Hannah Montana, High School Musical, Wizards of Waverly Place, The Cheetah Girls -- they were all shows played on Disney Channel that inspired me to be creative and go after my dreams as a little girl.

Seeing Hannah Montana singing on stage, rocking out, and living “the dream,” I was inspired to go and get that for myself. I loved how on Hannah Montana, she was able to express herself through music. I appreciated how High School Musical taught me that it’s okay to pursue passions that are different from “the norm.” The Cheetah Girls taught me that you can come from the bottom and have nothing, but if you work hard you can get to where you want to go with support from your friends and family.

I related to the problems that the characters in these shows went through. As a little elementary student, I always wondered what I should do when people were mean to me at recess, or what should I do to study for a test that is really hard. I looked up to these actresses and actors. When Miley Stewart decided to write a song to pass her anatomy test, I wrote a song to pass my math test.

Disney shows taught me that it’s okay to dream, and that you should believe in yourself, even when no one else believes in you. Some people might say that watching these shows was a waste of my childhood, but I will always say that these shows allowed me to explore my own talents and creative abilities. I would always memorize lines in the shows, act them out, and design my own clothes that looked similar to theirs.

When I heard them say funny or witty jokes, I started coming up with my own.

They believed in family and helping people, and I started to believe in that, too. The music in the shows influenced me the most. I spent hours at my best friend's house planning, directing, and orchestrating “concerts” in her basement. I would dance the choreography I made, I would sing all of Hannah Montana’s songs, and I would even pretend to be a celebrity.

These were such fun times when I genuinely felt like I was doing things I loved. When I look back at my childhood, I wasn’t studying, I wasn’t getting hauled around to sports, I wasn’t being forced to do things that contradicted my passions, and I wasn't even spending hours in front of the television. I was taking what I learned in these shows, and taking the lessons to a deeper ground. I watched each show sincerely and got emotionally involved. I am an artist because I grew up watching artists, and allowed myself to be inspired into action.