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.

George Bermudez | Photographer, videographer

I pursue an artistic career because I’m able to express myself in so many ways. From videos, to photos, to drip paints to resin molding. There’s endless possibilities on what I can do! Read more>>

Carla Rivera | Designer, planner & freelance florist

To be honest, I was born with an artistic inner. My dad is a visual arts and sculpture professor, so I inherited it from him. I remember my childhood being taught by him how to draw, paint, and sculpt… from my dad’s side, most of his family are artists; his mom was a writer, one of his sisters a flamenco dancer, two brothers musicians, there’s art in my veins. This job/ career in the floral industry came up to me out of nowhere; I got involved because of the urgency of making money after I left my 9 am to 5 pm office job. Read more>>

Jaryn Hope | Creative

I decided to pursue an artistic career because I’ve always been an artist. It’s always been who I am, I would look forward to art class in school and spent my free time drawing and creating, it has always been my peace. Looking back my most satisfying memories are of the times where i was creating. Whenever i pursued anything outside of that, I felt so unsatisfied because I knew what I was meant to be pursuing, everything else was a distraction or a safety net. I’ve always worked hard for others, for others that would replace me at the slightest indifference, for others that couldn’t care less about me as a being, for others that only cared about what I could do for them. It got to the point where I put so much energy into working for others that I had little energy left to create. I decided enough was enough and that’s when I began to return this energy back into myself and my passions. Read more>>

Shawn “e.s.s.” Branchedor | Recording, Mixing Engineer & Music Producer

The moment I realized I wanted to become a creative specifically in music, I was 11 years old in Port St. Lucie, FL. I remember listening to the radio and with every song that came on, I was always curious about the process on how songs were made from start to finish. I didn’t know anything at all at this time but I was deeply intrigued, “how are songs created??”. Read more>>

Tam Le | 3D Environment and Look Development Artist

When I was little, I loved drawing fun clothes and recreating art from comics or cartoons. As I grew up, I watched a lot of animated movies and was always impressed by how they could transfer me to different worlds of wonder. However, it was not until late middle school when a thought formed in my head that animation could be a possible career. Coming from Vietnam where there was not a big animation or film industry, I knew I wanted to study abroad to chase after my dream of being a part of creating movies that would inspire people’s lives. Read more>>