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.

Laredo Montoneri | Photographer and videographer

I can say that switching from a corporate career to a creative one has saved my life from “normal boringness” to hopeful and fulfilling. I was marketing manager in Italy before deciding to move to the US to become a fulltime photographer. The choice was for both reasons, I was fed up of a corporate job and fed up of living in Italy. I wanted to have a creative career in photography specific and be able to feel more free from a 9 to 5ish job wich actually was never done at 5 but way later. Read more>>

Adam Sarette | Singer/Songwriter

communicated and expressed myself through music and performing arts as far back as I can remember, so I’d say it found me! When I was a kid, I was always curious. My family always called me “Curious George”. I was most interested in whatever skill or extracurricular activity my sister was pursuing whether it was the school choir, dance, or gymnastics. Read more>>

Tiana Chung | Creator of WongaGyal, Copywriter & Digital Marketer

Growing up I was the typical “smart child” in just about every classroom I step foot in. In Jamaica, that meant you were destined to be one of three things: a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. I think from the moment I was born, my mother envisioned me as some kind of doctor – saving lives and pursuing a life of science. Combine a mother’s dream with an education system that believes in streamlining, and you end up with a child who was convinced that science was the only future available. But even then, I subconsciously knew that there was more. Read more>>

Deja Lanee | Makeup Artist & Educator

I pursued an artistic and creative career because art chose me. My father passed down his creative genes to me, so my connection with being a creative was inevitable. When I was younger I would find any and everything to create. From using glue to create a design and shaving crayons to stick to the paper to being the photographer for the newspaper and year book of my high school. Self expression feeds my soul. I’m blessed to be able to use beautiful individuals to express myself through makeup . Read more>>