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

Orly K.g.

I truly don’t know if it was the start of a midlife crisis or the fact that I was about to be an empty nester — but today, this former TV News Reporter and award-winning PR firm owner is now a full-time comedian. Like, a write-jokes-and-perform-said-jokes-on-stage-in-front-of-people comedian. Read more>>

Rebekah Freeland

Never in a million years did I think I would want to pursue songwriting and making music for a living. I was a theatre and choir kid with dreams of being on Broadway. All I wanted was to sing and dance onstage playing someone else. I never knew myself and didn’t want to, so I buried it under the acting. So scared of showing people the parts of me that I was terrified of, I kept my songs to myself and just let them stay there. Posted on social media a couple of times but I was always known as the “most likely to be on Broadway” in my community. I went into college as a Musical Theatre major so ready to dive into all the intricacies of my craft, then discovered I hated it. My peers around me were bright-eyed and filled to the brim with excitement over scenes and plays. But my head wasn’t filled with that, I felt so depressed that I started to resent the exact goal I had spent my whole adolescent life trying to achieve. Read more>>

Landon Hanks

It really only started from when I was younger. I always wanted to express myself in different ways and throughout many outlets. I performed in my small town community theatre for about nine years and that’s what really helped me be myself for the longest time. As I got older thought, I started to be more interested in social media and how taking pictures could capture so much personality. So that’s what I’ve been doing since. Oh, and I also got into the Acting Program at Texas State University, so that’s pretty sick too. I love acting. Read more>>

Denise Love Hewett

I always knew I wanted to be a performer since I was a little kid. I was a theater kid and a serious dancer but I didn’t have the courage to take the leap until later in my life. My parents had more traditional business careers in corporations and startups. Building a sustainable, creative life was a foreign concept to them. My path was one of unlearning. I had to look into my own limiting beliefs around professional creativity. My DJ career really paved the way because it was something I let unfold naturally. It was the secret blueprint and showed me how to build a professional path for the rest of my interests. Read more>>

Autumn Knight

I’ve always had a passion for music, performing, singing, songwriting, playing piano… pretty much all the things in the performing arts. As a young child I started to perform on stage starring in musical theatre productions. When I was 13 I started to write my own original music playing the piano and singing. Shortly after I started recording in the studio. During that time I realized quickly that I wanted to pursue the artist path. Along with my love for performing live & singing, I knew I always wanted to make rad music. Read more>>

Lisa Maywood

Thinking back, I first knew I wanted to pursue an artistic career at the age of 15, while still in high school. I was fortunate to grow up in an environment that encouraged artistic expression. As a child, I found creative inspiration in the different countries and cultures my family visited during our yearly vacations.

My art teacher, who had already taught various disciplines such as drawing, painting, photography, and batik, played a pivotal role in nurturing my passion. I eagerly enrolled in all of her courses, and they quickly became the highlight of my high school years. These were the classes that truly excited me and made me eager to learn more. Read more>>

Toni Renee Davenport

I grew up in a home full of great music always being played and sang to along with dancing around very often. From a very young age, around 9 years old I took an interest in writing my own lyrics. I’d sit in front of the stereo system and write to instrumentals and one day one of my Mom’s boyfriends at the time offered to show me how to structure out my writing. My mother even bought me a rhyming dictionary which was really dope. I would ride in the car and picture myself in music videos and create the music video scenario in my mind. So from that point I always said I wanted to be a rapper/ in the music business. Read more>>

Tati Reina

I have always known I wanted to pursue a creative path. Ever since I could remember I was always crafting, drawing, painting, making some form of art. Although there was a time when I was applying for college that I considered becoming a doctor because my dad was one, my love for art lured me into studying art and design. When I learned that I could do this for a living or at least study it in school there was no turning back. I was hooked. Being raised in Puerto Rico and Boston, I was always drawn to bold bright colors of the Caribbean. I always had a hard time adjusting to life in the north east as I found everything was so bleak and boring. Read more>>

Zane Noga

All my life I really had a drive to make music, starting around when i was about 8 years old. I just loved music, all different kinds, I especially fell in love with melodies. Starting when I was about 12 years old I downloaded a free audio recording on a computer and I started making music just for fun on there, as a joke. It wasn’t good music at all lol it was just for fun. About a couple years later when I was 14 years old I started to really learn about mixing vocals and started to take it seriously. I was on and off for a couple years, I fell in love with the process of making music and hearing the end product gave me a feeling that nothing else could give me, once people started actually liking the sounds I created I started taking it further knowing for a fact I can do something with music. Read more>>

