Often we don’t have to reinvent the wheel to learn something new – we can just ask experts in the field who can draw on their experience to enlighten us. Below, we’ve shared insights insiders from various industries have shared with us.

Sara Grace Wiley

I’ve always been drawn to the arts while I was growing up.

When I was younger, if I got bored, I would take up a new hobby. I tried all sorts of things, like special effects makeup, making clothes out of ducktape, video editing, and much more, just because I wanted to try something new. As a kid, trying new artistic hobbies gave me more to look forward to and appreciate about life. Read More>> 

Halem Albright

When I was really young, I saw the idea of being able to write & perform for a living as some far-off unattainable thing…I’m not sure why, I guess that was my skeptical & realistic side. When I’d see a band(or solo-musician) load up with all their complicated gear & guitars, I thought it was the coolest. I started teaching myself guitar in my teen years, not for any reason other than that I wanted to. There was the ongoing idea in the back of my mind that I might be able to do some cool stuff with it. And with pushing myself to become a better player & with the right band hearing me/asking me to join, I was swept up in the live-music world while still in high school. Read More>> 

Jideobi Ezemonye

I pursued my creative career because I’ve always wanted to be a world builder. I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember, to be honest. It started off as making little videos using my iPad Mini and some toys that I had. I remember even making clothes for those characters to make them look different from just some regular plush toy. Almost as if they were like the main character of their own show or something. I also used to draw a lot and make a bunch of comic books around that time. I was genuinely always working on some type of creative project as a kid. Read More>> 

Christos Arfanis

Art was always my way to see the world differently to question it and to reshape it. Since I was young, I was drawn to images, stories, and the silences between words. That’s where the urge to write, direct, and give voice to characters carrying weight and their own truth. I don’t create art to express my own difference. For me, fiction goes beyond reality as it becomes a way to interpret life, not to simply replicate it. I’m not trying to put my own life on screen through cinema, theater, and writing, but to illuminate the world around me, to get closer to its truth, and to interpret it as I feel it inside. Fiction, for me, is above reality. It’s not life itself, but rather it’s a lens through which life can be understood, questioned, and transformed. Read More>> 

Abigail Heather

I’ve always been a creative person, and growing up in a family surrounded by art and music really shaped me. My mom is an artist and my dad is a musician, so creativity was always part of my world. In college, while studying music education, I continued developing my photography skills on the side, and it quickly became something I was deeply passionate about. What started as a creative outlet has grown into a business where I get to capture meaningful, beautiful moments for others. Photography allows me to combine my love for artistry with connecting to people, and it’s been such a fulfilling path alongside teaching. Read More>>