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.

Jessi Colwell

I started Colwell Designs as a hobby, I did this making lung cancer (white ribbon) merchandise because cancer isn’t just pink but that’s the only one people generally see. My mission was to make ribbons of all colors to bring awareness Read More>>

NICOLE ADAMS

In many ways, photography found me. I first picked up a camera in middle school, just to capture my adventures, and I remember the excitement of waiting for film to be developed. There was something powerful about freezing a moment and being able to relive it later — the laughter, the energy, the story behind the image. Read More>>

Toni Taylor

In a sense, I feel that my creative journey chose me. I was born with a myriad of health problems and had to be isolated quite a bit. In my isolation, crayons and coloring books were constant companions and I was content with them. For better or worse, I was one of those kids who did my best to color INside of the lines lol.. so I made it a goal to be neat. My pediatrician often asked his little patients to draw pictures for him. He told my mom that he saw something different about my drawings that stood out from most of the other kids.. Read More>>

Caitlin Stysly Emma Worricker

Before diving into the arts full-time, we were both in the public sector as a teacher and a nurse. Working face-to-face with students and patients taught us incredible people skills, but the high-pressure environment also made creativity our vital outlet. It was always there, bubbling under the surface, a way to imagine, play, and recharge. Now, it’s amazing to have that creative energy at the center of what we do. Read More>>

Siddharth Sivakumar

The need to create has been within me since I was born. I was always writing stories and making little videos as a kid, daydreaming all day about the coolest fantasy world. I got lost in the stories I created in my head. When I realized I could bring those stories to life, to see them played out in-front of me, everything clicked. Read More>>

Mariah Avery

I knew I wanted to be an actress from a very young age! Movies have always been an escape from reality for me. I was an emotional kid, it felt like very movie that had a happy ending would make me cry. I used to think “I would love to make people feel the way I felt watching this movie.” Read More>>

Whitney Panetta

Art has always been a part of my life. I was raised by an elementary art teacher mom and an engineer dad, who was always building something. As a child, I was drawn to art, and I knew early on I wanted to work in the art field as an adult. Initially, I resisted the education world because I wanted to do something different than my mom. I intended to study graphic design when I attended UGA, but in the application process, I quickly realized I didn’t want to spend my days stuck behind a computer in a corporate office.  Read More>>

Daniel A. Palacios

I think from a very young age, I was at least somewhat aware that I was put in this world to tell stories. I remember when I was very young, I excelled in creative writing assignments. I think, even being so small then, I had all of these worlds in my head, and I still, to this day, spend a lot of time in there digging through them all. It took a very long time for things to click together for me, but the moment I fell in love with writing was in my high school theatre class, where we were assigned to write and direct an original 10-minute play for our opening show. It was in the development of that stage play that I fully understood what I was doing. Read More>>