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.

Steven Nicholas Smith

I have always gravitated to the arts, whether it was drawing as a kid or getting involved in the Hip-Hop Dance/B-Boyin’ scene as a teenager. The need to be creative and express myself through creativity has always existed within me and choosing a career outside of that never made sense. I have always enjoyed movies and television, so when I discovered that pursuing a career in Film and Video Production was possible, I jumped in and never looked back. Read More>>

Alberto Alonso

Theater is what I was born to do and I personally could not run away from my passion so easily. I come from a Hispanic family full of scientists: my mom is a pharmacist, my eldest sister is a doctor, and my older brother is an industrial engineer. Their paths were really promising from a very young age and that put me in a very challenging position. The age gap between my siblings and I is pretty big too and by the time I had to decide what I was going to major in college both of my siblings already had very successful careers in their fields. Read More>>

Kris Lov

I pursued a creative career because I wanted to challenge the boundaries society places on women and their bodies. My background is in architecture, and through design, I found a language that lets me speak to something deeper than trends — freedom. I’ve seen too many women with beautiful bodies afraid to try on certain clothes because they believe they “shouldn’t” wear them. I wanted to change that. Read More>>

Ennis Zhuang

I first decided to become a designer because I was fascinated by user psychology. I found it surprisingly fun to notice all the little things people usually miss, like micro-expressions and tiny emotional shifts.
At the same time, I’ve always been passionate about design. I loved drawing ever since I was a kid and naturally grew more and more interested in design.
Over time, I wanted to take it a step further by truly integrating the process of solving user problems into everyday life, making it a natural part of how people live and interact with the world around them. Read More>>

Lauren Checket

I’ve always been a creative! Art class was my favorite in elementary school. As I got into highschool, I was really into fashion design. As hobbies throughout my adult life, I loved painting, crafting costumes for festivals, sewing my own garments, and I always had a digital camera in my hand. One day a few years ago, I decided to pick up a DSLR camera and haven’t put it down since! Read More>>

Julia Byers

Pursuing a creative career honestly wasn’t even really a decision – I’ve always loved the arts and I filled my childhood with as many creative activities as there was time for. My mom talks about how, back before I knew how to write, I’d follow her around with paper and a pencil to force her to take down my stories for me. Creating art is the closest thing we have to magic and it has always been so intrinsically a part of my life, I can’t imagine working in a non-creative field. Read More>>

Timur Almazov

The thing I like the most about any kind of art is when you see yourself in it: a line in a book that captures your feelings that you could not ascribe words to. Or a character in a film who you realise struggles with the same issues that you have. Art has this strange magic power to make us understand ourselves. It gives form to our fears and desires, our feelings and thoughts. I just think there’s no better way to try to make a living than by doing this – sit and wonder what’s going on with you or other people, why we treat each other the way we do, or what’s up with the state of the world. Read More>>

Yuheng Kuang

I chose a creative path because of a natural urge to observe and express. I’ve always been sensitive to space, details, and atmosphere—often imagining the emotions and stories behind an environment. When I discovered production design, I realized it was the perfect way to combine visuals, storytelling, emotion, and culture. It’s a field that balances intuition and structure.

What excites me most is designing from a character’s point of view. A room’s layout, the placement of everyday objects, even a mark on the wall—these small details can quietly reflect someone’s inner world. I see space as a silent storyteller. Read More>>

 Aspen

I feel that for me it wasn’t really even a choice. I’ve always been doing it, it just took facing the fact it is what I want in life. To choose a career in art can be scary due to the uncertainty, but for me it would be so much scarier to live with the regret of wondering what if. I do it despite all the gamble because it’s apart of who I am. Read More>>

Laura Lee Walsh

I come from a family of creatives, my mom is a music teacher and my dad is a visual artist, so being a lawyer or a doctor was never in the cards. (Thank God haha!) As a kid, I was always intently listening and observing others, taking note of their emotions and what causes them, while being the supportive friend. On stage, I felt at home. This was the place where people would listen to me, where I found my own voice. I was able to apply all of my observations to the stage and that felt so right for me! Read More>>

Elizabeth Aurora Petersen

I grew up in a cult.

Everything in my life was extremely monitored and censored. In that environment, the only place that I could truly be myself was through art and abstraction.

I remember very clearly at the age of 10: I was walking down the hallway and stopping short of crossing into the next room, when I heard two members of my extended family speaking in hushed tones saying… “you can’t let her get too independent…she can’t go down that path of becoming an artist”. I remember feeling a pit in my stomach, realizing that they were talking about me. Read More>>

Karthik Ganesh Prasad

I’m from a city called Goa in India, a place known for its culture, colors, and spirit—but for me, it was also where my love for cinema began. My dad had a deep passion for films and made it a tradition to take my sister and me to the movies every weekend. We never stuck to one language or genre—we watched everything we could. Those weekly outings weren’t just entertainment—they were windows into emotion, storytelling, and imagination. Read More>>

Chang Gao

Creativity chose me early—I just didn’t know it yet. As a child, I’d sketch on the backs of homework notebooks, filling margins with cartoon characters and imaginary worlds. *Tom & Jerry* reruns weren’t just entertainment—they were my first motion class when I didn’t even realize it. Growing up with a hearing disability, visuals became my anchor: a way to communicate when sound faltered, to decode emotions when words felt distant. Read More>>

John M. Keating

I don’t think I really had a choice! Ever since I was a little kid I loved to create and play, whether it was drawing or playing with my action figures and creating intricate stories. I used to sneak on my TV late nights to watch stand-up comics on The Tonight Show and acting and comedy were something I always wanted to do. So I’ve always dreamt about and wanted to act/do comedy/write/etc. I love the collaboration of being a part of something bigger than yourself and creating something that resonates with people. Even if that resonance is just that it made them laugh or feel good for 22 minutes. Read More>>

Kenny Ingle

The fact is, I didn’t “pursue” a creative career – I didn’t have a choice because of the way I am wired. Any vocation I chose, starting as a young person, was always approached and practiced with a creative eye and an artistic heart. I spent time as builder with my dad’s home improvement company, I worked at a liquor store, a sporting goods store, I waited tables, and I delivered pizza. Every one of these early jobs found me approaching each day with the right side of my brain leading the left. It wasn’t easy back then (or even today) because I struggled thinking in columns and rows and felt more comfortable pondering the aesthetics of the job in front of me – A “creative career” was inevitable. Read More>>

Jenna Kim

Passion for me has never been loud or all-consuming, but quietly persistent and gratifying in myriad ways.
The joy of the craft was always enough, before it was income-producing or garnering any kind of positive feedback. I’d be so drawn to examples of excellence that struck me with wonder and that “how did they do that!” feeling, and I’d scour ever resource possible to try and figure out how to emulate what I saw. Read More>>

Jesse Becerra

I think my ability to remain a child at heart was one of the reasons why I still do this to this day! As a father to a little girl she is always asking to play and for me to see where her imagination goes gives me inspiration to come up with new ideas or even brainstorm to see what she thinks too. Also as life continued and having to decided between having a job and working on something that takes my mind off of stresses of life, work, and having to provide for a family lets me be creative with how I have to problem solve artistic issues keeps the kid inside me alive. Read More>>