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.

Nathan Young | Filmmaker, Composer

Writing is my way of processing the world I live in. Directing is how I communicate my thoughts about that world to other people. For me, making art is a necessity. And for a long time, that scared me. Growing up, the advice I always got was: “find a career you can tolerate, and make art in your free time.” I saw that advice fail a lot of people. Everywhere I looked, I’d see talented individuals spend every free moment just trying to recover from the ordeals of the regular work week. Read more>>

Amirah Sackett | Dancer, Choreographer, Community Activist

I was very sure at age 12, that I would be an artist. I was very driven by my dreams of performing and dancing at a young age. I spent many years working in offices and secular work environments while pursuing arts in my free time. Always the goal was to become a full time artist. I was driven by my desire to create and share. My way of leaving my mark or stamp in the world was through dance. There were many sacrifices I made in this venture. Read more>>

Danielle Devonn Gary | Celebrity makeup artist and body painter

My parents nurtured my artistic side from when I was very young. I’m pretty sure my father still has paintings of mine from art class in high school. I was always drawing on someone or on myself, drove my parents crazy. Even in my athlete days, I was doing teammates hair and applying their mascara before games. Once I got my makeup professionally done for prom, I was pretty hooked. Read more>>

M Carlisle | Artist

Selling my work is more of a necessity than a career, unfortunately. But while work (to me) is just something to pay the bills, I do hope to enter some kind of stable creative field like at a museum or in website design QA. As an artist, I find the industry well within my skill range, while also allowing for challenges to further my craft. Read more>>