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.

Brooke Rosenblum | Holistic Practitioner | Crystal Healer & Dealer | doTERRA Wellness Advocate | Sound Alchemist | Oracle | Portrait Artist

Choosing to pursue a unique career path was simply something I knew I was meant to do! When you truly align with your purpose in life, not much else matters! Even when I had to fulfill a traditional role working for other companies before starting my own business, I always chose to be employed by companies that were either in the same field as I wanted to be in, or was at least a brand I could stand by. I understood that along the way I would gather many tools and much experience that would come in handy when it would be time for me to spread my wings and take on such a huge responsibility! When I began to regularly visualize my future and what it would look like, it didn’t include me working a traditional 9-5 in an office setting. Read more>>

Megan Morrison | Singer, Songwriter & Music Label Owner

I chose to be a musician purely for the passion. I certainly didn’t decide to go down this road for the money. If you are reading this and are considering being an artist or musician, make sure it’s something that you truly love and are willing to sacrifice for. That’s not to say you can’t make a lot of money being an artist or a musician, but you shouldn’t plan on it nor should that be your reason for wanting to do it. To be an artist you really have to love your craft. I started singing at an young age, and when I sang this feeling overcame me like I had never felt before. I truly felt alive. That’s still how I feel to this day. Read more>>

Hugo Orezzoli | Art Director, Artist, Storyteller, Songwriter

I remember, since I was a child I had the need to draw, write. tell a story somehow. In elementary school, with some of my friends, we would create little stories in paper strips, almost like what we call now storyboards. I would also create characters, paint and explore different mediums …tempera, watercolor, charcoal, etc. I would never forget when I watched one of the episodes of the sitcom “Bewitched”, when Darrin (Samantha’s husband), who worked in advertising, was doing a creative presentation to a client. The presentation consisted of a concept with some drawings of cartoony insects… when I saw that I figured, hey! I can do that, so I thought advertising was a good career to pursue,,, I think I was about 9 to 10 years old at the time. So now It has been about 30 years working in advertising. Read more>>

Ivania Guerrero | Artist

I pursued a creative artistic career to narrate my story and the story of those whom are unable to express themselves on the conventional way; to create awareness and bear-witness of the true inequality that many had experiences in life through out the world. Read more>>

Deborah LaFogg Doherty | Wildlife and Landscape Artist

Simple. It’s who I am and have always been. Even when I was young all of my free time was spent drawing and painting, when I wasn’t doing that I was in the woods behind the house exploring what ever I could find. When I reached junior high school I wrote and illustrated five or six story books and took art lessons after school until my tutor told me he couldn’t teach me anything else. In high school I took as many art classes as I could. By the time I got to art college I felt like a sponge soaking in as much as I could learning advertising, techniques and how to hone my illustration skills. Back then I declared to my friends that all I wanted to do was to paint! Read more>>

Toña Vegas | Visual Artist

It is the way I chose to live. To be an artist is a way of living. To create art is a way to exist. Since I was small I asked myself existencial questions like Who am I? Why am I here, in this world, in this country, in this family? What is life all about? What is death? To be an artist is my way of exploring these esencial questions, the way to make sense of being in this life. I haven’t been able to answer them… it is a lifetime adventure. Through my work I enter into the mystery of life in a sensorial intuitive manner, opening my capacity to perceive, to associate, to integrate, to breath into the nature of existing and communicate it. Read more>>

Eunice B.K.A. Haibian Losier Telfor | Spoken Word Artist & Author

I chose a creative career because I grew up not knowing anyone like me. Because I grew up having that feeling, I knew that I would have to set the example for following generations. Growing up in a very religious, old school, strict Caribbean household, I wasn’t able to explore any options that could explain certain feelings I was having growing up. I also didn’t have anyone around that could possibly guide or mentor me. Poetry was my only outlet to express myself, and the older I got, the more I realized I wanted to live my life doing what I love most. Poetry is my passion; and through poetry I have the opportunity to reach any and everyone. Read more>>

Joseph Fischer | Artist and Art Educator

What made me pursue my artistic career is my voice. My voice is expressed through my art and expressing my voice had to start somewhere. Being creative is my outlet. I just wanted to draw everything around me. If I could pinpoint the very moment I chose to pursue my artistic and creative career, would be the moment I was accepted into Saturday art classes at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Being surrounded by all those unique and amazing pieces of art and art history verified my life goal to become an exhibiting artist and express my voice. I didn’t know where my journey would take me. With the traveling I was able to do, I made the effort to be creative and to apply my work to any upcoming exhibitions. Read more>>

Kathy Katz Linden | Artist

Art was something I did for as long as I can remember. It always took up my waking hours. I graduated University (in Miami) with a degree in art. I was starry eyed, full of dreams and so excited to pursue my passion and show the world what I could do. I moved back to New York and reality quickly set in. I soon realized my passion may be a fantasy. If I were going to provide for myself I would have to go main stream into the world of advertising or graphic arts. Not at all what I had anticipated. I did spend a good deal of time in Greenwich Village, then a Mecca for people in the arts, and a place I felt comfortable in and belonged. The years passed, and life took over. It wasn’t until my children were grown that I could begin to devote my time to my passion. Read more>>

Romina Daniele | Artist, Vocalist & Writer

Because I had no choice. I often have said: it is like a calling. I needed to write that book, that song or that poetry, even before it was commissioned or paid of course. I performed in little bars as well as on big stages, and I also tried at the beginning to have “regular” jobs, but I coudn’t go on with them too much, since I often felt myself something like raped by wasting my time or even the energy of my same thoughts. So beside my music, art and the creative process, I always did the strictly necessary. For example, about 15 years ago, I was a teacher in school, but I left once I earned enough to produce a record, it was my first one actually. I worked in a office some years later, when I needed some money more to come back in the studios. Read more>>

Jessica de Vreeze | Visual Artist (Photographer & Street Artist)

My life has always revolved around art but it’s only later in life that I pursued art as a career. I first took a “safer” professional road as a lawyer. I finally switched careers to become the Visual Artist I had always been. I am a life’s lover. Today, translating my take on life into art is not only my primary focus, but my calling. Practicing law is interesting, challenging and also a way to bring good to the world, but it was not what I wanted my life to be. I was a good lawyer but after each case, the satisfaction of a well done work led place to emptiness. Pursuing an artistic career allows me to express what I have inside, bring good to the world from another perspective. It is who I am, and the more I work the more I feel alive. Read more>>

Mykel “MeekFro” Trent | Media Influencer & Creator

I really cannot see myself dwelling in any other field…I choose to pursue a creative career for a few reasons. Everything is art, whether we want to face it or not. We are all creators. A creator is someone or something who brings something into existence. Some of us create art, visions, ideas, inventions, humans (mothers), bonds, laws, ways, on and on. This world cannot ruin smoothly without creations. Really, the creative field chose me. From a young age until now, I’ve realized creativity is the air I breathe constantly. I love all things creative, but I’ve been pursing my love of video creating. Read more>>