We asked some of the most creative folks we know to open up to us about why they chose a creative career path. Check out their responses below.

Kayleigh Farr (Bryceland) | Western Slope Family Photographer

I’ve always been a highly artistic and creative person, it just changes form through time. I’ve painted, I’ve wrote poetry, I’ve went through so many avenues of self expression but I’ve found that photography really grasped me as more than just a passing passion. Once motherhood hit me in my early twenties, I felt like I lost all time for myself as an individual, and with the sleep deprivation came the loss of who I was as a person at my core. All moms will understand that one, trying to realize who you are again in this new body and with your new calling. Read more>>

Nathaniel Riley | Folk Singer-Songwriter

Well, I decided when I was young I would be doing this. I just always needed to have a way to express the intense multifaceted relationship I have with my life. Playing music helps me sort out a lot of different things, the process of writing lyrics especially helps. Songwriting is total catharsis for me, someone can have something that can be so emotionally upheaving then imagine and create a soundscape that often times for me, ends up being a gentle liberation. This connection I have had my entire life and it came quickly. What matters most to me is being honest in my writing. Read more>>

Personify Cosplay | Cosplayer & Streamer

I am a creative person by nature. I find that if I am not being creative often that I start to feel like my soul is starting to decay. Finding a creative path for me that was something I could do on my own and incorporate my love for stories and characters lead me to cosplay and I have never looked back. Read more>>

Armando Martinez | Artist

Art is everywhere, life itself is art. It amazes me what can be created from just an idea. I love to work with all mediums of art, and there is no lack of outcomes when it comes to art. Why did I pursue an artistic path? To express myself in my art, to express freedom, and to spread peace in my work. Read more>>

Don Ruth | Graphic Designer, Fine Artist

I have been “doing” art since I was five years old. I found out early on that I was good at drawing. While in middle school whenever we did still life drawing or drawing people in art class, I realized I could do it pretty well and I received affirmations from those around me. When in high school, although I was an athlete, I also participated in the arts in a big way–choir and art classes. It was in those art classes in high school that I realized I wanted to be in art somehow. So, in college I earned a fine arts degree with a business minor. Read more>>

Lindsey Pyle | Fortune Wallet Inventor Extraordinaire, Ranchhand, Muralist

I never would have thought that I would still be in love with what I do all these years later. My sister @Casey_made envisioned opening a small women’s boutique while we were in New Jersey working as servers at a pizzeria. We opened our little shop in 2009 on the (sometimes gritty) side streets of Asbury Park, NJ. Read more>>

TaiTai Sa-Ra | Tattooist & Visual Artist

I decided to pursue an artistic career since I grew up always creating and having a broad imagination. I first started drawing when I was around 6 or 7 years old using old CDs to create face shapes on paper. From that point forward I continued to participate in activities that would grow my skills as an artist. Back then I never considered myself an artist, more so just a kid that enjoyed doing something new and using art to communicate my emotions. My uncle would have to be one of my major motivators since he was also an artist and I wanted to further that legacy in my family. Read more>>

Amy Conte1 | Shuffle Dance Instructor

Ultimately, I started to turn my passion (shuffle dance) into my career when Covid-19 hit. I went from working full-time to having all the time in the world (I lost my job, along with many others.) At first, I was terrified. I didn’t know what I was going to do. But I realized I had the one thing that I never had in order to turn my art into a career, and that was time. Time was all I needed to conceptualize what my classes would look like, to market myself, and to finally put what I genuinely wanted to do first! Read more>>

Sven Quinn | Producer/Artist

About 15 years ago I was a resident Dj and loved playing Tiesto and Benny Benassi and kept thinking how do I make those sounds. After trying a few DAWs of the time I got a little taken back on how extremely complicated it was. Fast forward a few years and I finally decided to learn how and got a degree in Audio Engineering. While I was learning I had created my persona Foba Bett and have been moving forward and expanding sound design knowledge to the fullest. I have lots to offer and I want the world to hear it. Read more>>

Adriana Wicker | Portrait & Freelance Photographer

I am pursuing an artistic and creative career in photography because every time I have attempted something more conventional, I spent the entire time fantasizing about being a professional photographer. This is the art and the career I have always come back to, whether I was planning on it or not. Read more>>

Mariah Mayhugh | Epilepsy warrior and advocate, author, Miss El Paso County 2022

I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was seven years old. Like most kids with a chronic condition, this left a lot of time for books and movies on the days I was in the hospital or was resting in bed. For awhile, I thought I wanted to pursue a career as a nurse, since I had been surrounded by wonderful nurses growing up. But after living with epilepsy, I realized that the one thing I really needed as a kid was to see that I wasn’t alone. To read books with characters like me and to see neurodiverse girls in movies. Read more>>

Tyler Rust | Musician & Songwriter

I really didn’t ever think I would pursue an artistic or creative career. I sort of just stumbled upon it by accident. I took piano lessons when I was a child then didn’t touch and instrument again until I was 20. I got into a bad accident at work my junior year of college and was laid up for a few months so I decided to pick up my older brothers guitar and teach myself. Also, my girlfriend at the time was an incredible musician and songwriter so I suppose I was trying to impress her as well. But I never thought I would turn it into a career. It was about a year after I started playing that our bass player, Jake Statler, talked me in to playing a “small” gig with him. Read more>>

Stephanie Jordan | Potter/Maker

Creativity runs through the veins of my family and goes back as far as I can remember.. It has shown up in different ways through different people. Some painters, others musicians, writers or makers. Creators in so many forms have a way of making an impact on your life. I remember even as a little kid always wanting to make things out of nothing. I wanted to create and use my hands to do so. I didn’t understand it as a kid but as I’ve grown to understand who I am as a person and developed my own beliefs I’ve realized this desire to create was in my since I, myself was made and it’s been developed through all the people that have been placed in my life and the experiences that I have had. Read more>>

Amber Sutherland | Actor & Director

I have always been a very artistic and creative person. Performing was something I loved from a very young age. I was the kid putting on plays and performances for my friends and family, starting vocal groups with the neighborhood kids, acting on stage both in adult and kids shows. That passion has never died, but continued to grow stronger. Throughout life I have never stopped acting, I explored the worlds of TV, film and modeling. Read more>>

Yasong Wang | Yasong Wang | Filmmaker, director & producer

I graduated with a degree of BFA (Cum Laude) in Film & TV Production, College of Arts & Media, University of Colorado Denver (UCD) and currently am a graduate student of the MFA in cinema program at San Francisco State University. I have been enthusiastic about arts since childhood. To add more color to my school life I participated in a series of art competitions and won several awards in middle school. Read more>>