You’re working hard, things are going well, piece by piece you’ve built a life you are proud of, you’ve overcome obstacles and challenges, beat the odds and then you find yourself at the center of an unexpected dilemma – do you risk it all to keep growing? What if growing means leaving the job you worked so hard to get or the industry you worked so hard to break into? How we approach risk often has a huge bearing on our journey and so we’ve asked some of the brightest folks we know to share stories of risks they’ve taken.
Jose Araujo Martinez
My life has always been about taking risks. I came to the U.S. from Mexico at just two years old, and for years, I lived as an undocumented immigrant. Growing up, I had to navigate a world where work meant being paid under the table and every day was a struggle to make ends meet. But everything changed when I found tattooing. At 15, I picked up my first tattoo machine and fell in love with the craft, but it was far from easy. In the beginning, I practiced on anyone willing to give me a shot, often making mistakes and learning the hard way. There were times when I felt like I was ruining people’s skin, but I kept going, determined to improve. Tattooing was my passion, but I still had to support myself through odd jobs, many of which had nothing to do with art. Even when I wasn’t making money from tattooing, I refused to quit. Read more>>
Theresa Lennahan
When I started my creative agency, it was a huge leap of faith—not just for me, but for my family. I was leaving behind the stability of a full-time job at an agency. It was walking away from a steady paycheck, profit sharing, and vacation days—all the comforts that come with full-time employment. But deep down, I knew I wasn’t happy. I was not in a place that was nurturing my growth and the agency owners that didn’t value my skill set. The paycheck wasn’t enough to ignore the fact that my values didn’t align with my employer’s. Read more>>
Denise Arruda
I believe that taking risks as an entrepreneur is a must. Every little step to growth is a risk! My most recent risk was rebranding my business. I just rebranded from DA Creative Studio to The Brand Mob, and for me it was a HUGE step that I needed to take. I’ve had the rebrand in mind for a couple of months. I wanted to give a new face to my brand, as I am adding some new services and I didn’t feel my old branding represented the whole business anymore. But with the rebranding comes the fear, “what if people don’t like it?”, “what if my existing audience doesn’t feel represented by this new brand?”, it was really important for me to realize that I was rebranding to target my ideal client! Read more>>
Estee Dvora
One of the most significant risks I’ve taken was the leap of faith in creating CleanLifestyle. My journey began after my diagnosis with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that initially left me feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. As a young mother with three kids, I often put my own health on the back burner. It wasn’t until my youngest was two that I truly started to research autoimmunity and realized how much our diet and lifestyle influenced my health. Read more>>
Dawn Smith-theodore
I grew up in my Mother’s dance studio in a small town in Ohio. My Mother was the first choreographer for the Cincinnati Ben Gal Cheerleaders. She ran a successful business and I began working for her when I was 10 years old. I worked at the front desk and eventually taught for her. I never wanted to own a dance studio, but after I finished dancing professionally, I was not ready to let dance go. I decided to do what I had always said I would not do and open a dance studio. I lived in Calabasas and there was no dance studio there so I began the search for the perfect space. I wanted a small, family oriented studio where each child was special and they received the attention they deserved. I found the perfect spot in a new strip mall. I signed a 10 year lease with no students and no doubt that it would succeed. Read more>>
Nicholas White
Who doesn’t love a good risk? Especially with graffiti art photography in South Central L.A., risk is everywhere! Working within this risky activity can be great practice for success personally and professionally. Accepting risk is the fun part of looking for opportunities because it helps give shape to finding out what’s needed in the world. Feeling the need to take professional risks can be an internal reminder to shake up things. If a risk feels as though it’s building towards something, even if people don’t approve, the risk should probably be continued. Read more>>
Anina Dimatteo
Risks aren’t always linear. Often times a decision that an artist makes have results that aren’t seen for months or years after the initial decision was made. I feel myself being in the middle of quite a few risks, but also on the other side of unexpected power moves. 7 years ago I started my performance art journey, being that I was only 16 you could consider that to be a risk in itself , I’m young and impressionable, really just having fun and experimenting with music, but I’d rather highlight the past 2 years in my artist journey. Read more>>
