We asked some of the most creative folks we know to open up to us about why they chose a creative career path. Check out their responses below.

Zhiwen (Esther) Tang | Illustrator and designer

When I was young, I liked to use crayons to keep a record about the things I saw and did every day. These colors and lines are the perfect medium for me to express myself. I enjoy drawing so much that I consider it a gift that allows me to communicate with the outside world. As I grew older, I had more and more opinions about what was going on in society, so I decided to focus on creating narrative and educational illustrations to express those ideas. In my artistic practice, I pushed myself to create artworks with socially relevant themes like politics, sexuality, and culture. Read more>>

Jacob Bellevue | Film Maker, Model and Digital Creator

I started taking modeling seriously when I began attending Howard University in 2021. I joined Models of the Mecca, a campus modeling organization that cultivates models and aims to prepare them for the industry. Over the past year, this exceptional organization has helped me find a tribe of like-minded people—driven by creativity. Aside from modeling, I am an aspiring film student at Howard University. My upcoming films will shatter the norms surrounding how we see black people on the big screen. Read more>>

Corbin Dooley | Artist, Founder & Creative Director at Bikiniwax Records

Early in my life, I noticed the role music had in creating connection and change. My parents were young, and music from Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and Patsy Cline played on our home turntable constantly. My mother was a pianist and my grandfather was a drummer. The love for music was ever present. I began piano lessons at six years old, followed by guitar, then drum lessons. College radio led to DJing, and I landed an internship with Rough Trade Records, in London, working with The Smiths. Read more>>

Joe Mousey | Art Director // Environmental Designer

I was always the black slack sheep en mi familia– the tesseract in their square-shaped hole. Growing up the creative musician in a family of Type-A’s means that I’ve always felt (or maybe been made to feel) more than a little other-than. Design wasn’t my first choice. At the end of high school I was planning on becoming a firefighter. Senior year, I went to my local community college and got my EMT cert. At the same time I was accepted to SDSU and so I chose the university route instead. I wanted to eventually go to law school and maybe eventually affect public policy for the greater good so I entered as a political science undergraduate. Read more>>

Tiana Woods | Singer, Songwriter & Realtor

I have been singing since I was 4 years old. Even at that young age, I instinctively knew that when I was singing and being creative that I wanted to continue to do that as long as I could. Follow that feeling. I also realized in about the first grade, that routine education–which leads to routine employment–was not going to work for me. I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth. No one told me that it wasn’t that I was inadequite, it was just that I was an artistic entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are some of the hardest working people out there because we don’t get to clock out. Read more>>

Sumana Palle | Storyteller

For me, the decision to pursue a creative career was long and tortured. I majored in Business Administration not because I wanted to but because it was a pragmatic choice expected of me, a child of immigrants. I tried to go down that traditional route, working at Amazon and in tech for about five years after college but I was absolutely miserable. The toxic work environment at Amazon gave me anxiety and health issues I’m still coping with today. While I eventually moved onto much better tech companies to work at, I still didn’t feel like myself. I finally decided to act on my passions during COVID. Read more>>

Christian-Frédéric Bloquert | Composer & Conductor

That was a tough decision to make. The real switch happened when I was studying mathematics at university. Although that was my major at the time, I was more commonly found on the campus’ rather extensive music library under a pile of scores instead of studying for my actual classes – much to the detriment of my GPA. My presence in the building had become such that the some of the music faculty had begun to assume me one of the music majors. Read more>>

Christopher Glenn | Artist | Creative | Singer | Songwriter

I decided to pursue a career as an artist because it was time for me to put myself in front finally. I’ve been working in the industry for a while behind the scenes and I’ve always wanted to chase my dream of being an artist and putting out my own music. God ordained my steps throughout my 7 years of living here in LA and I was just getting all the knowledge and experience needed to apply to my career. Read more>>

Caleb Craig | Fine Artist & Musician

My decision to pursue an artistic career was an emotional one. I always practiced some form of art such as musical theatre, painting, and cooking, however at 16, I found photography and it gave me an outlet to express things I couldn’t reconcile at the time. Once I chose to go to art school, I took a very winding path through different media rather than focusing on one. I was searching for the avenue to combine all of my original artistic paramours into one form. Read more>>

Clover Li | Illustrator&Designer

Art caught my special interest since young, quite naturally. I didn’t know how important art was to me until I grew up, I found that it is the one thing that truly smooths me among many other things in the real world. It provides a space to settle the feelings and thoughts that I find hard to express in other ways. It is a window that I shoot out light and hope. It is a channel that I love connecting with people. And illustration, among other artistic form, is the one that excites me the most. Read more>>

Diego Godoy | Makeup Artist

It’s the way I express myself, and I’ve been doing it since I was a kid wether it was drawing, painting or making crafts, so I always knew my life would take an artistic route. Once I merged my talent with the beauty world I knew I could have a career as a Makeup Artist. Read more>>

Johnny Young | BLACKMUSEUMIST

I wouldn’t say that I necessarily choose an artistic career path or nor did I pursue creativity, the fact is that I only surrendered to what has been most natural for me. Whats natural for me is creating. If not not creating, Im thinking about creating so this way of life has held me hostage and I am happy that I had the audacity to surrender to it. It does take a certain level of audacity and bravery. Read more>>

Marc Perez | Trombonist, Composer, Improviser & Creator

Music has always been a subject and focus that’s drawn me in. Before music, I didn’t have much drive to do anything with my life. When I was in high school I didn’t even want to apply to any college and just assumed I’d get some random job after graduating. I really am thankful for being a musician as it’s allowed myself to find my voice, further develop as a human and artist, and connect with others in ways I didn’t know were possible before. Read more>>

Yağmur Soydemir | Award-Winning Flutist & Composer & Arranger • Based in Boston, MA

The soul needs nourishment from art. Music, painting, theatre, or sculpture, they all make life meaningful, deepen, and sometimes impart feelings and lessons that years of experience cannot. There are no limits to what we can think about and travel around when we are engaged in it. We can immortalize our feelings and beliefs through it, and it connects us to each other. My profession, music, is a strong branch of the art. It takes the mood and feelings of the person directly into account. Read more>>