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

Lex Lucius

My very first memory, I was possibly 3 maybe 4 years old, is of setting on the floor under my parent’s 33 1/2 cabinet record player. I was doing scribble drawings in blue crayon of horses. The drawing of course is long lost but the memory is still as sharp as that day. From that first memory forward I have never wanted or even thought of myself as anything other then a artist. Being an artist professionally or not professionally is irrelevant, being an artist comes from your soul and it is undeniable. Being an artist is greater then the quest for money or fame, is greater then the mundane filling of life’s need. It is in essence undeniable. Read more>>

Kyle Soto

Throughout my childhood, I was fascinated with the ocean and its wildlife. I spent my free time diving and exploring the ocean’s endless possibilities. I would spend my mornings at the beach before school, sifting through sand and investigating the tidepools for octopus, fish, crabs, and any other animals that I could find. It was here that my love and passion for the ocean and its inhabitants shaped my life. I would go to great lengths to encounter big and small animals in the ocean, often waking up before the sun rose to free dive off the beach and search for unique species. Read more>>

Megan Jaffe

I cannot remember a time when I didn’t love to make art. I realized I was good at it early on which probably helped motivate me to feed that passion. Throughout my high school years I was always in an art class or drawing something for friends. When I got to college, I didn’t even think one could major in art because that would mean you were going to, upon graduation, pursue a career as an artist. That sounded about as realistic as pursuing a career in monkey grooming. So, while I took some art classes while in college, I graduated with a major in Spanish Literature and went on to become a middle school Spanish teacher for 10 years. Read more>>

Taryn Shaffer

I fell in love with life on the trails. If you had asked me years ago if I would be outdoors with my camera, camping in my car, and chasing sunsets left and right I would’ve laughed at you. This is coming from the girl who ran out of a park in a neighborhood one time because I heard a squirrel in the woods! The exact moment I fell in love with the outdoors is a little unknown to me, but one day it clicked. I felt more alive out in nature, grounding, seeing views most never see. My heart exploded, I had an eye for the mountains, and it felt like I had finally found my fit. Read more>>

Megan Hawthorne

I had worked in social media marketing for 5+ years when I found myself in a completely different role and position. Once my company realized my expertise, they added the brand’s social media presence to my list of responsibilities. I was thrilled at first, but quickly realized that they weren’t going to allow me to utilize the knowledge and experience I had in the field as they should have. Read more>>

Dakota Morgan

The moment all of us creatives have is one we always remember. The time you decide that YOU are the one who is going to create. As a kid, I grew up with movies, comics, video games and books so basically a common nerd some might say. There came a day as I was driving to my job at the zoo years ago and of course listened to many podcasts as I still do but while listening to Kevin Smith and watching some behind the scenes of movies the night before I sat in traffic as it didn’t move I thought about them and all the other creatives I have watched all my life and there was snap. Read more>>

Obinna Nwaobi

All started for me in 2015, I was dropping off my friend at his house, and I was listening to 101.5 lite fm and it was a commercial that was playing at the time. and it mentioned Michael Jackson impersonator will be performing at a casino. I have never met a Michael Jackson impersonator before. So that was an opportunity I wanted to meet one, and went to the radio station website and I found out the impersonators Facebook name. Read more>>

Magician On Duty

It was a couple of years after I moved to Miami. I started going out and exploring Miami’s nightlife. At first I started blogging about electronic music parties, only to realize later on that I wanted this to become more. Read more>>

Iyosi Pydas

Summertime in 2006, I was about a year out of high school and unsure what I wanted to do for a living. About a year prior my mother had asked what I wanted for Christmas. Now this is my favorite holiday just FYI. All I wanted for Christmas was this Roland MC 909 Groovebox that I came across in the Metro Center Guitar Center one day after school. One of my friends showed me some music he’d produced/recorded on his own. Since I’ve always been interested in music, he recommended I try out Guitar Center to look at gear, and that’s how I ended up there. Read more>>

