Artists and creatives face innumerable challenges given that their career path often doesn’t come with a playbook, a steady paycheck or any form of safety net. It’s definitely not easy and so we asked a few of the artists and creatives we admire to talk to us about why they chose to pursue an artistic or creative career.

Megan Long | Artistic Director of The Introspect Experience, Choreographer, Dancer, & Teacher

that has driven me to move, dance, write, draw, & play. I began finding more and more of myself when I focused my creativity into my art form. Dancing has been the place I land when I have nowhere else to go. It has been the place I dive deeper into my body and my mind to discover what I am trying to say. It is what feels like home. I knew I wanted to purse my artistic career when I was 8 years old. Read more>>

Rayna Cahill | Stand Up Comedian

My first open mic wasn’t my idea. A really good friend believed in me and she insisted that I give stand-up comedy a try. I’ve had several passions in my lifetime, and they have all gravitated toward building relationships with people. I worked in property management for 5 years and loved helping people find homes. I spent 8 years in the National Guard and jumped out of airplanes with my brothers and sisters in arms, and I still believe there is no greater rush than making an audience laugh. Like too many others, I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety for most of my life. I lost my father at 8 years old, and something he always said was “You’ll enjoy life a lot more if you can laugh at yourself.” Read more>>

Briana Powell | Producer & Model

I pursued a artistic career because I’ve always liked thinking outside of the box and creating things out of my perspective. Whether its modeling, acting or making music I love to bring life into whatever I do and see how people will react. Read more>>

Julie McCluskey | Executive Director, Rome Shakespeare Festival

It has to be because theatre is what I am most passionate about. I am the most myself when creating theatre, and I have witnessed firsthand the power it has to be transformative for not only artists, but for audiences as well. There is a magic that occurs in the room when the lights go down, the audience chatter silences, and the actor first steps on to the stage. I consider it a huge privilege to be in a position where I can help foster and create that magic and there’s nothing I would rather be doing. Read more>>

The Suicide Dollz The Goth Doll | Rap Artist & Songwriter

I didn’t choose to pursue an artistic or creative career. Arts and creative chose me. I am a natural-born gifted painter and my love for music started from a small child. It’s my nature and it’s in my blood. Read more>>

Qadri Solarin | Clothing Brand/Designer

Growing up, I was always interested in the arts, I would write poems and draw. But, the defining moment I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in creating a clothing brand was in my high school Spanish class. One of the activities we had to do was create clothes out of any scrapes we could find, and it was a group project. We started making various clothing products such as jackets, t-shirts, headbands, and jeans from the scrapes we could find. Read more>>

Michael Rudolph Cummings | Musician

Music and art, singing in particular, are the only things that ever felt completely natural to me I could not imagine a point in my life where I didn’t have music as a giant factor in everything I do. Read more>>

Raven Brooks | Author, Poet, Music Artist, Model, & Reiki Practitioner

I’ve been writing my thoughts down since I was a child. I can find diary entries from when I was as young as 10 years old. With that being said, poetry came natural to me from a very young age. I always loved reading, writing, and music. On another note, I played basketball from the time I was 7 years old until my sophomore year of college. Once I stopped playing ball, I wanted to explore my creative side a bit deeper. Letting go of basketball was a difficult, but necessary, decisions. I decided to take everything that I learned from basketball and apply it to my creative pursuits. Read more>>

Leah Jeffery | Scrap Metal Artist

Throughout middle school and high school, I took various art classes but never considered pursuing art as a career. I’m severely dyslexic, so school was never my thing, and when I was in high school, I couldn’t imagine choosing to labor through another four years of torture in a traditional college. I knew I wanted a hands-on career. I began looking into different trades and settled upon welding, because fire, you know. I started welding classes, and I loved it. During my second year in class, I began to look for some different projects to do in my spare time. Inspired by posts I saw on social media, I began to create a great horned owl from spoons and knives. Read more>>

Shanelle Farr | T’nelle-Star R&B artist

Ever since I was a little girl writing music has always been my passion. I remember sitting in my room for hours each day brainstorming my next song or next melody. I was born to be a star, so it’s just naturally been apart of my life for as long as I can recall. Read more>>