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.

Madeleine Rheinheimer | Digital Communications Specialist & Director of Marketing

Ever since the fourth grade, my dream job was to be an author. I never really dreamed of anything besides having my work publicized and read by people who weren’t my immediate family and friends, and when I was 17 I published my first book. Upon doing so, I realized that a career within a creative field was the next step now that I had accomplished my one dream job before graduating high school. Read more>>

Annie Anna | Singer-songwriter

I can’t imagine my life without music being part of it. To me, music is such a rich source of emotion and is what adds the most color to my days, and I naturally find myself drawn to spending a lot of time listening to it or creating it myself. Pursuing music as a career is what enables me to share my art with others and hopefully add some color to their lives while connecting with them over experiences and emotions. While it’s not quite a full career at this point in time (I have an engineering job as well), it’s definitely the work that brings me the most fulfillment. Read more>>

Leslie Knox | Photographer

I’ve been super artistic since I was very young, even dressing up my little sister and taking photos of her on a little digicam. My heart is fully in art and artistic endeavors, photography being my main passion. In high school, I took photography and joined the photo club and became the first AP photo student at my school by senior year, I fell in love with the medium. I then became Lead Photographer with Cilento Photography for my job for a few years before the studio shut down. Now I do it for myself! Without photography my life would be very dull, so I strive to create images as a career as an outlet for my creativity. Read more>>

Cody Rashkow | Crash Kountry, a DIY Emo band

Art is all around us if you’re willing to seek it out. I discovered early on in my life that I am overly appreciative of art forms that are underrepresented. I am empathetic to all passionate creators that put their heart into something that wasn’t imagined or tangible before the creator breathed life into it. In that mindset, I have taken my time trying to find the right outlets for my own expression. Nothing makes me feel more alive than playing a song that might remind me of better and worse times and experiences that could only be processed by writing a song about it. Read more>>

Grace Jackson | Model, Bake it Forward Founder and Political Activist

I’m most proud of the initiative I started with my family called Bake it Forward. We used to live a shelter for domestic violence victims, seven years later we wanted to give back, so I started finding ways to help out. One thing that had always been absent in the shelter was baked goods, Bake it Forward is dedicated to providing homemade baked goods to domestic violence victims. I’m so happy that we’re now expanding to homeless shelters and addiction rehabilitation centers as well. Read more>>

Hannah Warren | Photographer & Entrepreneur

Growing up I thought that I had no imagination, really. I thought people created things perfectly the first time they imagined them. But really, I have come to learn I have the wildest imagination and I am overly abundant with creative ideas. It is almost silly to look back and think I wasn’t a creative person; I found ways to express my artistic abilities in all facets of life. Through sports like gymnastics and dance, I spent long hours in the studio perfecting my technique. Read more>>

Max Weinman | Singer/Songwriter & Pianist

I chose a music career because I felt that it was my calling. I began writing songs and learning covers at age 15 and I’d perform them at local venues and the feeling I got from that was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and so I chose to run with it and keep pursuing my music because it’s what I truly believe in. Read more>>