My journey into the world of art competitions began when I was in fifth grade.

I always had a knack for art projects and enjoyed creating pieces that went above and beyond what guidelines required. I distinctly remember having an assignment in which we were to create a marionette puppet out of model magic, of anyone we admired. I chose to recreate Paul McCartney from the Beatles because, at the time, they were my favorite band- thanks to both my Mom and Dad for giving me a taste of classic rock. My teacher Olivia Beens had submitted my puppet to an annual city-wide competition in New York City called PS Art.

To my surprise, my marionette had been chosen to be a part of the art exhibition on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Additionally, my school had a partnership with the National Dance Institute, specifically focusing on memorializing John Lennon. We had a tee-shirt drawing contest, which I entered and was ecstatic to learn that everyone in my grade would be performing with shirts designed by me. Since I have been encapsulated in a spitfire of creative ideas and endeavors.

I had my artwork on the walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art four additional times (PS Art and Scholastic Arts and Writing National Competition) and have been recognized on local, regional, and national levels. As a young artist, my dedication and persistence have been fundamental parts of my artistic success thus far.

Let's fast forward to my high school experience. I attended LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts specializing in visual arts. During my late high school years, I decided to put myself and my artwork into real-world environments.

I had no idea what was coming to me. I eagerly entered and inquired to various organizations and contests to see how my work could get noticed. Little did I know, I would be humbled to have my work chosen out of hundreds of submissions to be hung in hedge fund offices such as Lions Eye Capitals, Soroban Capital Partners, Arts Connection's office and several others.

I was lucky enough to have my pieces hung in these offices for a year and then another round of pieces for the following year. I would constantly be approached by other art students wondering about how my work was in so many different venues. The answer was simple. Internet research on scholarships of all kinds relating to art and interacting with professors who knew about niche competitions.

After submitting many photographs to Arts Connections for their student art contests, I became a friendly yet ambitious face to the adults on the judging panel. One of my favorite and most successful photographs, titled "Self Portrait", has been displayed in a hedge fund office in Midtown, New York City and had been bought by Arts Connection for its Annual Gala two years in a row. I had the honor of being a guest at the 2016 Gala where my work was chosen to be gifted to the guest comedian of the night, Sarah Silverman.

After meeting the famous actress, I could not help but smile, as my heart filled with aspirations and excitement. While this was nowhere near the end, I had begun to enjoy the mystery of competitions, not being able to interact with the judging panel and being pleasantly surprised. That wasn’t the end of my success during my senior year of high school.

I eagerly dropped off my 16x20 portfolio, resume and artist bio, at the MOMA with an optimistic attitude toward another city-wide competition, but this time more was at stake. There was a very slim probability that my artwork would be one of seven students chosen by the Daedalus Foundation to have a gallery space in Industry City, Sunset Park, NYC.

I knew hundreds of other students would be applying for this tremendously generous scholarship. The turnaround for the jurors to review the work was less than a day. I frantically called my classmates the following day wondering if they could pick my work up but I was beyond delighted to hear that my work could not be picked up because it was chosen to be included in the exhibition!

After high school, I began to enter competitions that were open to students in college and artists at armature and profession levels internationally.

I had entered a competition for Celestron, a telescope company before graduating. I anxiously waited a month for the submission deadline, my heart began to beat as I opened my email to see in big letters, "CONGRATULATIONS" from the Celestron Moon Walk Committee.

I donated a photograph which was going to be up for auction at the Gala August 18th, 2016, with celebrity icons Bill Nye, John Stamos and many more. I was beyond honored to participate in the art show which exhibited only thirty artists internationally. After the event, I donated my photograph to CelestronTelescopes which is now hanging up in the Head Quarters in LA. As mentioned before, the amounts of grants, scholarships, and contests are usually somewhere on the internet, it just takes a little extra time and investigation.

While my journey entering art competitions has been extremely invigorating and brought me a tremendous amount of success, there have been many competitions that I have entered and been disappointed that my work was not included. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has supported me and granted me the experience of having my work in professional venues.

Because of this, I have been able to grow my creative network due to my determination to better my artistic career path and my pursuit of photography. To anyone that’s looking to make a little extra money, or even to get their work recognized by others, take ten minutes to search for scholarships that are major, hobby or personal interest specific.

I guarantee if you enter it, you may be pleasantly surprised, and if you don’t make it this time, you will next time!