Heather Abbasi

I first knew I wanted a creative career when I was 5. I was getting really into a lot of music and entertainment. I knew every song and did a lot of dances that were popular at the time. When my Mom noticed this, she told me that those people were paid professionals and I asked if it was possible if I could do it, too. She said, “Yes, of course! Is that what you want to do?” I said, “Yes!” Every step that I have taken since that day has been to become an artist and performer. Read more>>

Michelle Spadaro

After my high school years, I really struggled to find myself and what I wanted to pursue out of life. The trenches of my depression was, and still is, the toughest battles I face. At the time I wasn’t content with the job I had or my life in general. I really had to dig deep and think about what I wanted to pursue and to spark my passion again as an artist. I knew something was missing, a part of me that was a major piece of who I am, and without it I truly am nothing I thought. It wasn’t easy but with hard work and determination I slowly started to grow as a person and as a artist as well. Read more>>

Jean Saiz

I cannot remember a time I did not want to express myself in some visually creative way. I was always drawing as a kid and that intermittently got me in trouble (like my infamous first-grade drawing of a werewolf decapitating a human) and gained me accolades from friends when I could whip up a custom Ninja Turtle drawing on the spot. Read more>>

Ariana Hayes

The first time I knew I wanted to purse into being a fashion model and being creative in anything I do, was when I was 12-16 years old. I love taking pictures, dressing up and being creative with the outfits and setting up theme for photo shoots and runways. I just wished I would of started sooner around that time. Now, I have gained a lot of knowledge in the industry and still maintaining more experience from it. But God knows when and what’s best for us all. So I’m glad I started my dreams right on time rather than too late or never. Read more>>

Breann Barrow Longmire

I have been an entertainer since I could remember, dressing up and putting on performances at two years old for my dad in our living room, shooting at home music videos with my cousins at eight years old to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You Been Gone” (that is quite the video – lol), and going to Disney Channel casting calls with no professional training or credits behind me at the age 0f twelve but still having the confidence to get up and do what I love. Read more>>

Vicky Dreams Contemporary artist

I since I was little I loved to create and draw everywhere . After doing my carrer in Bussines I discovered that this kind of live didn’t satisfied me anymore, the stress, the hurry, always going from one place to another without doing anything with purpose… I had a breakdown and Iwent to my grand mother’s house in the countryside. There, in contac with the nature, I rediscovered the girl I used to be and I began to do sketches with old crayons… one year later I was taking a master in drawing and Illustration. Since that I have been developing my artistic career and now I have my own Bussines Read more>>

Leslie Nemour

As a young girl in grade school, I never felt that I stood out with any noticeable talent. I was sick a lot and was always trying to keep up with what I missed. At home I was more outgoing and entertaining. In fifth grade I had a grouchy teacher whose class everyone dreaded. I am not sure why or how this happened, but one day she asked me if I would draw a very large *nativity scene to hang in the classroom. So, with colored chalk I made a 3’X4” drawing on blue construction paper. Read more>>

Fauster Johnson III

Wow. I think when I was a child. I was once a dancer and all I wanted to be was Michael Jackson. However, as I started to get paid to model in seasonal fashion shows, paid to dance back up, paid to write raps, and paid to do other things that I would do for FREE. I was sold on the idea of creating my own lane. I have to also give my mother credit for challenging me to try different things and believe that I could create income out of creativity. Read more>>

Kasey Klein

There have been many times the idea of being an Artist / a Creative full time has crossed my mind & path. The very first to note, I was working part time for my uncle who was a Dentist in Palm Bay, Florida. It would be my senior year of high school & he would always give me stacks of photographs to learn about composition, sketch, study subject matter from his travels. One day in his office working, I remember standing in his hallway at work looking at 8′ x 10′ black and white glossy photographs admiring them and that feeling struck so strong, wow, Read more>>

Kim Ann

I have always had a love of reading, writing, and creating. I say I wrote my first book at age nine when I made a book of poetry out of construction paper and yarn, and it was displayed in the school library. But, who pushed me to pursue a career in writing, was my son, Aidan. Aidan was a 25-week preemie that weighed one pound, eleven ounces at birth, and spent 143 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Miller’s Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, CA. I couldn’t hold him for weeks, but I could read to him. Read more>>

