Deciding to pursue an artistic or creative career path isn’t for the faint of heart. Challenges will abound, but so many of the artists we speak with couldn’t be happier with their choice. So, we asked them about how they made the decision in the first place.

DeLashay | Artist

I pursued an artistic/creative career because its something I’ve always enjoyed doing. Being a straight A & B student you would think I would choose the path of a more demanding career such as Nursing But music has always played a big part. Whether it was playing in band, being in the choir, or on the dance team. Read more>>

Chidimma Nwafor | Visual Artist (A painter)

I have always loved creativity but I never really thought of having it as a career until my teenage year when I developed a certain love for it, then I decided to pursue art as a career. it satisfies my desire to be heard, felt and understood, being that I’m not much of a talker, it gave me a medium to voice out my ideas and also a way for me to contribute in impacting on my society by speaking against some norms that are in appropriate to humanity. Read more>>

Lucy Tolkunova | Fine Arts

To me art is a passion. I simply don’t see myself outside of art industry. It’s hard to explain but it is a feeling that I’m able to create art that affects other people. An artwork that another person will look at to admire, an artwork that someone would like to bring home, an artwork that evoke memories, feeling, emotions… Each artwork has a story, a unique story that I can bring to life. This is a reason for me to continue my art career and keep creating. Read more>>

Linny Nance | Artist Musician Performer

I knew you had a very early age that I wanted to pursue a career in music. All my older brothers were great examples of what to do and all of the examples they showed me through their friends and colleagues we’re also great examples and inspirations. Read more>>

Vincent Cooper | Chicano Poet

I grew up in Alhambra, California and lived with older cousins who attended The Los Angeles School for the Arts. They were the primary influences, as well, as their artist friends who would visit the house. We had musicians, actors and filmmakers around that were an extension of our family. I loved music and tried out drums but couldn’t stay consistent. When I was 12, the family was experiencing a lot of loss. I wrote about it. I felt as though I couldn’t discuss the grief with anyone so I pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote about the relatives that had passed away. One sheet became three that became ten. It was exhilarating. I continued to write poetry and short stories throughout my high School years in Vegas. My High School teachers also encouraged my writing highlighting the honesty of my voice and story. Post high school, I joined the military briefly, still writing poems when I had time. I wanted to write screenplays first but stuck with poetry and short stories. In my early 30’s, I decided to submit poems for publication. I was reluctant but my first seven submissions were accepted in anthologies, online and print publications. Read more>>

Terry Hays | Artist and Scenic Artist

Thinking back on the journey that got me where I am today I am constantly reminded I am just not interested in anything except creating stuff in my small studio. My attention span is incredibly short for other tasks and my brain does not function when presented with other tasks. I am not good at math, science, physics, economics, engineering etc. so I guess that pretty much leaves being an artist. Read more>>

Makenzie Harris | Graphic Designer & Photographer

From the beginning, pursuing a creative career was the only thing that felt right. I love all things art; photography, drawing, painting, dancing, writing, cooking/baking, and many other forms. Graphic Design is just the thing I decided was going to be the one thing I wanted to do and put all my effort, heart and soul into. Now, I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by such creative people every day who make my everyday life more enjoyable, and I can’t even begin to imagine myself making a different choice. Read more>>

Jacqueline Smith | Author

I think the simplest answer to this question is that writing found me. I’ve been writing for fun my whole life. I still have little books that I “wrote” when I was four or five years old, illustrated on construction paper and bound together with staples. As I got a little older, I discovered the world of fanfiction and fell easily into writing my own. I may or may not have even published a story or two, but if you happen to find them, I’ll never admit it! I eventually began writing my own original stories, but even then, I didn’t see myself pursuing a career in writing. I never even considered it even though I spent all of my free time either writing or daydreaming about stories to write. It wasn’t until the spring break of my junior year of college that I realized that I could take my passion for storytelling and turn it into something more. I spent the entire week on the couch, sick with a terrible sinus infection. To keep myself entertained, I read a stack of romance novels that I’d recently purchased from Half-Price Books. Read more>>

Chelsey Rogers | ColorHype CEO & Artist

About 11 years ago I had just finished my Masters of Business Administration and was working at a credit union in Texarkana, TX. I had big dreams of running a branch one day or finding ways of moving up through the organization. If you would have told me then that in 11 years I would have started a successful painting class company in Dallas, TX, I would have thought you were insane. I started painting at home during the time I was working as a loan officer just to relieve stress and to have an outlet. I never took art classes in high school and only took an art appreciation class in college. It was all very foreign to me. I was not very technically developed in the beginning. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, artists lessons online and started finding styles I liked. The biggest thing though was that I stuck with it. I continued to push myself to learn more, study more, and just paint more. One day I had a friend reach out and ask if I could teach her and some friends how to paint a particular piece so I thought that would be fun. I set up a mini class and we walked through the painting together. I learned two things from that – 1.) I loved teaching and 2.) I loved seeing others create and realize they too could find that joy I had from creating. Read more>>

Marissa Covarrubias | Small Business Owner

Every since I can remember I have always loved art and the creative world. For years, I wanted my name shown in New York, and have my own galleries. As I grew older I wanted to learn all different art media’s and ones that expanded outside of the traditional fine art styles. I started to see different paths I could go towards, all the choices for my life and pick a career to go towards. What made me to continue on with wanting that creative career was the continuation of learning new creative medias. I enjoy learning and mixing my knowledge into another field. Now, as I have my own small business, I wanted to combine all my different medias and use it to something I love: Horror. My dream was to inspire at least one person with my art and transferred that dream to making people happy with what I create in my shop. Read more>>

Betty Nash | Artist Painting in Oils

I have always been artistically inclined. After many years of studying with some of the best teachers, reading many books and constant hard work, I consider myself an artist that is continually learning. Read more>>