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.

Nathan Muñoz | Dancer, Choreographer, & Creative Director

Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve always been very eccentric. Whether that be in my fashion or the way I’ve always expressed myself. Ever since I could walk I’ve been dancing. When I was a kid I would learn the choreography for music videos and watch MTV or VH1 in the morning before school. I always had the desire to want to perform and be on a big stage. The wise Britney Spears once said, “there’s only two types of people in the world: the ones who entertain and the ones who observe”, and I definitely was put on this earth to entertain. It’s truly my calling in life. Read more>>

Cary Qian | Photographer and Filmmaker

It was something I became attached to from a pretty young age, and for the longest time it was just a hobby. But I remember at some point in high school I realized this was something I could go to college for. And in that sense I feel incredibly lucky, that my college major lies in something I’m super passionate about. Not to say there aren’t people who study business or finance who aren’t passionate about those things, but no one pursues an artistic or creative career for job stability. Read more>>

Megan Peyman | Artist & Business Owner

Artistic and creative careers offer abundant opportunities for self-expression and representing personal beliefs. Being creative allows for the creation of wonders and the ability to turn passions into a sustainable livelihood while forming meaningful connections through one’s craft. With art and creativity, there’s the freedom to generate original ideas and artworks constantly, leading to a fulfilling and comfortable life. We’re grateful for the chance to live within our own creativity, offering various forms of artistic expression, including art classes, jewelry repairs, and unique one-of-a-kind pieces at our one-stop location. Read more>>

Ana Gomez Bernaus | Visual Artist

Visual expression has always felt natural to me. One of my favorite childhood pastimes was drawing. As I grew up I transitioned from pencils to software, yet the excitement and fulfillment I get from creating art remain constant. As a professional artist, I continue to make discoveries as I work, sometimes stumbling upon them through mistakes, and I still get giddy when a piece of art takes an unexpected turn. Read more>>

Kevin Heisinger | Comedian & Writer

When I was in 3rd grade I was put into Waldorf, which is a private school that inspires students to tap into their creative side. Did I learn a lot of things? Not really. But it did inspire me to be a lot more creative when it came to writing and storytelling. I became the class clown, and loved telling stories and jokes to my fellow students, which made me realize something…I love making people laugh! Read more>>

Rémy Poisson | Storyboard Artist & Writer

I always knew I wanted an artistic career and that I wanted to draw for a living. Both my parents are artists; my mom is a graphic designer and my dad is a toy designer, so I always new a career as an artist was possible. They both went to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and I grew up taking classes there as well. I would draw all the time as a kid but when I got to high school I focused more on my academic courses. I would take some RISD classes in the summer and I did the RISD Pre-College program the summer before my senior year of high school. When I was applying to colleges, I knew I wanted to do art as a career generally but also wanted a program with strong academics to keep my options open. I was accepted into the 5-year Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program, where students could major in two different subjects at Brown University and RISD. I quickly realized I enjoyed my RISD studio classes way more than my academic classes at Brown and that solidified my goals of becoming a professional artist. After participating in the student film making club, Brown Motion Pictures, I realized an artistic career in film was what I wanted most and settled on becoming a storyboard artist. Read more>>

Roberta de Leon Cruz | Architect, Artist and Photographer

From a young age, I found myself captivated by the intersection of art and functionality. The ability of architecture to shape and define spaces, evoke emotions, and contribute to the well-being of individuals and communities resonated deeply with me. I wanted to do something with my life that would leave a long-lasting positive impact on the world, and I saw architecture as a means to help me achieve this. A mirror of culture and history, architecture plays a pivotal role in shaping and reflecting the identity of societies throughout time. The built environment is not merely a collection of structures; it is a profound expression of cultural values and beliefs. I was fascinated by the idea of not only influencing the way people inhabit and experience space in the present but also being able to influence how our civilizations and cultures are studied and understood by those that come after us. Thus, I saw architecture as a perfect opportunity to merge my artistic abilities with a tangible, real-world impact. This has led me to engage in various projects, from residential to commercial work, as well as international architecture competitions, which continue to challenge and fulfill my creative aspirations. Read more>>

