The chapters in our stories are often marked by wins and losses. Getting a new job, getting fired. Getting a life-threatening medical diagnosis, beating it and getting a clean bill of health. Too often, due to a societal expectation of modesty and humility we are discouraged from talking about the risks we’ve taken that led to those ups and downs – because often those risks draw attention to how we are responsible for the outcomes – positive or negative. But those risks matter. Those stories matter. We asked some brilliant entrepreneurs, artists, creatives, and leaders to tell us those stories – the stories of the risks they’ve taken, and we’ve shared them with you below.

Eli Goldsmith

My biggest risk I have ever taken started in January 2023 when I took a small loan to secure the purchase of a one-of-a-kind Military Protype Vehicle, I found by chance on Facebook Marketplace. I had no real idea what to do with it, but my sixth sense knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So, what was it that caught my attention? The 2011 Hyena from ArmorWorks is a slow rock crawler designed to maneuver through rough washes and other debris strewn areas but can also accomplish sprints in excess of 80 mph in order to get you out of harm’s way in a hurry! A unique seating arrangement places the driver on the vehicle’s centerline with the four passengers seated behind him. Read more>>

Glory Rodriguez

My family has always “played it safe”; they encouraged me to go the common route of going to college and getting a secure job. Taking risks has never been my forte, but a little voice inside me said “why not me” when I kept thinking about going through the creative routine. A normal 9-5 job that could have made my family proud and supported them financially was a guilty decision I had to make because a people pleaser like myself had to make a choice either to make everyone happy and proud of the easy route OR pursue my dreams as a creative, knowing I gave it everything and not have any regrets when im older…….. So I listened to the tiny voice. Read more>>

Cidy Pyramids

I’m a firm believer in “no risk, no reward”. Taking a risk opens up the possibility of more opportunity, you’ll learn more about yourself and you’ll learn in general, Sometimes it’s good to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and encourage some growth and development. Read more>>

Paige Hulse

“I want every word of this to be on the record, because someone has to teach you millennials how to actually work, not waltz off to Scottsdale for arbitrary trips.” I stared back at the federal judge berating me; a pent-up barrage of aggression interrupted only by the sound of the court report furiously preserving every word on the record, ignoring the smirking gaze of the lying opposing counsel across the courtroom. It was supposed to be a humiliating moment, intended to punish me right back into the “boundary lines” of my storied profession, back to “doing things the way they’re supposed to be done; how they’ve always been done.” Read more>>

Chantal Cherry

In the summer of 2022, I found myself standing at a pivotal moment in my yoga teaching career. It had been nearly ten years since I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training in South Africa and moved to Los Angeles. On arrival in LA, with little studio teaching experience under my belt, I decided to set up donation-based classes in public parks and spaces to teach anyone passing by. While it ended up being mostly tourists enjoying a ‘quirky LA experience’, this opportunity to work with people one-on-one deeply resonated with me. I realized that my passion lay in working closely with individuals and I felt a strong sense of fulfillment in guiding others on their respective yoga journeys. Read more>>

Ronnie Mills

Embracing the Unknown: A Journey of Transformation Through Risk-Taking The notion of taking risks can be an intimidating prospect for anyone. Yet, in the face of change, I’ve come to recognize the profound value of stepping into the unknown with the simple thought, “I’ll be okay; I just need to do it. Admittedly, embracing risk doesn’t come with an air of excitement. It’s a challenging path that has, nonetheless, proven instrumental in times of necessary change. Life, I’ve realized, can be navigated by this very principle: to accept the challenges it presents with an unwavering determination to overcome them. Read more>>

Nikenya Hall

I was living in my home state, Oklahoma, and had begun to realize after I came home from travelling, I would get depressed. And not the “omg, that was a great vacation, let me do it again” depressed, m0re like a “I really don’t want to be here in this city” depressed. By this time, most of my friends from undergrad had moved out of the state and I was the only one left in my friend circle. I planned a weeklong summer trip, where I flew into DC, Amtrak ride to NYC and then back home. I had friends in both DC and NYC, so this way I could spend time with everyone while I was on the East Coast. Read more>>

Films By Circe

We launched our production company in 2019 with very little experience or education in how to do anything– from producing our first short film to launching a website. Putting yourself out there can be scary, especially if you’re learning on the go! Being a female-driven company in a male-dominated sphere, we were opening ourselves up to criticism in a way that we hadn’t experienced before. But at the end of the day, we were tired of only seeing the male perspective represented in media and knew that amplifying female voices was worth the risk of any negative feedback we might receive. So far, it has paid off! We’ve made 12 short films and launched a podcast, all to mainly positive reviews, and met some wonderfully talented collaborators along the way! Read more>>

Jill Klee

The greatest risk I’ve ever taken is opening my business. Prior to this, I was a Police Sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department. In 2020, I had to medically retire after 15 years in law enforcement. I retired in March of 2020, which was the start of the pandemic and the world had changed. Shortly after retiring, I went through a divorce and had to navigate the world as a single mom. To say I was lost would be an understatement. While trying to find purpose again, I had the idea of opening a craft studio. I have never owned a business and I wouldn’t consider myself an artist; crafty, yes but definitely not an artist. I decided to take a risk and open my business in the middle of a pandemic. I’m glad I took this risk; it has given me purpose again and changed my life forever. Read more>>