Mary Booth
The biggest risk I have ever taken was when I decided to move to Nashville, TN. I grew up in a very small town in Western New York called Wayland. We had two traffic lights and minimal food options. My graduating class was about 150 students. However, we had kids from about 5 different nearby towns attend our school to even reach that number. Our closest mall was about 45 minutes away and the nearest cities were an hour to an hour and a half away. Read more>>
Michael Sartain
I was working in a nightclub, and I had a degree. I watched 9/11 happen, and I saw several of my fraternity brothers join the military right after it occurred. They just wanted to serve their country, and it was one of those things that felt right to me. I didn’t even ask my parents; I just joined. It took me a year and a half to get in. Well, more like a year and four months to get in. I wish there was a more complicated answer. It just felt like the right thing to do at the time.Oh, but it’s probably the best decision I ever made. I got to serve in the U.S. military for seven years. Read more>>
Scott Waldman
I moved to LA in 2003 with three grand, my guitar, bass, and a LOT of band t-shirts. I had just graduated from The University of Michigan a few months prior and decided to try my luck as a performer in the music industry, as it was my true love despite its challenges… and it worked. I signed with Columbia Records one year and three months after moving here, and it was very validating. Read more>>
Heather Thompson
Taking the Leap: How Joining Monat Changed My Life When I first encountered the idea of joining Monat and becoming a part of their beauty business, I was terrified. I’m the kind of person who prefers staying in the background, content with a quieter life. I’m an introvert to the core, and the thought of putting myself out there, selling products, and connecting with people was completely outside of my comfort zone. Taking a risk of this magnitude was not something I took lightly. But sometimes, it’s the unexpected moments that push us into taking the leap. Read more>>
Jack Mccafferty
I feel like the only way to get ahead in the film industry is to take risks. To bet on yourself. If you’re not willing to bet it all on yourself, then why would anyone else? This was my thinking when I set out to make my first feature film, Dreaming of You. I have never had a lot of money. For the most part, I would work just enough to afford to make a small project that would take up a lot of my time. Then after the pandemic hit, I found myself in an odd situation. I had weirdly been one of the few people who actually got a better job than I had prior to the world shutting down. It was a contract gig, but once it ended, I suddenly had more money than I ever had before. Not a lot by most people’s standards, but certainly more than I was used to having. Read more>>
Evelyn & Ryan Frankel
Opening a business always comes with risks, especially one with a stigma like selling secondhand clothes—particularly in a city known for luxury and high-end fashion. But as the saying goes, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,’ and success often requires taking calculated risks. When we decided to launch our first retail venture, we knew it would take hard work and perseverance to break into the market. We started small, opening in a warehouse district to keep overhead low while we tested the waters. That decision paid off, and before long, we expanded to a mall location, further proving our concept’s viability. Our journey has since led us to Little River, where we’ve established Mids Market—a testament to our belief in sustainable fashion and making secondhand clothing accessible and trendy for everyone. Read more>>
Sherri Anne Aka Sister Speak
After graduating from Northwestern University something happened to me when I saw Missy Higgins perform in Chicago. I was completely inspired, and felt compelled to share original music. As some music opportunities came through in Chicago, I gave notice to my work and set on for my first tour: home to BC with two suitcases and a guitar. The next ten years would be some of the most exciting, exhausting, testing, and character building moments of my life. In 2012, after recovering from a serious injury, I made the choice to pursue original music fully and it was one of the most intense risks I ever made in my life. This meant no more predominantly “cover song” concerts. While “cover shows” helped fund project, I could not emotionally sustain them. I learned that if I played more original music concerts, it let to more original concerts with sustainable budgets. Read more>>
Addison Chandler
