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.

Kalea Kulbe

I took a risk at the age of 34 when after 16 years as an interior designer I decided to make a 180ﾟ career change and become a whole body healer. I opened my own practice and left corporate america. You’re never too old to start something new and live your happiest life to the fullest. Stop worrying what others will think. Read more>>

Taylor Wilsey

The biggest risk I ever took was venturing out on my own and starting my own business. I left my previous workplace and started my own business in August of 2022. By October of 2022 I had high demand to expand and have people work for me! It blew my mind but i decided to run with it. I expanded Nani Beauty AZ to Gilbert in January of 2023. My beauty studio now offers permanent makeup, fine line tattoos, nails, lashes, massage therapy, facials, piercings and injectables! Read more>>

Magda Wolski

In order to be successful, you need to take risks. I truly live my life by the saying “no risk, no reward”. My biggest risk that I’ve taken is quitting my 9-5 position as a Recruiter and starting my own Recruitment business 4 years ago. I’ll never forget the moment I sent the resignation letter to the firm. It felt exhilarating, nerve- wracking and exciting; all at the same time. Read more>>

Jessica Elix

Life is all about risk! I’m an adrenaline seeker, and I’ve toned it down in recent years. I remember stories that others have shared with me over the years. “I wish I would’ve have done that when I had a chance.” they’d say. I tucked those stories and conversations away within me. I didn’t want to look back and have a similar experience of missing my chance – not taking that risk, as scary as it might have been to take. Read more>>

Amanda Maldonado

Quitting my job in 2021 was a terrifying decision. I didn’t know how it was going to work out, I didn’t have any work lined up yet, and I was just hoping that, given enough time, I’d figure it out. There was no guarantee, no security, no one to tell me I did a good job at the end of the day. But when someone asked me at the end of 2022 – “Do you miss your old job?” And my immediate was “Nope!” and somehow that made me feel a little bit better. Read more>>

Emmy Star Brown

I graduated from the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago in the winter of 2007. I, along with my very small graduating BFA class, had ambitions of working at a top advertising agency. Our private commercial art school had well prepared us for this path and I was eagerly anticipating my first design job. My whole class drudged through months of interviews at the same studios and agencies, all with hopes of landing jobs as graphic designers on some of the biggest global accounts. I had full clarity that branding and packaging was the direction I would pursue, following in my Dad’s footsteps. Read more>>

Lily O’Farrell

Something I’ve held on to all through my cartooning journey (and even before that when I was talking about similar subjects through stand up comedy and sketch writing) is trusting that if you’ve experienced something, someone else has probably experienced it too. If you have a funny feeling that something isn’t quite right, someone else will too. Once you trust that, it allows you to have the confidence to put something out there; for me this was cartoons pointing out examples of everyday sexism. Read more>>

Brionna Brown

I have always been what one would call a “risk taker”, honestly when I think about it my entire career has been based on taking risks. In 2014 I quit my job after only months of having my first child to pursue cosmetology school where I soon graduated with my cosmetology license, now I must admit that my risks were not always carefully calculated as I would like. Shortly after graduating cosmetology school I felt so drained, lost, and unsure of how I wanted to continue to pursue this career with so many different paths. Read more>>

Tayllor Johnson

Starting an interdisciplinary business, Sisterhood(verb), Inc., founded on my passion for entrepreneurship, community engagement, and mission to liberate through poetry, was one of my greatest gifts and most significant risk. As a poet, writer, and performer first, I knew I wanted to do that for the rest of my life, but as I grew, healed, and learned more as a Black woman, I found myself writing curriculum. My poetry found its way on T-shirts, leading to a conversation on sisterhood among Black women. Read more>>

ItsErnie

Moving to Fort Worth, TX was a risk. I knew no one in the music industry when I moved here and was unfamiliar of the history of the music scene and city. I wanted to expand my career and sometimes life forces you to take risks. I am so glad I moved to Fort Worth. It has taken my career to heights and connected me with so many wonderful people. The talent and opportunity in North Texas. I met my current team and all the people I work closely with at open mic at Ampersand on 7th Street. All because I went on a Hinge date and my date’s friend recommended them. Taking risks have helped my career flourish. Read more>>

