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.

Grace Santamaria

I’ve always been an avid reader, but didn’t consider writing a book until 2020. Like many others, the pandemic put many aspects of my life into perspective and made me evaluate where my time and energy were going to. At the time, I was searching for a creative outlet, a purpose that was unrelated to work or parenting. I also wanted to have a more active role in supporting causes and mindsets that are close to my heart. Storytelling checked all the boxes! Read More>>

Sofia Simioni

Because I don’t conceive life any other way. Creativity is a tool that all people should develop in any area of ​​their life. It is a resource through which one evolves and explores oneself as a person and acquires certain resources and knowledge of life. Personally, I am a highly sensitive person who since I was little had a restless mind, an imagination without borders and a lot of curiosity to learn and express myself through art. I was always very moved by my intuition and my desire to become an artist. I began my career in architecture without knowing that it was what I was born to do, it was simply the place where I could explore my full potential. Read More>>

Maria Theresa Barbist

I used to work as a psychologist and psychotherapist in Austria at a hospital. I really enjoyed my work, especially working with immigrant women and also with groups since I was trained in Psychodrama. I came to the US to study movement based art therapy at the Tamalpa Instiute in the San Francisco Bay Area and this is what really brought me to the arts and to the life that I’m living now. I started to create movement performances and later went on to study at the San Francisco Art Institute. Read More>>

Kc Pen

Art is survival for me. Without learning how to express myself through the arts and finding an escape from reality at times, life would be extremely difficult for me. My form of art is spoken word poetry and for over a decade it has been adding oxygen to my lungs with every stanza I write or perform. Read More>>