On April 24th of this year, I released a single from an album I’ve been chipping away at ever since my junior year of high school called “It Cloudy”. Going into it, I had this whole plan laid out about how I’d perfectly divide my time so that I’d have the full project out before I became a sophomore- alongside some very lofty ambitions to launch a hand-made clothing line and full-length short film (comprised of music videos) to accompany the album. Instead, I found myself spending most of my time playing bass in this band called the 529’s and feeding a borderline-unhealthy obsession with table tennis. Read more>>
Evan Vang
My name is Evan Vang. I am a first-generation mixed Hmong-American from Virginia Beach. My mother is a native of the Hampton Roads area, which my aunt tells me goes back multiple generations, from Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. My father and his family came from Thailand’s refugee camps between 1978 and 1979. They had been displaced there from the wars in Laos. It is an unfortunate history that many do not know much about. The long and short of it would be that the Vietnam War was pushing into the country of Laos. The Hmong People, who are recognized as the minority in Laos, also the Hill People, had become allies armed by the U.S., facilitated by C.I.A. operatives and led by General Vang Pao to help fallen American soldiers and pilots in the region. When the war ended, Nixon pulled out the support in Laos for the Hmong people. The Laos Democratic Republic and the Vietcong allied and organized to eradicate the Hmong people from their countries. This led to years of genocide and re-education of Hmong people in the region. Through a harsh jungle-like terrain and fear of soldiers, my Grandfather had traded off all belongings, and any income he had to travel and bride through with our Grandmother, Uncles, and my father were able to make it to the refugee camp in Thailand. Read more>>
Janice Mclean Deloatch
Risk-Taking is not for the Faint of Heart! My journey with risk taking is that I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and small business owners so to me this is second nature. This is also what leads me on the path of many small risk that is a culmination to a big risk that has lifted and documented women’s history in music. Purely by accident. My parents owned a small (soul food) restaurant. My father also owned a taxi-cab that he worked on the weekends and worked at Bethlehem Steel Full-Time when the steel mills were popular in the inner cities. As a youth I learned firsthand what it takes to run a small business, by watching my parents with the restaurant daily and from my job as the potato chip rack filler and soda machine filler. (Mostly-my niece and I ate and drank more of the potato chips and sodas than we actually filled on the racks and in the case). Read more>>
Cm Smith
In April of 2019, I lost my dad. It was fast, it was unexpected, and it was a shock to everyone who knew him. I was always a lifelong reader. I read everything from fluffy to the encyclopedias my grandma had. But losing my dad pulled my focus in. I needed an escape. I didn’t want politics or world-solving. Honestly, I didn’t want anything that I had to focus really hard on. Game of Thrones would have to wait. I didn’t have the capacity for the volume of character names. I wanted something happy, even if it made me cry. Enter romance books. I’d read them before, they’d be shared with the Anne Rice, John Saul, and Stephen King books on my shelf. But I went deep down the well. In the last eight months of that year, I think I read almost four hundred books. In October of that year, I left my career of twenty-three years in higher education to focus on travel. I had been an agent with a wonderful company part-time for a few years, and the end of 2019 was looking way up. Read more>>
Renee Royal
Before I landed in advertising, I was a TV journalist in Charleston, South Carolina. Being a journalist was the only thing I had wanted to do since I was in middle school. I went to college for broadcast news and immediately had a job after graduation. I packed up my belongings and moved my life to Charleston. I covered all sorts of stories from politics to crime to feel good features. It was exhilarating and I felt that it was a culmination of years of hard work and dedication. Then the luster started to wear off. I noticed that I didn’t like who I was becoming in this role. The stories were getting harder to cover and I realized I didn’t want to do it anymore. But I had an identity problem that I needed to face. Journalism was all I had ever known and I didn’t know who I was if I wasn’t in that field any longer. Read more>>
Jade The Hbic
Taking the risk of moving from New York City to Los Angeles was a significant leap for me. At 20 years old, I made this move alone and without a detailed plan beyond just relocating. I made the decision quickly, packing my bags and leaving home within two weeks, and I only informed my family a week before leaving. My friends found out when my mom and sister organized a surprise going-away party three days before my departure. I’ve always believed in taking risks, making leaps of faith, and trusting the process. Sometimes, overthinking and fear can prevent us from making decisions. Every choice we make involves risk, whether it’s something small, like riding a motorcycle, or something big, like moving to a new city. We never truly know the outcome, which is what makes it a risk. Read more>>