Ivoree Xavier

i took a HUGE risk moving to california with $200 to my name and nothing but dreams and aspirations to sustain me. but i also took an even bigger risk publicly transitioning from male to female, and keeping all of my pre-transition music and one music video up. i could have privately transitioned, deleted all of my old music, taken down my music video, and if i really didn’t want the general public knowing anything of me prior, could’ve just started fresh, and if i wanted to, could’ve chosen to disclose that information later on in life if i felt the need. but one of the many lessons transitioning has taught me is that the journey is beautiful. on my youtube video, i share videos from day 1 of my transition, and until i am done, i will continue to keep uploading the progress. Read more>>

Christina Specos

In June of 2018 I quit my Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach Job and moved to Miami Beach. I thought I wanted to work in an “elite” fitness facility however, once on the inside, I realized I wanted more than to have my 20+ years of skills leveraged for minimal pay. My entrepreneurial side was itching. But I was scared. After feeling like that had become a toxic work environment of basically “working for free” as I was told (as if it was some sort of badge of honor), I realized I had to take action and gamble on myself. It was SCARY AF as I was also competing in pursuit of earning my IFBB professional bodybuilder status so, energy and time resources were stretched! Read more>>

Angela Faith Wass

My name is Angela Faith, and I am a Shamanic Practitioner and Mentor. I currently have a full-time practice offering Shamanic healing, mentoring programs, mediumship, and animal communication. I teach meditation, I am ordained through the International Metaphysical Ministry and I am currently pursuing my PhD in Metaphysical Science. This isn’t always how it was. I took the risk of leaving the secure life I had known to step into a life of passion and purpose. Read more>>

Karrie Hardin

During my final year in music school, I learned about music therapy and Autism, and wanted to be a music therapist. However, I also wanted to work, instead of going to school even longer, so I took a position as a special education teacher. I loved it so much that I forgot about becoming a music therapist and intended to retire as a teacher. Unfortunately, our district experienced a wildfire in the area, and everything changed. Teaching special education is both rewarding and stressful, and many things combined to make my final year the year of teacher burnout for me. The stress caused me to not be able to eat and sleep, and my hair started falling out. My doctor gave me two weeks of sick leave and suggested I find another job. Read more>>

Teddy Trice

I am a true believer in taking risks when it comes to your life as an artist. More specifically, calculated risks, where you can put yourself in the best position to succeed. I’ll relate the story of when I booked my first Broadway tour. Originally i’m from Kansas City, MO, and most of my upbringing and creative life derived from that area. After graduation from college, I moved back home to pursue a career as an actor. I knew KC wasn’t my end goal, but I needed to lay a foundation somewhere. Fortunately, my hometown is arts centric, so I was able to cultivate my skills, gain credits on my resume, and qualify for status as a union member in Actors Equity. Read more>>

Leisha Anders

I believe in risk taking. One moment can change your life. Taking this risk increased the quality of my world. I have a history of mental health challenges living with anxiety, ptsd, and daily tears. So, I took a risk and created my Drumeditation with Chakra Chanting. The vibrational medicine immediately supported my anxiety. After a couple weeks of practicing, the energy from my daily tears were recycled into my visual art and alternative health practices. A huge change in my ptsd took place and that gave me the energy to share with others. This happened around 2019 and I thank God I found this practice before the Corona Virus shut down the world. It was working and it gave me hope. Read more>>

Jacqueline Giltrow

I had studied Photography at university, but upon finishing up at University I really had no passion for it. I felt like “studying” photography had taken the joy out of it. I went on to work in marketing, sales and business development roles. I worked in the corporate sector for 17 years. I enjoyed it, making my way up the ladder and meeting amazing people. However I wasn’t waking up everyday excited about my life and I started to wonder if there was something more for me. I took a trip to Europe with a friend and felt instantly inspired again. That trip was only 3 weeks but I knew I wanted more time to flesh out this feeling. Read more>>

Mikayla Chin

The biggest risk that I’ve taken this year is to do in-person markets and vend locally in San Francisco. My small business has been online-only since the beginning, so this is a huge milestone in my small biz world! So far I’ve done two markets, and both have been so fun! You learn a lot, you get to talk to customers and local people, and you are being seen in your community. It does take a lot more prep and energy, but it’s such an experience and will push you to grow. You have to invest in yourself, your products, and your branding by showing up and representing what you create, making inventory, getting signage, etc. Read more>>

Keinan Moton, Tayon Smith, Duane Martin, Dayzia Colfish

Taking a risk is the best way to get you out of your comfort zone. Getting out your comfort zone is the best option for growth. We believe that taking risks is a must when trying to make a name for yourself in an industry where everyone is doing the same. As an organization taking a risk for us was making a decision to plan and throw our first event as JUDO which was a listening party for our hip hop artist K. Mo. We let the thought of this being our first event make us hesitant to throw it only because we thought we weren’t going to get as big of a turn out due to lack of a solid fanbase. Read more>>