Sifat Bhatia | Web Designer & Developer

I pursued a career in web design and development because it allows me to blend my passion for art and technology seamlessly. Read more>>

Kacey McClain | Artist

When I was in college, and feeling a complete burnout from my studies of science and animal medicine, it was Voice 101 where I found inspiration. My vocal professor, Cynthia Vaughn, really motivated me to take singing more seriously. I had been doing things I was told to, but not that I was enjoying, or that I felt gave me purpose. Singing gave me something to look forward to; something that I was really passionate about. It was shortly after I started work with Cynthia, that I began songwriting. The ability to write and communicate through music afforded me a channel of self expression to which I had not yet been exposed, and I was immediately hooked. I had found a way to communicate and share my own voice, both literal and figurative, and that was when I knew I needed to do this for a career. Read more>>

Haoquan Wang | Digital Visual Artist & Creative Design

My career in creativity and art stems from my love for beauty and visuals. I once conducted research in the field of human-computer interaction, but by chance, I discovered a passion for digital art. I was drawn to the beautiful virtual environments, and I developed a deep interest in the images generated by computers. It was not until I began studying the Unreal Engine that I started to express my understanding of beauty through virtual world design and CGI. I revel in curating things within the game engine, documenting, and sharing the feeling. Read more>>

Alexandra Deigh | Actor

Creativity drives me. Whether it’s acting, writing books, producing films or painting, it’s just what I love to do. Even my job as a tour guide at one of the major studios is entertainment – part stand-up — to make the tour as fun and informative as possible. Read more>>

Felicia Varlotto | Cinematographer & Photographer

Since early childhood, I was always very invested in watching and/or making movies on imovie with my friends. Because my father is an enthusiastic movie fan and took me to many different types of films, my mind was always filled with fascinating and interesting imagery as well as clever dialogue and plots. I started to imagine how I can also make these captivating images that could make me feel so much. Due to this exposure at a young age, I have always felt a passion for making my own movies. I’ve always been more interested in the artistic/visual side of filmmaking because I realized that imagery can more easily display a broad range of emotions. As a cinematographer, I feel that I have to pay attention to detailed nuances that can help demonstrate the viewpoint of the creative team I work with to allow the audience to feel the intended emotions. I have to focus on the technical details of filmmaking such a lighting, composition, the surrounding environment, and lens selection as well as observing the facial expressions and movements of the characters that coincide with the depth of the story. My favorite part about being a cinematographer is having the ability to dissect a script and think about the thematics, tones and emotions while also working to create aesthetics of how to capture the spirit of the narrative through my lens. Read more>>

Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja | 12 year old singer and actor

I just love singing and acting. I started singing when I was very young. It just came from my heart. Singing always makes me happy. The same thing with acting. I started my acting career when I was 4 and I really love it until now. I really think that everyone should pursue something that they really love and enjoy as long as it’s something positive. Read more>>

Gisele Joves | Singer/Songwriter & Actress

I pursued acting and singing as a need to fill a hole in my creative abilities. Ever since I was little I loved movies, music, and beauty. I would admire how my dad would sing and looked up to him in that sense. He was in the military and had a family to support so he never pursued his dream of singing. When he passed away I learned that he would sing to his coworkers and anyone who would listen. That really stuck with me. I had gone through a big breakup and decided to go for acting as I dabbled in it through college. I had always loved movies and TV shows so I finally decided to really go for it. Read more>>

Steve Czarnecki | Creative Content Producer, Segment Director, Digital Creator, Writer and Editor

Creativity is something that’s just been hard-wired into me since I came into existence. Whether in the form of physical creation or public entertaining, I’ve always had a natural ability to make people laugh and smile. It became a natural progression going into my teens and then as a young adult to evolve into someone who made creativity an integrated part of my everyday existence. Wearing silly costumes, doing voice impersonations, coming up with quick puns (good and bad) and one-liners, telling jokes, writing jokes, being a storyteller, throwing myself in the spotlight to be the target of funny or unique situations, it’s all a part of who I am. Taking on the role sometimes as the Jester who not only entertains others, but can also entertain and laugh at himself doing the most asinine and ridiculous things for a laugh, is a role and responsibility I’ve whole-heartedly embraced my whole life. Read more>>

