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.

Meagan Nugent | Choreographer/ Creative

I would love to say I chose this life, but this life chose me. From being tossed around in the womb while my mom danced her heart out to never sitting still today. Movement is my stress reliever, my special weapon, and my heart. To have a passion and gift such as this, to share your talent, does come with a heavy burden though. Many will tell you you are not worthy, you are not enough, you don’t have what it takes, you will never make it, etc. Barriers & blockages will appear to deter you from your path. I’m here to say if you believe in YOU, nothing can deter YOU. I love this creative dance career because it’s who I am. Read more>>

Xuetong Wang | Product Designer

From a young age, I was captivated by visual storytelling, particularly in motion graphics where each frame is meticulously crafted and aesthetically beautiful. This fascination led me to pursue a degree in Digital Media Technology, where I could blend creativity with storytelling and cutting-edge technology. It was during this time that I realized my passion extended beyond pure self-expression; I wanted to create something usable for people. This epiphany struck while working on a virtual fitting room project using Kinect, where I delighted in designing how people interacted with new technology, balancing aesthetics with functionality. Read more>>

Amanda Massi | Stylist

There are several reasons why I choose to pursue a creative career as a wardrobe stylist for both private clients and celebrities. I’ll highlight my top 3: Read more>>

Stephanie Amaro | Performing artist

At times its been very difficult but I honestly feel like I had no other choice. It’s what I’m good at. Music, art, dance, glamor…those are things that excite and motivate me. I’m on the autism spectrum, therefore it’s exceedingly difficult for me to fake enthusiasm for or put long hours into something I’m not passionate about. Read more>>

Baoqi Ding | Product Designer & Podcaster

I majored in accessory design during my undergraduate studies. I realized I was more interested in the experience part during my studies, so I designed a wearable interactive installation to reflect people’s emotions on fabric as my thesis work. This is the starting point for me to touch on the experience and interaction design. The concept of user-centric design attracted me and inspired me to do a deep dive into this area during my master’s studies. The core of my projects is always tied back to the empowerment of users. My understanding of the UX designer’s role is to listen to users’ pain points and hold their hands in delivering a solution. Along the way, my accessory design background helps me add a unique layer of creativity to the user experience I designed. Read more>>

Amari Jade | Artist

I’ve always been a creative person. I grew up pursuing performing arts as a dancer. I started drawing in high school, then expanded into painting in college. I want to continue growing my artistry across various mediums throughout my journey. I can’t picture my life without being creative in some capacity. Read more>>

Mariam Elasser | Brooklyn based multimedia designer

I think I pursued an artistic career because I desired control over the world around me. Growing up I was constantly intrigued by the billboards and ads and signs I would see in my day to day. I would look at them and either think of how they could be improved or admire them for how well they were made. An area of design that had a particular impact on my choice to pursue a creative career was the movie poster. I was obsessed with movie posters growing up and would love seeing them in theaters and online. When I started taking design classes in high school one of the first things I made that I was proud of was a mock movie poster for a book I was reading. As I get older and continue pursuing design, I always make sure to remember that design is my way of communicating with the world and changing things around me. Read more>>

Nelly Recchia | Body Artist

I think this artistic, creative fiber as always been in me as it is within most of us during our childhood. Being an only child has probably stimulated my imagination. I was fortunate to be raised in a family nurturing creativity and allowing me at a very early age to attend ballet classes and diverse art performances. It was also nice to have the family’s junkyard as a very unique playground! Read more>>

Sasan Pix | Multidisciplinary Artist

When my parents passed away, I received an unexpected call from a bank manager, informing me of a safe deposit box in their names. I had no idea this box even existed. I couldn’t help but wonder what treasures might be inside. However, when the box was opened, there was no gold bars or jewelry inside. Instead, I found a collection of my childhood drawings from over 40 years ago. It was an emotional moment, as it revealed just how much those drawings meant to my father. Amid civil unrest and natural disasters, we lost many of our possessions, but my father ensured these last remnants of my childhood creativity were kept safe. One of the drawings was a step by step comic strip of an explorer in the jungle being swallowed by a giant snake and escaping through the rear. Read more>>

Junyang Li | Film & Pop Music Composer / Arranger / Singer

Since I was in elementary school, I started learning piano and guitar. I enjoyed singing and accompanying myself with instruments at the same time. The energy of the music atmosphere and the melodies provided me with inspiration and emotional expression in daily life. I sought opportunities to perform on stage and cherished every moment of the performing process and the audience’s applause. Read more>>

Zaidi O | Freedom Coach

I believe that if an artist is perusing art, they are perusing themselves. I was once told by a friend, Garfield, that the art was me, and everything I produce is a gift. Read more>>

