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.

Carla Sciaky | Spiritual life coach and healer, songwriter and musician

In a way, it happened in spite of me. I had always thought I was going to be an elementary school teacher. But while still in high school, I started playing music in a band – first with a partner, then there were three of us, and eventually five – and we were quite successful. In the 2 1/2 years we were together, we recorded an album, and toured throughout Colorado and to the midwest and east coast more than once. After we broke up, I went to college. There I found education courses pretty boring, so I changed to a different major. I really tried to get a “real job” after graduation, but by then I was already starting to perform more and more. I eventually left my day job to be a full-time musician. Read more>>

Robert N. Ruesch | Author, writer, seeker of chocolate!

I believe my writing is a calling from God. In Middle School, I could see that I had a talent for placing words on paper and touching the emotional hearts of people. That realization gave me the courage to write captions for many of the photographs I was taking. In college, I took a creative writing course my freshman year, and that ignited my desire to work in journalism and as a creative storyteller. Read more>>

Ria Bulthuis | Novelist, freelance editor, and the specter haunting your local coffee shop

No, that’s an exaggeration; I could have done something else, but one of my favourite ways to describe my background with this stuff is to say that I’ve been reading and writing stories since before I learned how to read and write. My imagination is the most visual of anyone I’ve talked to, and I’ve always needed to bring those images out into the real world (I do some artistic photography too–that’s a hobby rather than a career, but it pushes me to see things from a different angle and helps put things into words sometimes). Read more>>

Emily Murawski | Board President of the Dance Alliance of the Pikes Peak Region

In a sense, this is a second career for me. After 35 years of teaching young children around the country, I wanted to do something worthwhile in the community. Retired from teaching I found myself drawn to dance, an interest I had as a young woman when I studied dance. In the subsequent years, even though I was not dancing myself, I attended dance performances wherever I lived and was a supporter of dance in the community. Read more>>

John Cabrera | Cat dad, Composer, Music Producer, Dj

When I was a kid, my parents were both into music. My mom was a Disco queen. My dad was the type of guy who just knew everything about music. Given how much my dad knew about music and how into it he was, plus his family history. Fun fact, his dad taught Richie Valens how to play guitar. My mom loved to go out dancing whenever she could. I grew up dancing, at parties, in dance groups etc. I was the type of kid that needed to be on the dance floor. Come middle school and high school, I got introduced to DJ’ing while attending Boys and Girls Club. I was messing around with the dj system they had there, practicing on vinyl. From there, my passion just grew. My sister would pick me up from school and would always have those classic mix-tape style burned CDs full of music their friends had introduced them to. I heard Chemical Brother’s “saturate” and was in total awe. That song drove me into wanting to create music. Read more>>

Trissina Kear | Professional Pianist

Music was a constant part of my life since a very young age. I started playing piano at age 4, and by age 11 was accompanying ballet classes and a couple years later, choirs at school. I fell in love with the concept of playing with other musicians in a supporting role. Being surrounded by and educated with every genre of music growing up, helped keep the inspiration. I was taken to many symphony performances and truly enjoyed the indescribable feeling of hearing the whole orchestra hit an emotional point of the piece together. The same feel applied to being in choirs as well. Once I decided I wanted to do music as my profession, I never really wavered. Read more>>

Autumn Stankay | Photographer

My life has always been destined for a creativity. Daily tasks as a child were always made easier for me when I made it more creative, fun or outside the box. In 1988 I got my first camera, I was six. I valued every click on that shutter and was sure to savor every frame on the roll of film. I didn’t needlessly snap everything I saw like most children with a first time camera. I made that roll last for weeks, finding just the right thing to capture. It was just a little over a decade later when I got my first non-plastic (LOL) camera that would take me into my career. As a high school student, I excelled and was expected to pick a four year college based on my grades. But nothing interested me, except the idea of being paid to turn my hobby into a career. So a life in photography as a career was born. I knew that my life would be fulfilled if I could be creative on a daily basis. Aside from that initial reason to pursue this career, I found a silver lining shortly after opening my doors in 2004. This was the beauty of being a business owner, and thus in control of my time and my life. I found this incredibly empowering and the freedom that has come from that in my life is something I would never give up. And now in my young 40’s I can look back and see my 20’s and 30’s, although difficult at times, to be the best life I could have lived. I look forward to the next few decades of continuing my craft and improving myself as a photographer and business owner everyday. Read more>>

Pauline Castro | Hair & Makeup Artist

I pursue being a hair and makeup artist because I love seeing people feel and look their best on any occasion. I am passionate about creating art and making people smile. Read more>>

Lynn Maloy | aka, F. Lynn Godfriaux, writer and pianist

I love creating stories and characters, and I also love re-creating music of the great masters. I’ve played piano and written poems and short stories since third grade. In my writing, I lose myself in creating my own world and characters, although my characters start taking on a life of their own and end up guiding me in their development. As a professional pianist and teacher, I re-create great music of various genres. I feel there is a very close connection between the stories I write and the music I play because in both venues I am engaging the reader/listener in something I feel very passionate about. Read more>>

