitable, to follow that path. Read more>>

Chris Casillas

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment I knew I wanted to be a composer, but if I had to choose one, I would say it was when I took the film scoring elective at Loyola New Orleans. The question of becoming a composer had popped in my head multiple times throughout my life, but taking that class and getting that look into the world of film scoring was the final piece I needed to complete the puzzle. Prior to that moment, I had been following a path of performance, but I was blown away by what film scoring had to offer. When I got to score my first ever scene, I knew I had found my calling. Read more>>

Cory Robinson

Probably around age 12. When I was 11 I was in middle school, fat, and awkward. But I had a good sense of humor. I was always cracking up my mom’s then-boyfriend (now husband) and making my friends laugh in class. One of the more popular kids dared me to enter the local talent show and I won. I was pretty much hooked after that, and had aspirations to do this for life. Read more>>

Mat Barry

I remember being in highschool, and seeing everyone kind of settle in, planting the seeds to what they wanted to do for their careers, and I felt so out of place because I hadn’t reached that point yet. I was eyeing something in psychology, but I just didn’t feel the passion. But that was it, passion. I’ve always wanted to relate to people. It’s a core value of mine to bring people together as much as possible, and the one thing I was passionate about that also of course, brings people together, was film. I always adored films, not so different than anyone else, but I think what makes me different is that desire to actually be the one to make it, to ask beyond “Is what I’m making good?”, and asking “Is this work, or project aiming to say something, or prompting people to think deeply?” Art throughout the centuries has been responsible for fundamentally changing society, and prompting change in it’s dynamics. I want to prompt a change towards unity with my art as a filmmaker. Read more>>

Vicky Zi Wang

Ever since I was five years old, animation has been a part of my life in a way that felt almost destined. Watching Pokémon and playing the games—especially Diamond and Pearl—unlocked something inside me that I couldn’t quite name at that age. I just knew I wanted to bring characters to life, to be the person behind those beloved animations that made the world around me feel magical. My dream was crystal clear, even if the path wasn’t fully formed yet. Read more>>

Nahshon Ruffin

I went to college with the hopes of becoming a psychologist because I was fascinated with human behavior. I took a year off because I started to lose the desire to pursue that career. During that time off, I went to see a play in college and I remember crying because that was the study of human behavior that I loved. I said “I want to do that”. I wanted to create a space to escape and give justice to different people and their stories. I finally enrolled back in college as a Theater major and learned everything that I could to make it a career. I wasn’t sure what the path would look like but I knew as long as I had my passion and I was always willing to improve a career would shape itself. Read more>>

J.d. Milligan

I was young when I was watching my artsy grandmother paint black trays with gold leaf paint. I was very curious about her painting projects. One day she told me to repaint this heavy doorstop of a Dutch woman. I was just reapplying the same colors. Then Nanny, that’s what I called her, gave me a sip of her creamy and oh so sugary hot coffee. I thought Id died and gone to heaven. I knew then — I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, just drink coffee and paint. Read more>>

Momalyu / Liubov Kriuchkova

My entire career has been centered around creativity. As a child, I began my creative journey in art school, but later I graduated from university as an interior designer. The first part of my career was dedicated to furniture and interior design. But today, I am an interdisciplinary artist and surface designer. Painting has always been my passion and a parallel hobby. I first made a professional statement as an artist in 2016, when we had already been living in Thailand for a year. That’s when I decided to present myself to the world, even though I had already been creating paintings for my clients’ interiors. Read more>>

Bishop Osei

I feel like my life was always leading me to it, but when I was 18 was when I actually put out my first piece of music and decided to just not look back. It was February, i had just left college, I knew I wasn’t going back but at the time I was telling myself I was just taking a break. I had only been there one semester and was already on academic probation. For some reason, even with 0 equipment or signs pointing to it, I would find myself making a plan, a vision board, a goal list, just anything that helped me visualize the version of myself I wanted to become. Knowing what I know now about the law of attraction I can safely say I probably daydreamed myself into becoming an artist. Read more>>

