As I listened to Gina Simone, the little singer in me came alive. I was so interested in Gina’s story because somehow, she was able to make her passion for art her livelihood. Even though the performing arts is not the only thing Gina does, art does take precedence in her life and she is able to use her abilities to earn a living. I admire this because I too at one point in my life wanted to become an artist. When I was a child, I would sing everywhere I went, which would annoy many of the people around me. At one point, I had dreams of becoming a singer and thought I would serenade the American Idol judges with my rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. As I got older, I was told that I couldn’t be a singer and I had to find something else to do when I grew up. Eventually, I discovered the world of visual art and fell in love with painting and drawing. At one point, I was a self-proclaimed “color expert” because of how I could mix and match colors in an aesthetically pleasing way. I would always doodle and sketch on papers, even schoolwork. This of course was met with ire from my teachers, and after being scolded one too many times about my doodles, I slowly stopped drawing. Eventually, I stopped dreaming of becoming an artist because I was also told that there wasn’t any money to be made in the art world, and STEM is the way to go. Looking back, I wished I pushed back on the criticisms and continued to create art, because to this day, creating art is still something I thoroughly enjoy. Now with social media, it is so easy to make money with art. Someone always needs a new print, painting, sculpture, or anything in between and so many people make money by selling their art online, or performing and making music as a side job, like Gina. Listening to Gina made me wonder if it’s too late for me to explore art as a career again, even if it’s something on the side. She seemed so happy and passionate about performing and I admire how she balanced both her left-brained and right-brained sides when it came to her livelihood.