Isaac Healy | HFXspiderman & Twitch Streamer

A lot of my childhood memories involve hospital visits, surrounded by white/grey walls and people I don’t know telling me terms that felt like an alien language. Read more>>

Tanya Douglas | Junior Architect & Artist

The human brain is capable of accomplishing incredible things with its capacity for creativity and curiosity. The fact that we can create musical melodies from scratch, or visualize skyscrapers way outside of our human scale, or design and problem solve using complex coding and technology amazes me every day. Creativity is how we got here. It is how we continue to push the envelope, learn, and improve. As a Junior Architect, I have so much appreciation for creating and designing, as well as recognizing and appreciating the finer details within the big ideas, patterns, relationships and tangibly beautiful things in our world. I love to memorialize these details through art, and share it with my community. I chose an artistic career because it enables you to better appreciate the small nuances of our world, both built and natural, and how we interact with it. Read more>>

Angelica Mendoza | Producer/DJ

Growing up in a family brimming with creative energy, I was fortunate to have multiple avenues for self-expression, with music being the most prominent. From a tender age, the melodious tunes of my mother’s voice and the gentle strumming of my father’s guitar enveloped my world. The tradition stretched back even further, to the lullabies of my great grandmother that serenaded me to sleep. Read more>>

Sarah Belkner | Song writer, performer and music producer

I’ve always wanted to sing and create since I can remember. Anytime I saw someone perform as a kid I just knew that was what I wanted to do as it enthralled me so much and this excitement would wash over me. The fact that you could do that as a career has always felt like such a ‘crack the code’ moment. To actually do what you love for a living is really a great privilege. I remember when I was a teenager my brother took me over to his friends house he was dropping something off too and he was there just working on some music in the middle of the day and I thought that seemed like such a great way to spend your time. I can’t remember why I was off school that day but realising that’s what that person had been doing all day while I was at school was very impressionable. I now know it’s not always like that – at home creating music all day ha ha but it is sometimes and when it is it’s fantastic. Read more>>

Kevin Kabore | Photographer and digital creator

My parents were musicians and the ended up becoming documentarians making and producing films videos. So I always knew it was possible there has been a camera in my hand for a long time. Read more>>

Madison Munoz | Couples + Elopement / Wedding Photographer

I want to touch as many lives as I can. I want to leave people with beautiful timeless portraits they can reflect on for many many years to come.
The value of a photograph is something irreplaceable. Unbeatable. I want to look back on all my years, sessions, and stories I captured and remember every single moment in between each image. Read more>>

Layli Johnson | Entrepreneur

I have always been an Artist at heart, constantly making things of all medias thru out my life. I started my business journey after becoming a mother of two girls close in age in 2021 thru covid. I needed an Outlet for my Mental health and to help support my family finically. I started making earrings and selling them at the Colorado Mile High Flea Market when i met a few individuals about vending and market opportunities. In just a short period of time Metal Morphic Studios was born. I am a Woman of many skills and traits and did not want to conform to societies small box. My business name has many meanings, i am a Silversmith/wire wrapper, metamorphic rocks are my favorite type of rock, i am a metal head who is constantly morphing and ever evolving with my art. There was so much trial and error learning the ins and outs of vending, collecting supplies, managing a website and finding ethical taxidermy work from other indigenous people across the world if not from me. In March 2024 i celebrated the start of the 3rd year anniversary of creating my business, reminiscing on this long, beautiful journey looking at how much i have grown and achieved. when you run a small business alone you realize that you have to acquire skills you didn’t even know you would need, website design, photography, shipping, and product quality. You take one thing at a time and learn new skills. having a positive and happy attitude, you can accomplish anything!! I want everyone to know that the medicine i create comes from a long line of Mayan white light mixed with my personal touch, how the teachings of our ancestors and what we know today combine to help heal the soul. I am excited to share Ethical animal medicine, giving new life to something so sacred that has walked among us, to give it a new life after death. I love to create for fun and for a meaningful purpose. I get into full regalia and weave my dreamcatchers in new moon or full moon energy only listening to Maya Taan chanting to fully channel the medicine i put into my work in hopes to heal others. I want people to know that when they buy from me or support my small business in anyway that i can help bring awareness to the resilience of the Mayan people, it is my duty to show love and support keeping these cultures alive in education and unity! Read more>>

Courtney Mathis | CEO of Cannabis Doing Good, Mom, Outdoor Enthusiast and Poetry Lover

CDG has been around for almost a decade. That’s saying quite a lot considering cannabis is so volatile. It’s like being knee deep in mud most days. And while I’m so proud that we have survived the turbulence, I honor the most – that we have left a fingerprint of Impact in our ecosystem – winning awards, flying all over the country to stages from the West to East coasts, influencing business operations for brands everywhere, and demonstrating that Doing Good is actually good for business. Read more>>