Brin Goldman

I have been drawn to connect with my creativity for as long as my memory lets me remember. Creating art has been one of my healthiest coping strategies in the face of adversity and uncertainty. After my mother passed away when I was in high school, my artwork became one of the few constants in my life. However, I never imagined I would be lucky or skilled enough to hone my art skills into a professional career. I was under the assumption if I was to have a “successful” life I would need to pursue a career more stable, more validated by society, more conventional. However, conventional, is something my life and myself are far from. Read more>>

Clancy Jones

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally was when I was 9 years old. One day, I stumbled across a tape of Bel Biv Devoe. I loved the infusion of soul, hip/hop, slow groves and harmonization. I would listen to the album titled, “Poison” (sides A&B) religiously, rewinding, fast forwarding, pausing, learning every lyric, and using whatever I could find as a prop mic. I would perform along with the album for hours in a small mirror, mimicking what I imagined BBD would be doing on stage. I didn’t grow up with MTV, let alone cable TV. It was all my perception of the sound and lyrics. Read more>>

Huberto Villarreal

As far I could remember, when i first seen the movie “The Warriors” I knew I wanted to pursue Acting as a career. It was something I never seen before, when it comes to movies. The movie is not just about gangs, it’s about courage, strength, brotherhood and loyalty. Everything from the acting, actors, actresses, storyline and scenes caught my attention, that I would love to be able to do what they did on screen & that’s Act! This wasn’t the first movie i seen, but it is the first movie that inspired me, in my opinion one of the most underrated films of all time. Read more>>

Albie Robles

Every time I’d hear a radio ad or an audiobook I would think about how cool it must be if your job was to be one of those voices. It sounded like an amazing thing to do. However, I didn’t ever consider actually doing it. I always thought there was no sense in pursuing it. That there was a small, elite handful of people that did it and there was no getting in for anyone else. Read more>>

Yosef Rosenfield

I’ve wanted to have a career in music since I was six years old. I remember being given a prompt in first grade that asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘musician’ – it seemed like such an obvious choice at the time: both my parents were seasoned musicians who had been in a number of bands back in the ’80s, and by the age of six I was already whistling entire symphonies by Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. I started writing songs when I was seven years old – initially writing new lyrics to previously existing melodies, later coming up with original songs from scratch. As an experienced songwriter, there’s nothing more fulfilling than seeing your musical creation go from the bedroom to the studio and have it be released for thousands of people to hear. Read more>>

Ray-Mel Cornelius

From the earliest age I can remember my most successful form of communication was visual. While I read a lot, and the printed word taught me about the world and life my own preferred form of communication was through drawing and interpreting my impressions of what I saw around me and my own thoughts and fantasies. Read more>>

Otto D’Agnolo

In 8th grade three friends of mine had a rock band. They also had a gig coming up at a retreat for girls when they asked me to join. I had an electric guitar but I had no experience. I hadn’t taken any lessons or learned any chords yet. So it was decided at our first and only rehearsal that I would play lead guitar, which for me at that point meant simply playing random notes while figuring out which ones were the bad ones in each song and avoiding them. A few days later at the big show (which was certainly the first time these eighth graders had ever actually seen a band) a few of my high notes made some of the girls scream. Read more>>

Amanda Darosett Hartwell

I was introduced to photography in high school, where I fell in love with the process of taking and developing photos. The whole experience of being in the dark room and seeing these images come to life was fascinating and beautiful to me. I wanted to create more of that. After high school, I got a job at Little Cesar’s Pizza, where I met a man who photographed bands at our local amphitheater. After serving him several times, we started talking and built a rapport. Read more>>

Hunter Blain

The tale of my beginnings, and how I ended up a successful author, is one I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemies. Let me explain. It begins with two best friends who grew up together, breaking rules and raising hell as they shaped each other’s personalities into the shameless assholes they are today. Well, at least for one of them, but I’ll get to that in a moment. These two boys—let’s call them Hunter and John—were all but inseparable. Read more>>