Artistic and creative careers are among the most rewarding, but they also come with unique challenges. We asked some of the city’s best creatives to tell us why they choose to pursue a creative career.

Cindy Di Xin | Film director

In my past life, I have been through so many kinds of relationship experiences from my own and my parents. Loneliness is the word always around me. I am an introvert person; I have experienced some of the things and feelings that I eager to share and finding people who have the same feeling as me; but I am not brave enough to do that or tell. Read more>>

Gayathri Pusuluri | Actress, Dancer & Yoga Teacher

Here’s to the souls that dream. I’m an actress, a dancer, and a yoga teacher who once dreamed of becoming. From the moment I can remember, I’ve been an artist. I was always creating stories, enacting plays, choreographing movements, and performing them. When I was a kid, I enjoyed acting as an actress, host, and enacting everything for my family. Read more>>

Wendy Wan Ching Huang | Motion Designer

I pursued an artistic and creative career as a motion designer because it allows me to combine my passion for storytelling through animation with my love for problem-solving and design. The journey to this career path was shaped by various experiences and realizations throughout my life. Read more>>

Yuyi Si | Designer & Visual Artist

I grew up with picture books, comics, and TV series that inspired me to create my own stories, so I developed the desire to become a storyteller in the future. Even though the concept was still blurry back then, I knew I would keep discovering more. Read more>>

Sophia Center | Singer-songwriter

There’s never been a moment I can remember where music wasn’t my favorite thing in the world. I’m told I was writing songs as soon as I could form sentences. While I’m unsure if banging on a kid’s piano and yelling the same few words qualifies, I’ve always said I would write songs even if nobody heard them. It’s my way of processing the world around me, decompressing, and honestly just having fun. Read more>>

Champagne Aramis | Artist & Creator

I chose to pursue an artistic career and decided to create music for multiple reasons. One important reason was to shine light on the area and environment I was raised in. It not being a complete dark space but definitely overshadowed by other musical communities within the Southern California area. Being able to speak freely and truly be myself has always been important. Read more>>

Joel Cruz | Cultual Artist

I pursued a career in art because I believe in preserving culture through art. I believe if I can make ppl curious enough through art I can make them curious enough to dig deeper to research who they are. Read more>>

Fely Tchaco | Singer-Songwriter, Artist, Entrepreure

Ever since I was a child, I knew that I was a creative person. I adired and paid attention to beautiful things, and people. I started drawing and painting at a very young age. When I fifth grade, I went told my father that I wanted to become a singer, because I saw myself singing on television in my dream. Read more>>

Saniya Samatova | Artist & Filmmaker

I was already engaged in art since my parents sent me to a dance troupe, later to a musical school where during 7 years I pursued my knowledge in music. Later, I went to China to do my Bachelor’s in Journalism. During that period of time we shot our documentary films. Then I realized that I want to create movies. Read more>>

Pedro Villar | Industrial Designer

I grew up in Rio, a city that is not only filled with the most striking visual inspiration but is also home to some of the most creative and expressive people I had the pleasure to see and meet. Because of all of that stimulus, since my early days, I’ve been a spectator and creator of stories, imagination was my tool to create my own narratives, and drawing was what brought them to life. Read more>>

Jeff Poe | Photographer/Creative

I have always been an artistic person and grew up with a camera in my hand. However, my career path was mostly medical, and I spent almost 15 years in medical device sales. At a certain point I became burnt out and wanted to follow my passions. Photography and travel was always a passion of mine, and I always printed pics from my travels and hung them around my house. Read more>>

Taylor Joree Scorse | Actor & Producer

You know that saying – “If you can imagine yourself doing anything else besides acting, do it”? I’ve tried. I’ve worked countless day jobs; from bartending to wedding coordination to an assistant marketing position at a really fun company in New York City. I’d get about 2 months into the new endeavor and then the boredom would hit. Read more>>

Alex Hyner | Writer, director, artist

It was clear to me at a young age that art would be my professional focus, so I became impatient with formal schooling. Long story short, I’m not good at anything else. Read more>>

Kateryna Olinichenko | Model & Commercial talent

It’s all thanks to my parents. When I was 3 years old, they brought me to singing school. I was the smallest in the group. At the age of 8, I started playing in the theater in my city in Ukraine, where I spent the next 7 years. I did really enjoy acting. Then I studied at the television and press studio. So I have tried literally everything! Read more>>

Malachi Del Rosario | Composer and Music Director

I wanted to pursue an artistic career as I realized that from a young age, music has an especially strong emotional connection in my life. I grew up playing piano and saxophone and eventually landed in middle school. Then on out, something clicked for me and with this burning passion, I applied to an arts high school called Oakland School For The Arts in Oakland, California. Read more>>

Matteo Della Purra | Actor

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had a passion for enterteining. I remember my cousins and I would lock ourselves in our rooms and put on full on shows and record them on our laptops, or we would write silly comedic sketches and commercials, make parodies of the things we saw on tv and of course, we would impersonate every single relative in sight and make a character out of them and I quickly realised that in those moments I was at my happiest. Read more>>

Marcus Eaton | Musician

I feel like the life of an artist chooses you: My dad is a singer-songwriter and my grandparents were opera singers so I was born into this musical life and I think it chose me! Read more>>

Sam Estrella | Educator, Writer, Photographer, and Visual Designer

I think any creative or individual working within the world of fine arts can attest to the innate pull toward self-expression and making. You just feel the call. I felt it early on, maybe at age 4 or 5, first with music. Then I fell in love with poetry and short-story/novel writing. And as I got older, that branched out into photography and graphic design. Read more>>

Tony Torres | Artist & Visionary

I am an artist, and have been since I was young. It took me quite some time to understand that this is not exactly a career path one chooses, rather a lifestyle one grows to accept. I am constantly focused on new ways to turn my ideas into a physical reality, and this is just the mindset I maintain. This would be the case regardless of the blessings I have received in my life that has turned my art into something I can profit from. Read more>>

Samirah the Sapphic Siren | Artist. Author. Dancer. Dravidian Tamil Sapphic Siren

I know this is cliche to say, but I really feel as though I didn’t choose art, but art chose me. I have tried many other jobs. I wouldn’t necessarily call those jobs a career, but they all had something in common. They left me drained, and no matter what I tried, where I tried, and how hard I tried, I could not continue working that way. Read more>>

Lindsey Tamayo | Background Artist / Illustrator

Having grown up in an Asian-American household, I have had the privilege of being immersed in a diverse range of cultures and media. Throughout my childhood and into my adult years, my interest in anime-style content has remained strong. Childhood shows such as Sailor Moon, Avatar, and Spice and Wolf, have greatly influenced my personal style and creative abilities. Read more>>

Aries Kae | Singer, Rapper, and Songwriter

actually kind of fell into this creative career choice. I have always sung and when I was younger I was on American Idol and I pursued music really heavily. But things just weren’t aligning so I actually decided to quit music and go back to school. I got my major in Biology (Zoology) from Cal Poly Pomona and I worked with horses. Read more>>

Sirona Faeryn | Curator of chaos

Art and creativity have woven themselves into the very fabric of my being, so why not embark on a career that celebrates this colorful chaos? Sure, it’s no walk in the park; the creative journey has its chaotic twists and hair-pulling turns, but it’s the most thrilling rollercoaster ride I’ve ever signed up for. Read more>>