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.

Manuel Herrera | Educator | Illustrator | Speaker

I stumbled into my creative career by accident. While I did not intentionally pursue an artistic career, I have always considered myself a creative person and have used that way of thinking and working most of my life. In 2003 I began working in education as a middle school special education teacher. My focus was 8th-grade math. In addition to that, I also worked with students on core subject areas. Science. Social Studies. Language Arts. Because of this, I found myself having to learn 8th-grade content all over again. As I worked with students, I found that using simple drawings was incredibly helpful in explaining complex concepts in each of the subject areas. I would draw these simple graphic organizers with students (diagrams, storyboards, character journey maps, mindmaps, etc). Not only would I draw them, but I would teach kids how to draw them. We always focused on the ideas and never the art. We weren’t worried about how they looked. Just what they represented. That took practice. Every time I would review or ask a student to recall information, we would draw what we knew. Read more>>

Shannan Bethel | Professional Makeup Artist

This has been a dream of mine since I was child. I spent hours watching makeup videos and then trying to recreate the look. Each week I would buy a new product and see if I could recreate a look I found on YouTube. I knew this was something I was great at and wanted to make a career out but it took me awhile to take the risk and become a professional makeup artist. During the pandemic I was pursing a psychology degree at FIU. I enjoyed my classes and what I learned. I started to take my classes online and that changed everything. I spent a lot of time alone and thinking about how I wanted to spend my life. Would working in the mental health field fulfill me ? I couldn’t decide but to pass time while being home I started to create makeup looks and it all started to align. I knew from that moment I wanted a career in the beauty field and never looked back. Read more>>

Zhayna | Professional Singer & Recording Artiste

Since I’ve known myself I have always been an exceptional singer and performer as it was a natural born talent. So naturally, a love and passion for it grew and I began to thrive in that area. I believe this career chose me and it was simply a part of my destiny to be here. I was gifted with a talent for music and connecting with people through singing and performing. With that came opportunities one after the next. As such, everything fell perfectly in line for me to now be where I am, as a professional singer and recording artiste. Read more>>