Alysa Adkins

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path very early in life. I found immense joy in drawing, painting, and photography and realized quickly that the act of creation itself was deeply fulfilling and became a natural outlet for me. I had an art teacher in elementary school, Mr. McDermott, who gave me so much encouragement and support which I know helped form me as an artist. Knowing from a very young age that someone in the world thought I was talented was so reassuring then and it’s something that I’ve been able to hold on to for all of my years. Encouragement and knowing someone believes in you can do wonders for a young person learning how to believe in themselves. Read more>>

Diana Clark

It all started as a happy accident. In 2017, a friend invited me over for a casual painting session at her home. At that time, my artistic experience was limited to basic pencil sketches—the kind we all did in school. But that day, something shifted.
The first thing I painted was water. It was a simple piece, yet something magical happened. I instinctively used my fingers to blend the colors, and suddenly, I felt an unexplainable connection—as if it was just me and the painting, with everything else fading into the background. It wasn’t about the technique or the final result; it was about the sheer energy of creating. Read more>>

Gregory Diggs

When I was eleven years old, I knew I wanted to pursue art or music, but at the time, my heart was set on music! I had been drawing and creating stories inspired by the comic books from my uncle’s collection, but composing music was everything to me. I’d sit in the back of my uncle Michael’s pickup truck with his Marvel and DC comic books, studying the art while listening to MF DOOM and sketching, or I’d be inside playing my guitar. My grandmother had a massive backyard in Molino, Florida, where my imagination would run wild with stories, ideas, and daydreams of what my future might look like. Read more>>

Laura Caffrey

I have wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember. When I was a child, I was constantly creating: drawing, singing, dancing, etc. I was raised in a very poor family where while creative pursuits were encouraged, there was also an overarching tone that no one could make a living being an artist. Whether I realized it or not, this internalized belief stayed with me years into my independent adult life. Read More>>

Phoebe White

I have always wanted to pursue a creative/ artistic path from as early as I can remember. Mom says I was born with this desire. It’s just part of who I am.

My earliest memories are of singing. I sang while riding in my carseat, I sang while doing chores, I sang in the shower, I sang at church, and I sang on the playground. I sang anywhere and everywhere, all the time. Growing up, my favorite toys were microphones, guitars, cd players, and basically anything musical. One year, mom built a small stage in the corner of our basement family room as a Christmas gift to me. It had black and white linoleum flooring because I liked old music from the 50’s and 60’s. Read more>>

Melissa Denize

I’ve always been a creative soul—the kid who put on shows at every family gathering, lived for weekend dance lessons, and thrived in storytelling contests. When it came time to choose a high school, I knew I wanted to explore the arts, so I auditioned for Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, convinced it was my first step toward becoming a backup dancer for Missy Elliott. Read more>>

Janelle Tedesco

I have been told that my story is rare, I don’t know if that’s true, but I certainly know that I am lucky. When I was 10 years old in 6th grade I was cast as Lucy in the Musical “Snoopy.” And that was when I declared to my mom, “I’m going to be an actress when I grow up!” Of course, lots of kids say these types of things but they often change their minds from one year, or even one month to the next. But for me, my first taste of acting, playing a role, becoming that cartoon character that I watched on TV, and bringing her to life on stage was magical. I knew what I wanted to do with my life and I never changed my mind. I had been in gymnastics and dance since I was about 3 years old, and I loved to dance. But then I started taking singing lessons when I was about 8 and I loved that even more. Bringing singing and dancing together with acting, to play Lucy was an absolutely amazing experience, and it lit a fire in me that is still burning today. Read more>>

Stephanie Cadet

The moment I knew I wanted to pursue art was a seemingly ordinary one in my ninth-grade drawing class. I remember flipping through my sketchbook and landing on one specific illustration—a cover piece of my original characters inspired by The Amazing World of Gumball, my favorite cartoon—and it hit me. I thought, “I want this to be a real show one day.” And even though I didn’t end up keeping that idea later on, that was the first time I discovered my life’s calling was to share my art and stories with the world. Read more>>

Jose Barraza

The pandemic hit and I was on social media watching cooking videos, I said I wanted to start making videos too to share my love for cooking. Unfortunately, I was an essential worker and barely had free time for anything else, then, it was in 2021 when I created my channel and pages and posted my first video. I was like that posting for fun for a full year before I got my first brand deal and was there when I saw my first payment, that I said, I wanted to be an influencer and content creator for a career. Read more>>