Neil D’Monte

When I graduated from ‘SC in 1995, I totally thought that having an art degree and knowing how to draw fast and well would guarantee me a job as a comic book artist right out of school. At that time, comics were in the “speculation era”. MANY books by independent companies were being mass produced with variant covers (at that time highly collectible) and comic book companies were hiring pretty much anyone who could draw and paying them up to $1,000/page rate. Read more>>

Bridgett Prier

I took the biggest risk of my life on January 14, 2022. I resigned from my corporate position at one of the largest insurance companies to run BrandBP MKTG full time. I remember praying the August before I resigned and telling God I was really ready to make this transition. I’d talked about it for years but never really put the work behind my words. God answered my prayer with the date I was going to resign and the strategy to make it happen. Read more>>

Katarzyna Sadej

Any sort of career in the arts involves a lot of risk – you risk not making a decent living, you risk not having a family, you risk having many interactions with narcissistic and selfish self-inflated people, you risk involving yourself with organizations that fail, and you risk being rejected on a regular basis. What you have to decide for yourself is: is it worth it to suffer a bit and truly live a fulfilled life – a life in which you tried and failed, over a life in which you never tried at all? I can tell you that from my experience the former is far more fulfilling, and you become stronger for it. Read more>>

Odile McKenzie

Deciding to start my business on my own was very scary. I didn’t think I had the skills to be successful which made it very scary. What kept be going was a good support system, faith and the desire to not work for someone else. Read more>>

Karen Jones

Leaving my Assistant Director of Social Work position, to pursue my passion for having my own business was a big risk for me to take. Not knowing if my clientele would grow nor knowing if my current clientele at my home spa would follow me to another location. Taking that risk has given me the confidence to believe in what I have to offer to the world is worth every risk taken. Read more>>

Katie Rattigan

I essentially got into pottery by taking a risk. So, the town I grew up in has a strawberry festival every June which oftentimes coincides with the town’s celebration festival. Like a mini carnival/street fair hybrid. We’re talking a parade, a bouncy castle, live music, strawberry short cake *and* funnel cake, Artisans, games, puppets, raffles, the whole shmear. Read more>>

Elizabeth Tretter

I have been a Patent Agent and working in the Intellectual Property Law field for 11 years before I decided that I wanted to teach group fitness. I trained and month to audition and to teach at Equinox gyms. For me, Equinox was one of the top fitness facilities, it was where I trained and i loved the atmosphere and all of my instructors, they inspired me to audition and to now teach. Read more>>

Rob Dixon

In one sense, every artist is taking a risk when they share their creations with the world. The more honest and original the art, the riskier it is. In fronting a rock band, Pinetree Janitorial Service, I am taking those creative and emotional risks. However, perhaps the more tangible idea of financial risk is even more looming. I used to be a software development professional, and could be earning a very good living continuing on that path. Read more>>

Ten M.

Any entrepreneur can tell you that there are always risks involved with starting a new business. Inspiration and drive are the fuel to these risks. My inspiration to start Cup You was a tiny little seed for the last several years. In the 2016 Olympics, Michael Phelps created a huge new buzz around an ancient therapeutic technique. Suddenly his debut purple spots had everyone intrigued about cupping therapy. Read more>>

Ashlynn Washington

The biggest risk I have taken to date has to be starting a business and opening my salon. I cannot take full credit, because my business would not be where it is without the help of GOD. I am a firm believer in faith over fear, this is a mantra that has allowed me to persevere even during moments of doubt. I have always known my destiny was to become a business owner never knew I would be fortunate enough to manifest my dreams. I studied to be a doctor, and along that journey, I learned how the internal organs communicate with the skin, which led me to skincare. Read more>>