Anna Del Amor
I never was a risk taker. I grew up in the conventional school system aiming to please by doing the “right” thing. My path was clearly laid out for me by mainstream society – graduate high school with outstanding accolades to be accepted into the best university, graduate university with honors to be hired into a prosperous career, marry, welcome children into the world, and work until retirement. Risks didn’t seem to yield much reward at that time when the way life was meant to be lived was so apparent. Though, a year into university, I found myself broken, depressed, and unsure about life itself. Something needed to change. After weeks of contemplation, I realized I needed a break from school – I needed change. Lists of pros and cons of leaving versus staying in school covered my journal pages; the cons of leaving were few and the pros many. And yet, the official withdrawal decision required total surrender and trust in myself. More than a risk, this was a leap of faith into a new way of being that was simply a mystery to me at the time. Read more>>
Grisel Y. Acosta
When I first moved to New York City from Chicago in 1999, I fully planned on becoming a public school educator, as New York had a reciprocity agreement with educators certified in Illinois. However, it quickly became clear that my path was directing me toward being part of the creative writing community in New York. After several attempts at teaching were thwarted by bureaucratic chaos, I found myself at a poetry reading in Harlem, where I placed literally all of my hope. That hope was well-placed. I met many poets who were part of or inspired by the Nuyorican movement, and they were incredibly supportive of me and my work. At one point, I found myself with no place to live, no steady work, and no friends in the area, but my positive experience at this poetry reading made me feel that I was onto something. I eventually found a job that could support a cheap apartment in New Jersey, and I quickly made friends in the poetry world. I placed a lot of faith in my dream of being a writer because I had received feedback from my professors and from my new poet friends that this is what I was meant to do. I stayed in the New York area and everything I’ve built since then started at that poetry reading in Harlem. I am so happy I made the decision to stay and become a writer instead of going back to Chicago defeated. Now, I am both a professor and writer, and it is perfect for me. Read more>>
Danni Lee Parpan
In May of 2021, after taking a few years off from making music to focus on building my creative production company, I decided it was time to start again. I had just written a handful of songs and I was planning on recording an album that fall when a pinched nerve in my neck sent me to the doctor for an MRI. My neck was fine, but they found an unrelated large mass on my thyroid. After a biopsy I learned that I had thyroid cancer and would need to get a thyroidectomy which would make it so I could not sing for 6 months to a year. I was crushed thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to sing or perform or worse the slim chance that something would happen during surgery that would permanently effect my vocal cords. Against the recommendation of my surgeon, I decided to push surgery off for a few months, let go of all of my clients, and focus solely on music. For the entire summer I said yes to everything that had to do with music, and no to everything and anything that didn’t. In that short span of time, I recorded and released an entire album, booked my dream venue for my album release, and met my now partner in both life and music, Caroline Shaw. It was a huge risk and one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. I’m happy to say that nearly three years later I am still cancer free and still saying yes to everything music. Read more>>
Karen Brown
I’ve traded in my small business and house in to live on a sailboat. Oh and I have cancer. Talk about risky. Did I mention I dragged two cats and a toddler along? Fun times ahead! I have been a practicing licensed aesthetician for 12 years and a business owner for 7 of those, giving 4-6 days per week with clients anywhere from 8-12 hours not including the side work. Did I mention that I have a major in aesthetics and a minor in laundry? I would set alarms throughout the night and change laundry over, then fold fold fold any chance I had. You drink coffee and read, I drink coffee and fold. We didn’t have space for machines back then and couldn’t afford a laundry service so…make it happen, ya know. The world must keep turning and no one waits for a beauty treatment. And often times Sundays are reserved for maintenance and cleaning because that’s the only real day we’re closed. Read more>>
