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.

Andres Ruiz | Motivational speaker life coach author and radio show host

I was struggling for many years working jobs that I didn’t enjoy and was extremely unhappy with my life. I had no purpose and felt like a complete failure. I had family and friends who are lawyers doctors engineers and surgeons and I was over here with just the high school diploma feeling unworthy. Read more>>

Larry Pahl | Director of The American Institute for Pyramid Research

I sort of rebel against the idea that you choose a career path. Life lived fully must be some species of quest, like a hero’s journey. You need to find out who you are. You experiment, you learn, you step forward and retreat as you learn and grow. Eventually you learn your best talent sets, you find out what you are good at and what motivates you and you end up in a “career”, not because you chose it, but because you were called to it, you discovered it. Read more>>

Melissa Torres | Performing Arts Dancer & Administrative Assistant

Although my artistic career is part time, I wanted to pursue this creative career because of my love for art, music, dance and the community that comes with it. I find that my authentic love for dance is not only just to learn dance moves, but more so to creatively express and show who I am as an artist because a lot of my movement is based on who I am and how I feel. I love being a creative. I’m happy to be a creative. Read more>>

Kaia Shea | Dancer/Model/Vocalist

I have pursued an creative/artistic career because the mundane bores me. I don’t like doing the typical 9 to 5 job. I don’t want to have to continuously work my entire life away. We work to live. We don’t live to work that may sound cliché, but it is very true. Read more>>

Brandy Fleming-Stewart | Brandy Fleming-Stewart | Arizona Lifestyle Photographer

From as far back as I can remember, I always loved the artistry of photography. I didn’t know any of the fancy words for it, like composition, aperture, resolution, etc. I just knew that I liked the way the colors looked on the cover of a National Geographic magazine! Read more>>

Suewong McFadden | Director & Children’s Book Author

From the very start, it all began with a simple sketch! As a little girl, I was enamored with the world of writing, drawing, and painting. These were not just hobbies; they were my lifeline, my escape when words failed me. In the quiet corners of my imagination, I found solace, pouring my heart out onto paper in the form of sketches, short stories, and poetry. Read more>>

Trevor Ruth | Writer, Poet & Film Critic

I wasn’t under the impression that I had a choice! Only joking. Kinda. I guess from an early age, I was always interested in storytelling. My family liked to tell stories to others about things that have happened to us over time–sometimes these stories were embellished substantially–and I kind of got that from them. The rest of my adolescence was sort of spent on trying to figure out how to share my own stories with others. Read more>>

Mackenzie Hawkins | Clothing Designer & Maker

I’ve always found my skills to be in artistic expression. I originally thought that would be through the performing arts as I had been a singer all my life. However, I fell into sewing in college through my theatre program’s costume studio and there learned and discovered a talent and true love for making beautiful clothes from nothing but a sketch and flat fabric. The process of making an idea into reality really encapsulated the whole “story telling” process that theatre production pursues. From there I realized that our everyday clothes tell a story too. Our style choices tell the story of our lives, where we’ve been, our experiences and how we choose to interact with the world around us. I love the opportunity to help people of all shapes and sizes express themselves and tell their story. Read more>>

Jana Minov | Music director and choral educator

I grew up in the family of mother renowned opera singer and father conductor and vocal coach. Since the very young age I spent time in the back stage of the theaters and concert halls and was expoed to the gates music at our house. My mom would warm up her voice and practice every morning before going to her opera rehearsals and dad too would sing all day long. That is how I entered the magical world of classical music and opera. I stared playing piano when I was six yrs old, got asked to restart at later age because I could not even write or read at that time. I came back as an eight year old girl to do my music education and never stopped ever since. At the age of fourteen I knew that I want to pursue music as my career and lifelong choice.And that is how all started Read more>>