Audrey Shantz

I’m a bit of a risk taker by nature. I got married after knowing my partner for 3 1/2 months. I had three babies by age 25. I later adopted my two kids at the same time. I have a tattoo that spans from wrist to shoulder… does that count? I once asked my husband what percentage rebellion I was, and he said 90%. I thought he would say like 20% so that made me laugh my head off. Read more>>

Melissa Hibbert

What is life without risks! I feel like risk taking is a part of the journey to success – the ability to step outside your comfort zone and appreciate the beauty of the unknown. This has been my story most of my life. My earliest memories of risk taking was one week after my college graduation in 1999, from Fisk University, after making my final decision that I did not want to attend law school, I took a leap of faith and moved to New York City, with one hundred dollars, a one-way plane ticket, one suitcase, 100 pre-printed resumes and a whole lot of faith. Read more>>

Rebecca Prince

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you” ~ Fred Devito. Like it or not, life is all about changing, learning, and growth. At the end of life, you should be significantly different than you were at the beginning. In 2018, I gave up making New Year’s resolutions and started choosing a “Word of the Year”. This word becomes the lens through which I make my decisions that year. It should challenge me to grow in some way, and it helps me progress toward my larger goals. Read more>>

VibewithJosh

One of the first times I took a major risk, was when I started my business. Lost, confused, didn’t know exactly where to start but I still did it. I remember talking to myself about starting the business that I currently have now and really envisioning my future and what I would want that to look like. I then looked at my phone and saw the Angel numbers 3:33. When I researched, it said 3:33 represents “your spirit guides hear your prayers & thoughts. Express your creative urge and trust that you know what you need to do for the next steps” that’s when I knew it was time to start and it turned out to be everything I imagined and wanting. Helping others with my gifts! Read more>>

Neil Constantine

It’s August of 2020. The pandemic is raging, COVID injected chaos into everything in the United States and world. I had lost my job, as had my partner and artist Niceli Portugal, and countless others we knew. Daily life then a wondering ship at sea, searching for shore. As summer rolled through, tragedy struck as COVID claimed Niceli’s Grandfather in Peru. Read more>>

Ana Stefanovich

We all have a special and unique story. I was born in a beautiful country currently called North Macedonia, which belonged to former Yugoslavia. I grew up in a loving family. We were raised believing in brotherhood, sisterhood, and unity, and I was a very happy kid. Due to economic challenges, at age 11 my parents and I moved to Kuwait. I quickly had to learn English and a new and fascinating culture. A year later Iraq invaded Kuwait and overnight my family and I were stuck in a war zone. At age 12, I heard and saw things that no one should ever experience. Read more>>

Edel Howlin

What would you do if someone asked you to marry them and move to another country? Would you take the leap? That’s exactly what I did in 2008 not knowing how things would work out. I got married in the tiny village I grew up in Ireland, said a very tear filled and sad goodbye to my parents and siblings at Dublin airport and stepped onto a plane to Houston, Texas. Population 3 million and I didn’t know a single person, except my husband. Houston’s sprawling mass of concrete was vastly different to the green fields of Ireland and the heat! Read more>>

Chicona Kibria

Risk taking is the core of being an entrepreneur. When you start a business, you are taking many risks on a daily basis. When I decided to leave my corporate job to become an entrepreneur it was a huge risk. I was scared, worried, and afraid. I was leaving a great six figured job to start a company where no one knew me, and no one knew about my brand. I had a family, I had responsibilities, it was surely going to be a huge success or a huge failure to me. I took the risk and it’s been challenging yet highly rewarding. Read more>>

Gabby Emslie

Starting my business in the first place was a risk – I was committing time, money, and energy to something that I wasn’t sure was going to succeed. However, now almost 3 years later, I am so glad I took that first step. I have been enjoying running Rosy’s Donuts so much the past few years, and the itch to take the next step returned. It felt like the time was right for another risk – starting the process of buying a food trailer. Read more>>