Jillianne Bartholomew
You know that saying “life’s too short”? As cliche as it sounds, it’s so very true. Life IS too short, so take risks while you can. Every good adventure starts with a risk. If it scares you, then it’s the one that will help you grow, one way or another. Born and raised in a small town in Ohio, I’ve always dreamed about leaving and living my life outside of the cornfields I grew up by. Fast forward to the summer of 2021, I got a taste of life in the mountains. While visiting family in Priest Lake, Idaho, I quickly fell in love with the feeling that place gave me. This trip happened right after my engagement fell through, so it was truly a breath of fresh air. I got the chance to clear my head and figure out my next life path, all while being surrounded by what my soul craved. Shortly after that trip, an opportunity to move out west presented itself to me. I sat on this opportunity for nine months… After all that time, it was still on my mind, so I knew the risk was worth taking. I was scared, but felt in my bones that it would be life-changing. The event to drive me to my final decision was losing my grandfather right before Christmas in 2021. That man lived such a long and good life, with a plethora of stories, life lessons and adventures. His passing reminded me, again, that life’s too short. It was then that I knew what I truly wanted. Read more>>
Tiffany Loe
Growing up my mom would always say “you are such a risk taker” and I never really understood that because I hate heights with a passion and would prefer to stay very far away from potential dangerous encounters. However, as I grow older I now understand what she meant by this. One of the largest risks I have ever taken was one week prior to Covid 19 coming to shut the entire world down. One week prior to Covid I was taking one of the largest steps I had ever taken in my career, salon ownership. I was dotting I’s and crossing T’s to sign my very first 3 year lease on a commercial property. At this time I was a full time single working mom to a beautiful 2 year old boy. When I thought of the name to my salon it felt like a no brainer. Christian Michael Salon, the name of my first son at the time. One week later my entire world came crashing down. I was hit with a HUGE wall, Covid 19. I was absolutely terrified, thinking “what does this mean?”, “how long will we be closed?”. The word scared was an understatement, however I chose to move forward in the mist of all the chaos. Read more>>
Arrie Simpson
Taking risks has been a constant theme in my life, and it’s been tied closely to defining moments. From sports to career changes, I’ve always been willing to take bold steps. For example, in college, I initially decided not to play tennis, but something in me said to just try out. I missed the regular process of sending videos and applying, but I walked on and made the team. It was one of the best decisions I made. Then, later in life, taking the risk of stopping my previous career and shifting into counseling was a huge leap. I thought I was headed in one direction, and now I’m doing something completely different. When I moved to Illinois, I took the risk of being upfront in all my job interviews by telling them I wanted to start my own practice. That’s something I shared from the beginning, and it was a non-negotiable for me. People either liked it or didn’t, but it didn’t stop me from speaking my truth. Even with my certifications, like being a certified sex addiction therapist, I’ve encountered resistance. That’s another risk I’ve taken, just being open about who I am and what I’m passionate about, even if it makes some people uncomfortable. Read more>>
Joachim Rygg
Moving from a small town in little Norway to Los Angeles: Back in Norway, after some early success with my music, I found myself standing on the edge of a decision that could change everything. My then girlfriend—she saw it before I did. “I know this might sound crazy,” she said one day, “but you HAVE to move to Los Angeles. Your music needs a bigger market than Norway’s five million people.” It hit me like a wave. Deep down, I knew she was right. I had been talking about LA for years, and after she heard my latest songs, she really gave me the push I needed. “Go,” she said. I couldn’t ignore it anymore. And just like that, the dream shifted into reality.But LA wasn’t just a city—it was a mystery. Coming from a small town, my only real idea of it came from movies and books, the glittering promise of the American dream. Sure, I had toured the U.S. as a teenager, but this was different; it was a full-blown relocation and becoming a part of a different culture. This was pre-social media, pre-Instagram, and I had no guide. No Norwegians I knew had done this before, and the path was foggy, filled with unknowns. So the only solution was to take a short solo “research” trip to LA before moving there. Read more>>