Arthur Bastos | Actor

I don’t typically get nervous. I’m cool under the pressure of a first date, or performing on a stage in front of a live audience, or even sitting across from a CEO of a major corporation in a job interview. I also don’t typically get scared. Scary movies have never been a big deal, the dark meant nothing but a time for rest and heights were only scary if you had nothing to hold on to. But in July of 2008 I felt both of those feelings for the first time in my life. I grew up very close with my grandparents who lived across the street from me in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Every opportunity my twin sister and I got we went over to grandma’s house where we could do whatever we wanted. My grandmother shared her love for cinema with me from a young age. Every weekend when a new picture would come out she would take me to the fanciest theater in Rio. We would sit on reclining chairs and order popcorn and pão de queijo. We would eat until we had to unbutton our pants and slowly drag ourselves back to the car. From watching Woody and the gang fight against Lotso the hugging bear, to Micah and Katie being haunted by a spirit, I immersed myself into the screen regardless. As a big comic book fan, the summer of 2008 was particularly memorable as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight would finally make its way to the big screen. As usual, my grandmother picked me up from school on a Friday afternoon and we made our way to the theater. I laid down on the reclining chair and munched on a large bag of popcorn. My excitement grew as the DC logo came upon the screen. Cinematographer Wally Pfister’s camera work grasped my attention even further than what I could imagine. A wide shot from around eight-hundred meters away from a tall glass building and around thirty floors high flew closer and closer as Hans Zimmer’s score merged in the background. A subtle violin chord grew larger and larger transforming itself into an almost metallic tone. It felt like a single piece of yarn was holding an entire building – it was ready to collapse. I was hooked. I studied the screen attempting to identify which one of the masked thug’s was the clown prince of crime himself. Nothing in that moment could take my eyes off the screen. Six minutes into the film the energy in that cold, dark theater shifted. One of the thugs in a clown mask revealed himself on screen: a young man wearing dry white paint on his face. Black eyeshadow surrounded his eyes like two volcano pits-ready to explode. Red lipstick covered his mouth and knife scars grew deeper and deeper from his lips to his cheekbones. His lime green hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed in months and his yellow teeth were drained from fighting cigarette stains. And for the first time in my life, I felt scared. I wasn’t sure why or how this was happening but as the film continued my fear was only overshadowed by my anxiety. His presence was of a predator. Hunting. Patiently waiting for the right moment to attack. And at that moment, I was his prey. No matter how much I searched the screen I could not find Heath. All I could see was that menacing pale-faced monster with nothing but disdain and chaos behind its eyes. Heath was no longer, from that moment forward it was only the Joker. And that is when the improbable happened: I pleaded to my grandmother to leave as I could no longer sustain the anxiety and anarchy in which Heath’s performance imposed on me. It wasn’t until 2014, six years later, in which I finally finished the film. I attempted to watch it many times during those six years but I could never get myself to finish it. In the summer prior to my freshman year of highschool, I drew the line. I felt like a coward. A high schooler who was scared of a character in a movie. It could not stand. On a rainy Sunday August afternoon in Paris, I finally got myself to finish the film. Once the credits started rolling I realized a couple of things: Yes, I had plenty of reason to be scared of Heath as his performance was horrifying, and how did a character brought to life by a brilliant actor living under imaginary circumstances intrigue me so much. The literal, physical, and conscious representation of chaos transferred itself from his performance on screen onto my body. How was that possible? That is when I understood the power that a performance can have on its audience and that Heath wasn’t performing… he was living. It wasn’t only his performance that captivated my attention but the idea that perhaps I could also transcend two dimensional space into life like Heath Ledger did. That is when I realized I wanted to be an actor, that I wanted to tell stories for a living, that I wanted to pursue a creative career, that I wanted to be an artist. I wasn’t sure how or when but I knew that one day I would also be able to transcend my performances from screen or stage into life and eventually develop my performances into simply living. I will perpetually hunt for my artistic endeavors to evoke that same feeling of living to others just as Heath’s performance did to me. Read more>>

Natalie Del Carmen | Songwriter & Americana Artist

I grew up in a really supportive household surrounding music and art. I think that’s why pursuing music for this long has felt like something I could do, and I’ve really had family in my corner over the years. Songwriting and releasing music is surely the foundation for all of this, but I find myself drawn to creative people in general. I took that as a sign pretty early on. I’m often sporadic in terms of finding new creative interests on a whim, but music has been a constant, dependable outlet in my life. Read more>>

Anqi Qiao | Visual Designer

I am an animal lover since I was small. I have too many happy memories about animals when I was kid, when my grandparents took me on their bicycles to petting zoo to fed carrots to the sika deer and millet to the parrots; when I sit on my dad’s shoulders to watch the giraffes and elephants; when my grandpa made cricket cages out of bamboo to keep rickets, and I watch it chewing cucumber and listening to it’s chirping; when I pressed my face against the huge fish tank, watching the tropical fish swimming around and eating fish food on water surface. Read more>>

Yuhui Qi | Creative Designer & Multidisciplinary Artist

I chose to pursue a career in art because it has always been the best way for me to express my inner emotions and thoughts. From a young age, I have been passionate about colors, shapes, and forms. Through art, I discovered a means of communication that transcends language. This passion led me to study art and develop my own unique style. Read more>>

Thee-O

I didn’t. Well not really. It chose me. I started DJing when I was 13, in 1986. I started going to and DJing at raves in 1992. When I went to my first rave, my life changed at that point. Even though I had been DJing for a while, it wasn’t until I witnessed the power of the DJ and the symbiotic relationship with the dance floor at a rave, that changed things for me. Seeing that, I knew what I wanted in life and 32 years later, I am still doing it. Although it isn’t my primary source of income these days, it is still something I am passionate about and continue to work hard for.. Read more>>