Michael Northrup

I was a mediocre student growing up. I never adjusted to the discipline of sitting at a desk for 7 hrs. My mind would wander. By the time I graduated from high school, 1966, the Vietnam war was raging and I feared I would flunk out of school and be drafted. So my goal was to stay in college as long as possible. I first enrolled at Staunton Military Academy to do post graduate work to raise my grades. I lasted 4 days. It was a big mistake. Over the next 3 years I went to 3 different colleges and ended up at Ohio University where there was a very big and vibrant photography department. By then I’d tried everything and nothing was clicking. All my friends were going into a business curriculum and that was not for me. I took a chance and tried a photo course. Read more>> 

Chyavan Reddy

Life has a playful way of showing you who you are, if you take the time to be present and raise your awareness to that vibration within the silence.

Children are innate with expression and furthermore, expressing their being through art. This is where the realization dawned upon me.

I was simply a 5 year old, surrounded by pages strewn across the floor, as I created a character that I said will be in Marvel Comics. The impression these characters have upon us is truly powerful and from a young age they led me down a curiosity voyage filled with imagination and creativity. Read more>>

Victor Rojas

I became interested in the world of media when I finished my degree in architecture and the local television station called me to do a set design project for the news set. While working in the television studios, my interest in television production began. I was hired as a set and lighting designer for different programs, which was financed by the television media production studios in Mexico City (TELEVISA). On the condition that after finishing the preparation for television production: Technical and Academic, I had to stay and work at the local station for 3 years. Which became 11 continuous years of collaborating with the local television channel in my city, to then start my own audiovisual production company for 5 more years in my city. Read more>>

Tanvi Kokate

The first time I truly knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was when I watched my grandmother struggle with online banking.

I started my career as a computer engineer, deeply immersed in coding and problem-solving. I loved the challenge of taking an idea and turning it into something real through logic and structure. But over time, I found myself asking bigger questions. It wasn’t just about making things work, it was about making them work for people. Read more>>

Jessie Johnston Carmon

I fell in love with ballet at age 5, and it remained a constant source of stability throughout my life. After high school, I attended college for a year before deciding to pursue dance full-time. I attended a summer dance camp in Illinois, earned a full scholarship, and eventually danced with the Augusta Ballet. Tragedy struck during a rehearsal for The Nutcracker when I suffered a devastating ankle injury. Doctors told me I’d never dance again, and I was heartbroken. I transitioned to a retail career, but my passion for dance never faded. A conversation with a friend encouraged me to try dancing again, despite my injury. To my surprise, my ankle functioned, and I began taking classes. Read More>>

Tyler Evin

My path to becoming an artist, and where I am professionally today, has certainly not been the most straightforward. As with most creatives, I’ve had a love for all types of art since I was young. I can remember filling up countless lined notebooks with pages of random sketches and drawings as a kid—observations from the world and creations from my head. As I got older, art remained a constant for me. Throughout my formative years, art was a consistent presence in my life. There was a time however when I doubted turning this passion into a career. My early undergraduate studies did not include visual art. Read more>>

Kristina Todd

Ever since I was a child, I was always interested in art. Visual and performance. I took dace lessons, drawing, painting, flute, piano, acting, etc. If the subject was some kind of art, I was interested in learning more. This was great for me because I was an only child to a military Mother and a veteran Dad. I moved around due to my mother’s deployments. While she was able to choose somewhat about where she was stationed (she was an officer), I still moved (upon average) every 3-4 years. Art was something I could express myself with and no matter where we went next, I could take more classes when we got there. It would help me make friends because, art kids tended to be a lot more accommodating.  Read more>>

Nicolas Garcia

I would say within the last few years. I always enjoyed making music but it took me a while to finally flip the switch and pursue it fully. After interning and working at a studio, I was able to meet and building friendships and relationships with people within the music industry, I was able to show them my music and get feedback from Grammy award winning, Grammy nominated and Multi- Platinum Engineers and producers. Being able to hear from them and saying “yo, you got something” really pushed me to keep going. Read more>>

Jade

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was as soon as I could hold a pencil! Ever since I could remember I always loved to draw, create and dress up, and doing social media as a job always seemed like a dream because I could mix all my creative abilities and hobby’s into one thing. When I was younger I originally started off on the internet with strictly art and animation, I was homeschooled and would finish my work quickly so I could go use my computer and animate for hours on end everyday and post my videos to YouTube. I really wanted to be an animation and gaming youtuber because that’s all I watched at the time but I stuck to just the art side because I was really insecure growing up and didn’t want to show my face online. Read more>>