Akeer Martin
The risk I took was starting my crochet fashion brand. I was very scared and nervous because I had no clue where to start so google and a couple of people that I know in the business world helped me. I knew I had dreams and the vision but me being a semi- shy person, I had to step out of my shell and say to myself “Ok Akeer there’s only one way to find out”. My business is starting to get recognized and it’s growing. All because I put fear behind me. If you never step out there, you’ll never know. Read more>>
Deanna Wardin
Very early into my tattoo career, my mentor, Mez, very casually asked me if I wanted to open a tattoo shop in San Francisco. Just as casually as Mez had asked, I answered with a yes. The next shift I came in with a stack of research about the market in San Francisco, how to write a business plan and the steps to open a business in the area. Mez responded with an “Oh shit, are we really going to do this?” We got our other co-worker and my now husband, Chris Henry, onboard. This was the start of what is now our 14th year of business at Tattoo Boogaloo in North Beach, San Francisco. We all moved in together with two other folks. We had community savings and every spare dollar any one of us had we put in tapped off cardboard tubes. It didn’t matter who put more money in the fund, we all had a common goal, and we all pitched in what we could. Once our business plan was ready, we were able to get a modest loan from my family to get started, which was quite an unexpected surprise. Read more>>
Poca Nova
Hello. My name is Poca Nova. I’m a music artist from Birmingham, Alabama. Life are full of risks. You have to stop being scared of the unknown and jump. That one move you are afraid to take may be the one to change your life forever. I myself had to take many risks in life. I moved to Dallas, Texas with only 1,000 dollars. I had no family or friends here. The first 3 months were the most challenging experiences I had to endure. I’m so glad I conquered because two years later I’m still here and tthriving.My music has grown tremendously, my youtube channel has tripled in numbers and the opportunities are unlimited. The risk was definitely worth the reward. Read more>>
Jessica Vines
I moved to LA by myself in September of 2021. During the lock down, I had a lot of time to reflect on where my career was and where I wanted to go. I realized the pandemic was the perfect restart for me and I decided to take a leap of faith by moving from Fargo, North Dakota to Los Angeles, California once things started to reopen again. I tried to convince my band that had been playing with me for years to move as well, but after a short visit in May of 2021, they decided to either stay in the area or move to other locations. It was really intimating to make such a big move on my own, but I’m so happy I did. I feel like stepping out of my normal routine and forcing myself in a new environment has made me grow in ways I didn’t even know I could grow. I feel like I’ve become a better musician and human. It hasn’t been easy and I miss the Midwest often, but I’m thankful to have taken a risk on myself and for the growth that’s come from it. Read more>>
Sophie Williams
Taking a risk with Aurora Skirts was both exciting and nerve-wracking. As a solo-run dancewear company, my goal was simple: to create bright, beautiful pieces that help ballerinas feel their best in rehearsals and studios. As a dancer myself, I know firsthand how much we rely on that extra boost of confidence. Of course, there’s always fear when starting something new—wondering, will it work? Will people like it? But I focused on creating something I loved and was passionate about. As long as I put attention to detail into every piece and made something I was proud of, I believed there would be a place for it. And that’s how Aurora Skirts took off. One by one, dancers were intrigued by the designs—they were bold, striking, and made a statement. At the end of the day, that’s what we want our dancing to do, so why not start with the wardrobe? Read more>>
Kristal Seldon
The biggest risk I’ve ever taken led me to an entirely new way of life—and a new business. It’s a story you probably haven’t heard before. After years of working the 9-to-5 grind in the corporate world, my husband and I turned a dream into reality and completely transformed our lives. We had always dreamed of sailing around the world, so we researched, planned, and saved meticulously. Taking that big leap into the unknown was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Leaving behind the comfort and security of land life to embrace the unpredictability of the open sea was thrilling, but terrifying at the same time. As things started falling into place, we made some tough choices. We sold our home, our cars, and even my husband’s small business. In exchange, we bought a sailing catamaran and set off on an adventure we’d only imagined. Read more>>
Supa Star Six
