We asked some of the city’s leading artists and creatives to tell us about how they decided to pursue an artistic or creative career. We’ve shared some highlights below.

Madeleine Costa | Digital Marketer | Founder of Succeeding Small

I’ve always been drawn to the magnificence of the written language. The beauty and imagination it could create, the raw emotions it could evoke, the lessons it could teach. I had been writing since before I could spell–telling stories is something that has long been a part of me. As I was receiving my Bachelor’s in English & Marketing, I specialized in a field called Rhetoric, which is the study of arguments and persuasion. Read more>>

Daniella Katzir | Singer/Songwriter & Musician

Creating music has always been my greatest passion and way to release. Ever since I was 14 years old I’ve made scribble scrabbles of lyrics and chords. As I grew older, I found myself surrounded by like-minded individuals who were out there playing music and getting paid for it. When I saw that they were doing it, I realized the potential and decided “that should be my path too.” I mainly viewed my first performances as bringing me personal joy, but then I saw my joy mirrored in my audience and that filled my heart to the max and charged me with a whole new type of drive to create and share. Read more>>

Kelly Champlin | Freelance Artist and Art Teacher

I am pursuing an artistic career because art is one of my greatest passions and has been ever since I was a child. When I am creating art, anything is possible. The pencil and paintbrush can invent anything on the paper, granting the artist this beautiful yet precious gift. What worlds can be designed? Which messages can be magnified? Art is a way to highlight and show beauty in the world, and doing so with my creative career has been an exciting journey. Read more>>

Liz Cohen | Ceramic Artist

I’ve never dreamed of doing anything else. I’ve always had the creative/crafty/DIY bug in me since I was very little. I was making tin foil sculptures during lunch in elementary school and always the person people would ask to do anything artistic or design-related in all of my past classes and jobs. So yeah, for me there was never any other option. Sure I’ve worked jobs that weren’t creative or artistic in order to pay the bills, but any time I thought about what I would do as a long-term career it was always going to be something in the arts. Read more>>

Ciara Carver-Gallegos | Photographer & Marketing / Graphic Designer

Growing up I was always the “artist in the family”. I loved to paint and draw – I once painted a whole city scape mural on my bedroom walls and thats when I knew if I could just make it out of my small town and to a big city I could make something of myself. Read more>>