Artists and creatives face innumerable challenges given that their career path often doesn’t come with a playbook, a steady paycheck or any form of safety net. It’s definitely not easy and so we asked a few of the artists and creatives we admire to talk to us about why they chose to pursue an artistic or creative career.

Ellie Pace | Creator & Photographer

Creativity has always been part of who I am. My mom likes to tell the story of how when I was little I would take apart toys and put them back together. Had I been more of a math brain, I would definitely be an architect of some kind. Math is not my forte, so I landed in the wonderful, colorful, crazy world of marketing and advertising. As I sketched, painted, threw clay, papier-mâché-d, collaged, and photo styled my way through life I started to realize more and more it was ‘what I wanted to do when I grew up” I wanted to love what I do. Thankfully, my parents were huge supporters of this. Read more>>

DARIO IMPINI | Photographer

I’ve always been a creative person. I was into photography as a teenager and played guitar as well. For practical reasons I became an electrical engineer and spent 16 years in Silicon Valley where I hoped to express my creativity through product design. Ultimately I found this career choice unfulfilling. I had made a good living but the stress was high and the creative outlet insufficient. At some point in your life it can be the case that you simply have to do something that makes you happy more than makes you money. As they say, money can’t buy happiness. No shade on the happy engineers in the world, but my worst day photographing has always been better than my best day engineering. Read more>>

Karlton Humes | Influencer, Actor/Comedian

Well, It all started back in the 90s, 00s, snd 2010s as a church kids who was grew up in church and was at every service we had! Preachers kids’ know exactly what I mean! I would literally sit in service not knowing that I was observing at the same time! I just thought MY church and the guest churches we visited did these particular things in church. Black people have the BEST church hands down. Read more>>

Ken “Special K” De La Garza | Photographer & Content Creator

Throughout my life, whether consciously or unconsciously, I’ve always sought out different ways of expressing myself. I got my first tattoo when I was thirteen, that set me on a journey that I’m still on today. I would always strive to push my look and my style beyond conventional boundaries. This led me to start modeling, which eventually led me to photography. This sensibility extends to other parts of my life, most notably with my car. Read more>>

Bria Williams | Creative photographer and director

I pursued an artistic career for many reasons. Art has always been a big part of my life. Colored pencils, crayons, water colors, paint. You name it I had it. I wanted nothing more than to create and communicate my feelings and my perception of the world around me. The media always changed, but the passion did not. And for someone like me who has ADHD, photography was great because it gave me the ability to hyper focus o. The editing aspect while capturing the moment quickly. Read more>>

John Hinnen | Owner, Sundawg Design.

Because I just had to. Everyone is creative when they have to be. Some of us can’t help it. The ideas just keep coming. That’s how it’s been with me in both my young and older creative careers.. I was a head strong, and basically naive, creative kid out of design school in my twenties. I couldn’t find a job that fit, so I just started making things and selling them. Novelties and educational products were my concentration. I got my first patent at twenty-six. Read more>>

Samien Rahman | Street & Macro Photographer

I never really knew that I wanted to do this until quite recently. At its essence, I think it boils down to the satisfaction of seeing something nice that you made. Perhaps a brief story will allow you to understand just what pushed me towards this. When I was in the seventh grade, my extended family went on a bus trip to Arkansas for the wedding reception of one of my cousins. I had an old Android phone at the time, and my only experience with photography was taking family group pictures. Read more>>