When you’re young you’re just a kid with big dreams and aspirations. You don’t know which roads to take, the risk that are involved, and how long it’s gonna take you to get there. I started my journey over 20 years ago and I’m still met with obstacles everyday. I thought I wanted to be just an artist at first because my main focus was the art. Limited resources forced me to think bigger and explore more! While pursuing my dream of becoming the biggest kid rapper in the world, I ended up learning to produce and record music, market, promote and advertise it. All of which Im still doing today and have seen success from it. Read more>>
Emily Bagan
Risk often gets a bad rap, but I see it differently. Sure, there can be downsides, but I’ve always felt that risk is essential to forging your own path. From early on, I knew I wanted to live as freely as possible, which led me to pursue a degree in entrepreneurship. My thinking was that this major would equip me to create a life where my dreams, values, and interests were fully integrated into both my personal and professional life. I knew that would come with significant risk, but I was ready for it. Interestingly, art wasn’t originally part of my plan. For three of my four years in college, I was building a tech startup focused on making sustainable products more accessible. At the same time, I began casually sharing my artwork, never expecting much from it. It wasn’t until my senior year that I seriously considered pursuing art as a career. During my final semester at the University of Tampa, I had a powerful urge to capture the imagery I saw while listening to “Age of Machine” by Greta Van Fleet. I had always experienced vivid visuals when listening to music, but this time, I felt compelled to bring it to life. Read more>>
Chef Jamar Griddine
Hi, my name is chef jamar Griddine . A Kansas City Native, born and raised in Kansas City MO.The risk that I took was pursing my dreams of becoming a celebrity chef. That was difficult. I had to go through trails and tribulations to get to where I am now. But this time it’s different. This Time. I’m Going All IN. Not just for me but for everyone around me. After getting shot, I didn’t think I was going to make it but with God’s Love. He saved me. Now, I am walking and living life. Read more>>
Dalton Corr
I studied Music Theory at NYU and spent about eight years living in New York. I was writing songs, leading a small indie band, scoring films, playing a few shows a month, and working at a record label by day. When the pandemic hit, the band’s momentum came to a halt. It felt like I had lost my chance right as we started moving. Coincidentally, right around that time a friend in L.A. started production on a feature film and asked me to write the score. With the band on hiatus, I decided to move to L.A. for this job, which was wild, considering it would only cover my expenses for about two months. Read more>>
Mario Moore
I think risks are a part of being an artist. While working several jobs in NY, one in which I was the Weekend Program Coordinator, I got offered an opportunity for an artist residency in another state. I had a decision to make, stay at my job or take a leap by going to this artist residency that paid no money but may lead to better opportunities for my career. I chose the artist residency and quit my job. I had no income and no guarantee of any money but I firmly believed in myself as an artist and in God that everything would be ok. It was the right decision. Read more>>
Philip Gutting
Everything to do with my business from the start to currently started with a risk .When I first started being a promoter no venues would allow me to do any shows either because of my age, I was (17/18) at the time or because they didn’t allow hip-hop. I had to take money out of my own pocket and buy all the equipment and when i mean everything, i mean everything. Then I had to find an art gallery and rent it, then find my own security, all the artists, everything. I planned an entire event from ground up with no help, and no guidance. It was all me with my money on the line and from that risk it became what it is today. Read more>>
James Jones
The story of one of the biggest risks I’ve taken started when I was just starting out in the dental industry. I had a mentor, Dr. John Kim, who is now the CEO of Cal Dental USA. At the time, I was only 19, going on 20, and had little experience beyond some front desk work and making dental recall calls. Dr. Kim needed to make some changes in his company and asked me if I’d be interested in managing two dental office locations—one in Long Beach and another in Fullerton. When he presented the opportunity, I was hesitant. I’d never managed anything, let alone two offices. The doubt was so clear in my response that he actually told me not to worry about it, assuming I wasn’t ready. But in that moment, something shifted. I knew if I didn’t take this risk, I might always wonder what could’ve been. So, I jumped up and said, “I’ll do it.” Read more>>