Gerard Doolan

In the spring of 2009, I stepped out onto the street and, alone in the city, began to compose a lifelong visual essay on New York, a place that is both threateningly and bewilderingly fascinating. Those initial months, although I didn’t know back then, were the starting point of what I would eventually come to do today. These photographs represent the dazzling drama of the street and form an open letter to the city and the generations of people who have called it home. Read more>>

Cagla Aykac

Art has been a central part of my life from a young age. I am 34 years old now, but my journey began in primary school when I first took up oil painting. Over the course of two years, I created nearly 20 paintings and had the opportunity to hold an exhibition under my name in the 5th grade. Throughout my education, both music and painting continued to be significant aspects of my life. Read more>>

Eno Young

I’ve always been creative with my hands and I’ve always loved making art, but I haven’t always made time for it. In 2022, I realised I needed to take my art seriously and make it a priority. So, I decided to take the leap and start living as an artist. That was in January 2023, and it’s been an incredible journey so far. Read more>>

Kaitlin Kidd

Like everyone who ends up in the creative field, I have always been in the creative realm. As far back as I can remember I have always shown a great interest in art and was put in after-school art classes instead of sports. I first learned to paint with oil paints in one of these classes- my teacher was a french lady who held classes on her patio in the afternoons and I remember those classes fondly. She was the only oil instructor I have ever had and I still use all her feedback and tips and tricks today. I must of been around 8 or 9 when she taught me and her instruction still rings clear. Read more>>

Sweta Keswani

I started acting really young while still in college. One moment I was doing background for a Tv series ( In India ) for some extra pocket money and the next moment I was a lead in two immensely popular prime time shows. This journey was nearly a decade long though ( even though it sounds like a minute ) but since one role led to another I just went with the flow. And suddenly I was a household name. It was much later when I moved to New York in 2013 for love and to start a family that I questioned why I still wanted to do what I’m doing. With lesser opportunities for actors of color here in the US work was very sporadic. I had to ask myself the hard questions. That’s when I knew that I truly loved telling stories, making an impact. Art impacts life, life impacts art. And I for one knew how cinema can change people’s perspectives. No matter how tough this path would be, this time I consciously chose to stick with it. Read more>>

Lily Kate Goehring

Growing up in Grand Forks, North Dakota, I didn’t have many opportunities to explore the dance industry. My sister and I were both dancers, and our mom was our teacher, but other than training, I never imagined dance as a career path. That changed when I moved to Las Vegas in 2018 and joined the Prodigy Dance Crew. Seeing how these dancers were not only training at a high level but also thriving in the industry opened my eyes to new possibilities. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to pursue dance professionally, and I’ve worked hard to turn it into a career! Read more>>

Spencer Mills

As a middle child who’s school atire was ill-fitting hand-me-downs, I learned quickly that laughs were the great equalizer. I was no longer judged by my seven year old tattered jeans, or my speech impediment. If I made them laugh I was accepted and part of the group. My circumstances were no longer the story. Initially I took joy in the Culinary Arts. The animosity of the Chef was alluring to me. Another way to hide and let my art speak for me without judgement. My applause were the cleaned plates coming back to the dishpit. But the joy was always in the comradery of the Joke. Read more>>

Fiinskyy

Art has always been an emotional and needed outlet for me. Over the past few years my interest in art became more serious as I started viewing it as a future career instead of just a hobby. I get a sense of urgency when I start a new project. This feeling overwhelms me with a deep sense of purpose and spurs my mind with questions and a desire to know more. Everytime I create it’s always fulfilling. I don’t worry about other people’s parameters and rules for success. It amazes me when people have a connection with my work and enjoy it. I feel extremely privileged to be able to make a living creating art. Read more>>

Michael Locatelli

I knew that I wanted to pursue music professionally during my freshmen year of college. I was a student-athlete on the hockey team at Plymouth State University and in the first game of the season I sustained a major injury which ended my hockey career. While I was in the hospital recovering from compartment syndrome in my right thigh, and a myriad of surgeries, my childhood friend Patrick Bodi came to visit me. He said if I wasn’t going to be able to play hockey anymore I should come to his studio and make a song with him. We used to freestyle to his beats in high school on drives home from get togethers; because of that Patrick thought I should give it a shot. So during the recovery process, I began to make music with guidance from him and his frequent collaborator/manager Liam Jessup. Patrick is now a multiplatinum, Latin Grammy Nominated songwriter and producer. Read more>>

