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.

Rachael Hartin | Artist

If you told me a 2 years ago I would build a career as an artist, I would have laughed out loud and said “yeah right, I wish!”. At the time, I just left working in the corporate world for 10 years to start a rental car business. After a year or learning the ins and outs, the cars soon became rented out most days of the week and I was left with extra free time. I began painting and building furniture for my own home out of boredom. It reignited so many emotions that I had buried for my whole adult life. When I was younger I was always painting, creating altered journals, graffiti, photography, and graphic design. Sadly when I went college, those things ceased to exist. Once I started painting again a year ago, I immediately fell back in love and knew I had to cultivate this. Read more>>

Ashlie Dance & Chandler Lohner | Stationers & Designers

In some ways, it never crossed our minds to not pursue a creative career. We both spent our entire childhood practicing art in some form — whether it was dance classes, piano lessons, sketch pads, musical theater camp…the list goes on. Our mom is an interior designer and violinist, so when we traveled as a family we went to every museum and every cathedral. Every opportunity to see art or witness a bit of human creativity was explored (and then often analyzed, discussed, and appreciated.) Read more>>

Danita White | Social Media Manager + Content Creator

For the longest time, I had no idea what I wanted to do career-wise. But I’ve always been captivated by stories, and I think that has been the guiding force in my current work of social media management and content creation. After dabbling on and off in it for a couple of years, I decided to pursue it full-time because the creative opportunities and artistic possibilities are endless. Read more>>

Tayler “Jax” Jackson | Tattoo Artist

Working in the ER during Covid allowed some initial free time to pursue art. I read more drew more consumed more media than I had in a long time. That really sparked a drive to get back into what I wanted to do, realizing slowly that while I was a good medical professional, art has always been my calling and what I believe to be my niche in society. Read more>>

Andy Huggins | Stand-up Comic

Because I honestly believe stand-up was what I put ion this earth to do. Nothing has ever given me such satisfaction. Plus I was floundering in life with no direction. I loved comedy, had a talent for it and so with no other optionsI moved from Virginia to Los Angeles.It was the first intelligent decision I had made as an adult. Read more>>