Tahirah A’sha | Founder of Your Favorite Cup

When I think of the pursuit of creativity, I initially think about how it actually chose me. For some time now, I’ve been inspired by my own life journey and pride myself in feeling, moving, and working with what resonates within. Whether it’s partnering with New York’s and Africa’s coolest creatives, or looking back on the types of books I bought at the Scholastic book fair in middle school. I am working on becoming a refined artist though… stay tuned. lol Read more>>

Yintao Gong | Film director & editor

Both my parents are writers and they met each other at a poetry publishing event. I guess that laid a foundation for our family, and they always encouraged me to read, write, and express myself. When I grew up, I soaked up knowledge like a sponge and had many different dreams: writer, reporter, painter, photographer… Then, I realized that I just wanted to be a storyteller. Read more>>

Rebecca Demeter | Writer and Director

When I was 5, I fell in love with movies, starting with The Wizard of Oz. I grew up during the Disney boom of the late 80s and early 90s, and watched those movies endlessly. As I grew older, all I wanted to do was create more magical worlds others could fall into like I did. I remember being completely enraptured by the characters and stories. When I was a teenager, I watched The Matrix and knew that I wanted to be the person pulling all the strings to make it all happen. I didn’t know the word “director” then, but I knew that’s who I wanted to be. But during high school, I thought I should have a serious and stable job, and did the healthcare thing. I tried a few different careers. I went to college and got a degree in biology, because I had planned on going to pharmacy school. When that didn’t pan out, I got an associate’s in medical assisting, and worked in a primary care doctor’s office for a year and a half, and then worked in an orthopedic office for 6 months. I was profoundly, deeply unhappy during this time. Read more>>

James van Langenberg | Actor

In high school I was deeply involved in the music program, a self-taught drummer and keyboardist (I could never get my head around sheet music!). One day, we were assigned “Jungle Boogie” for our stage band. I had never heard the song, and two friends said “What, you’ve never seen Pulp Fiction?!”. After school that day, those 2 friends invited me to their house to watch it on VHS. After the opening scene, I was totally hooked. I couldn’t look away for the entire film. Afterwards I went home and told my Dad “I had no idea people made movies like this!”. He took me straight to the local Blockbuster and grabbed 3 DVD’s off the shelf and hired them. He said “if you liked that, you’ll love these”. That first hand-full of films blew my mind, I had no idea the terror, amusement, devastation that these actors were able to convey in these nuanced and subtle performances. All I knew by the next week was “I want to do that…” Read more>>

Jiayun Chen | Multidisciplinary Artist

It’s more like, what else would I pursue other than a creative career? It’s hard to change how your brain is wired. I feel most alive in the creative process and love the creative community built on the collective passion for art & culture. Pursuing a creative path allows me to articulate abstract thoughts through a visual language and share them with people I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, and I absolutely love it when I share the same interests with other artists. Seeing Cy Twombly’s sculptures or Ree Morton’s installations always put me into a creative space, the poetics and ambiguity in their work resonates with me a lot. I also love any art experience that is hard to describe using words. Read more>>

Shelley Rae Speck | Singer/Songwriter

At the tender age of 12, I opened my mouth to sing and it sounded good! I had a dream of being a Pop Star from an early age. I pursued a career as a recording artist because it was my life’s dream. I entered the 7th-grade talent contest and won. I played guitar and sang. a Rolling Stone’s song “As Tears Go By”. From there I played original songs at the Iconic nightclub, The Troubadour. I was only 13 years old. I sang all through high school and college. Read more>>

