We were fortunate to catch up with some brilliant artists, creatives and entrepreneurs from throughout the Houston area and they share the wisdom with us below.

Takeisha Hardaway | Musician, Game Designer, Elementary Teacher, Music Producer, Author, Artists

I’m very proud of myself and I set goals and work at them and not giving up also continuing to love what I do of being creative and building my brand as I move along. It wasn’t easy I had to overcome a few obstacles by standing back and taking look at myself and to check out to see of what areas needed to improve or work on. Read more>>

Kymbra Li | Comedian, Songbird, Wave Creator

My art is comedy and music. I put 30 million views on my web series, Uber Risk, last year and I’m steadily dropping songs. My next big musical project is a Dolly Parton parody with an original song and a comedy sketch, so it’s really combining all of my talents into one project. It’s due out the beginning of April. Read more>>

Jenna Snyder, MS, OTR/L | Owner of Focus on Function & Occupational Therapist

From a young age, I knew I wanted to work with children with special needs. By the time I was 14 I knew I wanted to be an Occupational Therapist. Life throws us challenges and sidetracks us and it took me more than 10 years to complete my degree. Despite being an only parent throughout my college career I was able to finish my BS/MS degrees and begin to build the career I had always dreamed of. Read more>>

Marcus Hill | Author & Real Estate Appraiser/Investor

I have been in the real estate appraisal industry since 2005. I was one of the youngest African Americans to start a Real Estate Appraisal company during the housing recession of 2008. The average age for an appraiser is 50 years to 65 years old and its currently less than 2% African American Appraisers in the US.  Read more>>

Keya Erving | Budding entrepreneur and artist

I read the book “Understanding the Purpose and Power of Women” by Dr. Myles Munroe. I like this book because it is based on the Bible and full of solid, down-to-earth, useful information. One of the reasons this book impacted me so much is because Dr. Myles Munroe did an excellent job of describing why women are equal to men, why women are so valuable, and how we are powerful.  Read more>>

S. Marie | Author and Artist

What a powerful question. I actually considered this a lot growing up, and well, it is something that I think about now as I create. Before I shifted my focus to my written works, I thought a lot about what I wanted my paintings to say. After all, at some point, every creator has the strange realization that your work will likely outlive you. Read more>> 

DeAngelo Xavier | Rapper

With the career path I’m pursuing, you would think that I’m mainly in it for the fame and publicity, but in reality I’m just trying to make good use of my natural talents. I could care less about the fame aspect of being an artist. I honestly only care about making a living off of the my creativity and my art. Being able to provide for my family through music. Read more>>

A’saph Darby | Musician & Filmmaker

My main goal is to inspire and empower others while always staying true to who I am and what I represent. In my career & as the years go by, I want to feel at peace and have the freedom to be creative, controlling the projects I work on and the people I collaborate with. Read more>>

Robin Hill | Embroiderer & Printer

The most difficult decision I ever had to make was to retire from my job after ten years and take a leap of faith and to take my talents to the next level. Read more>>

Cheryl Smith | Herbalist, Holistic Birth and Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Instructor, Student Midwife

Before I worked for myself, I had a 9-5. During my time there, I would utilize my breaks to work on my branding, I would read books about herbalism and childbirth to improve my knowledge, I would make calls to certain people in the community in order to get my foot in the door to certain places etc. Read more>>

Kadar Brown | Artist, fashion designer, actor

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to have a plan ! You have to have a plan for yourself, if not you’ll fall in the plan of others ! Planning is important because if you don’t know what to do with your career or business someone will either figure it out for you or use you to be apart of their plan to materialize their dreams ! Read more>>

Koasia Eldridge | Licensed Nail Technician and Entrepreneur

My Business/Career has taught me to never give up. I started as a non-licensed Nail Technician in Mississippi buying acrylic packs from Walmart. My sets were lumpy and didn’t last for more than a few days. Read more>>