Artistic and creative careers are among the most rewarding, but they also come with unique challenges. We asked some of the city’s best creatives to tell us why they choose to pursue a creative career.

Chris Murray | Musician

Art and music have been the foundation of my growth and development as a human since I was a child. I did not really see myself pursuing a career in either field until I moved to Colorado in 2014 and started painting and tie dying frequently in my spare time. Guitar had always been an occasional hobby since I learned the basics in elementary school. I started writing my own songs when I moved to Colorado and jamming with a few different groups of friends for fun. In 2018 some of my best friends and I started a group, and I then realized music is and always was the path I am supposed to be on. Read more>>

Sarah Moran | Artist & Owner of GingerPopStudio

I have been drawing or painting since as long as I can remember. When I was really little, I would spend hours drawing horses and illustrating my own stories about them. In middle school and into high school, art class was always my favorite hour of the day. When I was 11 or 12, my dad and I started going to an oil painting class once a week, at the senior citizen center that was in a town about 25 minutes away. That’s where I learned many of the technical skills I still use in my oil painting today- for instance, did you know that to make the color black, you simply mix ultramarine blue and a burnt umber brown, and voila! Black as night. Read more>>

Alyssa Nadolny | Intuitive Tarot Reader, Medium, Poet, and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

I grew up in Connecticut and as much as I have always been creative and wished to pursue a creative career…creativity and artistry was and is viewed as impractical. It was drilled into my mind from an early age that in order to succeed, I would need to have a practical job that was consistent, dependable and low risk to pay the bills. But I knew I needed a job that was my passion and from a young age I felt innately helping others was my purpose for being here. I didn’t always know how I would get there but I knew I had a calling greater than myself. So when nursing school presented itself, it checked all of the boxes and made sense. Read more>>

Shayla Rice | Cosmetologist, Loctician, Extension, and Vivid color specialist.

I grew up in a wildly artistic family and everything I ever wanted to do was art based. Singing, dancing, paiting, sculpting. I just happened to land on hair, skin, and nails as the career that felt right! I fell in love with seeing people confident and excited about their looks and making them feel good in their skin. Read more>>

Chennelle Diong | CPG Founder & GF Foodie

When I’m in the kitchen, whether it’s cooking or baking, I feel at home. Working with food and ultimately bringing joy to others through the food I make is when I feel the most connected to my purpose. It’s a mix of creativity, science, and experimentation and I even feel like (and look like) a mad foodie scientist at times. In addition, I’ve always loved art and have a background in design. The walls in our home are my personal canvas and I’ve painted colorful murals on almost all of them! When it came time to develop the branding and image for GoodLove Foods I completely geeked out. It was like my creative passions of food and art were finally colliding. Read more>>

Aleksandra Šuklar | Musician-Multipercussionist

I have been surrounded by music since my childhood. Born into a family of musicians- a mom conductor, father composer and my older sisters violinist and pianist it was somehow inevitable to become a musician as well. The day I started to play percussion it was very clear to me that I want to become a percussionist for my life time and are simply the passion, love and creativity which keep connecting me to this wonderful world of groove, rhythm and great music. For me personally it is essential to do what i truly love and could not imagine my life doing anything else. Read more>>