Gabriela Benavides | Sound Artist, Audio Engineer & Composer

There are not many artists in my family… (although there’s for sure a couple) but I think my parents especially, have always tried to be involved with cultural events and that had a big impact on my childhood. So I was always surrounded by art in some shape or form wether It was live music, theatre or visiting galleries and museums. Read more>>

Layne Marie Williams | Writer/Director/Creator

It felt very innate growing up in the Deep South and relying on my imagination to create. My parents wanted me to be a veterinarian because I’ve always had such a compassionate relationship with animals. But I could not shake that creative itch. I felt drawn to all the artistic mediums at different times when I was growing up and didn’t seriously pick up a videocamera again until I was in my early 20s. I think I always knew I was going to be in the arts. Telling stories is the thread thats always been there regardless of medium so thats definitely what I feel my purpose is. Read more>>

Dahyun Kim | Dancer, Choreographer, and Artist

Since I was a child art in any form- music, writing, drawing, dancing- lived close to who I am as a human being. That is one of the many things I am grateful for in my upbringing from my parents. I have had different phases in which I would write, draw, sing, act, produce, choreograph, and dance to express myself and realize the creative ideas brewing inside me. In this sense, my identity as a creative has always been one of my core that makes me who I am. Looking back, I must say that that was why even though during my teenage years in Korea my environment was pushing me away from pursuing an artistic career or even engaging in the arts at all, I always found a way to go back to it. It is something that I cannot live without, and I wanted to make sure that I never loose my connection to arts- because that would mean I lose a part of myself. Read more>>

Jose Paz | Storyteller

I guess I love to day dream. Whenever I listen to music that gets to my emotions I start to think about a creative concept in my mind. Like if I’m day dreaming while listening to music. That’s why I create art. I love doing it because i bring out my imagination to reality. Read more>>

Seth Origitano | Creative Director, Clown, Producer, Writer, Humorist

Throughout my life, I have done a Alloooooot of jobs. I discovered the only way to create any internal harmony is to find work that enriches my life. I”ve lived below the margin in many different ways. Once I became an artist I was wealthy for the first time. My wealth just wasn’t in money. Read more>>

Ansel Faraj | Film Director

Ever since I was very young, I was fascinated by movies and “movie magic”, or more specifically – “how did they do that?!” I remember watching INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE and I believed absolutely everything that happened on screen – that guy did choose the wrong cup and drastically aged in front of me. And then when I was a few years older, my parents took me to see PHANTOM OF THE OPERA on stage, and all of the special effects were amazing to me, from the candelabras rising from out of the stage, the swirling fog, the crashing chandelier. I remember walking out of the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and deciding right then and there at 6 years old “I want to do this”. Read more>>

Mia Hall | Musical Theatre Performer & Content Creator

I’ve always been a “left brained” individual, although who knows if that actually exists. I took an interest in music and video development at a very early age, making little Video Star music videos with my cousins in my attic, or making videos reviewing Bath and Body Works Pocketbacs. But I knew I wanted to pursue theatre specifically ful time the year I ended The Jimmy Awards. My junior year of high school I was challenged to the umpteenth degree and had the privilege of competing amongst 80 some more incredibly talented high school age performers. Id still been relatively reserved at that point, and wanted to go to school to be a Pre-Calc teacher. But something about being in a group of people who cared about singin a song as much as I did ignited something in me. I expressed to my parents there was no reason I shouldn’t full throttle pursue a BFA in Musical Theatre and continue making content for social media. They were wildly supportive and had no complaints when I eventually dropped out of Syracuse, signed with an agency, and moved out to NYC. Performing gives me agency to tell the stories I need to tell, while doing what I love most. Music has always been my special interest, and as a neurodivergent person, I have a lot of internal stories to tell. If my performance can help audiences watching, as well as help me process my own life, it’s the biggest win win I can imagine. Read more>>

Alina Brace | Actor

Ever since I was a baby I liked to draw and paint, sing, come up with my own songs and just was always very dramatic. When I was 4 years old, I begged my mom to sign me up for acting classes. I just love that in acting you get to play different characters and learn new things and get out of your comfortable zone. Read more>>