Brian Orr

I use to attend gospel concerts and had the desire to start doing them myself and through a friend I became friends with a country singer then doors opened for me to start promoting country music in 2018. It was at that time I started promoting under the name of East Tennessee Concerts doing Gospel,Bluegrass and country with some of the biggest names in the business Read more>>

 

Miss Bella

My fascination with creating content has always driven me, fueling a deep desire to pursue it on a larger scale. From a young age, storytelling and creativity have captivated me. Video equipment and costumes topped my wishlist every birthday and Christmas. I loved to put on plays for my family and was creating stories before I could read or write. Childhood vacations to Disneyland cemented my appreciation for detail and a love of being transformed to another time. When I found social media websites such as YouTube and Instagram, I felt very inspired to create and share my own style of storytelling on the platforms. So basically, it’s been in my DNA for as long as I remember. Read more>>

Nakesha Writes

I never really thought about being an actor or writer to be honest. I did write poetry, but just for fun. So I actually started doing spoken word performances after I finished college. It just so happened that there was a production for a play called February Once Again that needed poetry. After submitting some poems, they asked me, did I just want to be in the production. I thought why not, and the rest is history Read more>>

Kalpak Deshmukh

The moment I realized I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally didn’t happen all at once, but it definitely began during my teenage years. I grew up with a love for movies, TV shows, and video games, always fascinated by how they could transport you into different worlds. But I didn’t immediately think of turning that fascination into a career. At first, I was drawn toward technology and pursued a degree in software engineering. I loved programming and solving technical problems, but I found myself craving something more creative. Read more>>

Ethan Raysor

I’ve actually had this realization many times in my life, and every time I have had it, it’s brought me a new sense of confidence I never imagined having. The very first time I knew I wanted to be a professional artist was in 8th grade, just after my 14th birthday. I had been trying my hardest to enjoy making music, as I had been studying music theory and the clarinet for about 6 years at that point, and I found myself uninterested in practicing the way I used to. I had just started taking dance classes at my middle school for a little over a year and I just had this instinctual urge that I NEEDED to pursue that more. I went from dancing twice a week for about an hour at school to dancing five times a week, including with a private tutor, James Zynda, who inspired me to follow my dreams of being a stage performer. Read more>>

Kate Segal

I have been making digital art since I was a child however, I starting formally selling my art in 2020 after the COVID 19 pandemic began. I created a website and opened an online store at that time. In addition to being an artist, I am also a licensed clinical psychologist, I was in my final year of training before receiving my doctorate when the pandemic hit and as the potential of being an in-person front line worker in a hospital was becoming a reality in addition to coping with the sudden realization of a pandemic as a new mother at the time, I was stressed. To manage my stress, I began to create a lot more digital art. More people took interest of the art I was posting on social media as I was showing more art to the world via that, which made me, for the first time say “why not open a online store?” So I did. Since then my business has organically grown. I have sold my artwork directly to customers and also licensed my artwork to major companies like Trader Joes and HBO. Read more>>

Rai Hudson

I first knew I wanted to pursue a music career when I was very young. I have a vivid memory of standing on my mom’s living room table and performing for her guests. It became a regular event, and each time they visited, I would have different songs, outfits, and props ready. Later, at age 8, my grandfather helped me record my first song, which was a defining moment in my growth. Growing up in a musical family—my mom was a professional opera singer, my grandmother a professional dancer, and my grandfather a renowned entertainer—provided me with constant inspiration. They taught me everything they knew, nurturing my passion for music from a young age. Read more>>

Kyro

I’ve known since I was a little ass kid. I remember being like 9 and seeing the Justin Bieber movie and just telling my mom over and over again, “im gonna be the next THAT”. Yeah that was also maybe 6 months after MJ died. That just broke my soul man. I had literally just discovered the Jackson 5 a week before he passed! So I just remember spending all the time in the world on YouTube watching these stars change the world. I knew I had to be apart of it all one day. Read more>>