Pauline Sala

I was born and raised in France. When I was a little girl , I always knew I was going to move to America, my intuition was telling me that it was where I was meant to be. I always hated school growing up, especially all the homework we were given but in high school, I had the goal in mind to go to college in America so I started putting all of my time and effort to achieve this goal! I then moved to Florida to attend school in 2018 all by myself (my parents helped me move but they went back to France afterwards of course). And now ,5 years later, I live in Venice Beach CALIFORNIA and am married to an amazing man and am living my life to the fullest! So I am so grateful that I have taken the risk to move to the US by myself at 18 years old! Read more>>

Jamaya Fleming

This entire journey has been a huge risk but I’m forever grateful for it. Starting nursing school at the same time as launching my magazine, The Poster Gworl, after a while became extremely difficult causing me to choose. Choosing between going the guaranteed route that makes the most sense to people vs. taking a leap of faith-going with your gut and trusting God, what a decision right? I eventually chose to trust where God was leading me, and chose to quit nursing school taking on Poster Gworl full time. Taking this risk has been one of my biggest blessings and I’m so excited to see where it continues to take me. Read more>>

Nicolas Neidhardt

I lived in Paris/France and had a successful career as a composer and music producer. The record industry did really well, millions of CD’s were sold until around 2005, Napster and the internet started to destroy the business of record sales. I could foresee that within a few years, my revenue would totally collapse and I was worried about how to feed my family. I first tried to connect with other branches of the music industry in Paris such as music for advertisement, television and film. Unfortunately I was told that – given my successful career as a songwriter and producer in pop – I was not ‘welcome’ in other specialties and was asked to ‘return to pop music’. Read more>>

Stephan Komora

I began my musical journey in a place that I never thought I would be which was prison along with some legal issue I encounter, and this iz all while I attended college (BGSU) I knew that I had to put my energy into something or the path I was heading down was going to be the cause of myself destruction, I met my friend Fred “Drop D” Williams and he kept insisting that I record a song, I wasn’t really into the music at the time because I knew how hard it was to embark on a career in this field, I took the risk recorded a track at his studio that he had in his apartment bedroom, I fell in love and never looked back. Read more>>

Angeline Carrillo

I think the best way to answer this question is through my testimony as a business owner and for my company. Starting my studio was by far the biggest risk I have ever taken, and through that one decision has lead to a million more risks and rewards along the journey. I will be brief, but here is the story of how and why I took the risk, and what it ultimately lead to: My name is Angeline Carrillo. When I was 17, I had a dream that stemmed from a few different places: *loving movement and testing the bodies limitations, *loving Jesus, *a desire to share those loves with others, *and being really, really stubborn. I had a vision of a place that had open doors and open arms for people to discover who they are and what they can do-and be accepted as they are. Read more>>

Akili Yasmine

I was raised by risk-takers. My father has always been a bold entrepreneur. He started his own business shortly after graduating from Clark Atlanta in the 90s and my Mother showed me the beauty in taking big risks when she moved across the country in her 40s to teach in english in the middle east. I believe that taking risks is an act of BOLD faith and good stewardship of our lives. Our greatest gift in life is the present moment. So, dream big and take chances on yourself. Read more>>

Rita Bhandari

Back in the summer of 2019, the spark of an idea ignited within me – The Ace Compeers. I remember jotting down the core concepts, sketching a basic storyline, and then, as life often goes, placing it on the shelf to gather dust. Little did I know that this idea, momentarily set aside, would become my guiding light during the pandemic. Struggling with my own mental well-being, I stumbled upon my old notes, and something extraordinary happened. It was as if the essence of the project reached out, giving me renewed purpose. Read more>>

Greta Hotmer

I think my story is more about the importance of taking risks. I’m somewhat of a practical risk taker. I definitely spend a large portion of time weighing out options and going through different scenarios in an effort to take the ‘safest’ risks, however most likely from an outside perspective my choices may seem like the ultimate risk to some. I have lived with Chronic Lyme Disease since I was 20-21 years old, I just turned 41 in June, so there have been many chapters of this experience in those 20 years. For those who don’t know what that means in terms of day to day living, initially when it was running rampant (all of my 20’s), it meant that simple tasks were monumental, from pain and/or extreme mental fog, and a host of other symptoms I’d rather not remember. Read more>>

Teresa Williams

I am Licensed Professional Counselor who went through a horrible divorce several years ago due to my ex-husband’s infidelity. While I was away on a business trip the mistress stayed in my house for the entire week! He allowed her to put her clothes in my drawers, hang her clothes in my closet and even let her drive my car! The kicker was that she was 20 yrs younger. I had hired a private investigator and had photos and videos. It was devastating! I asked for a divorce immediately. We were divorced less than 3 months later. Read more>>

Sarah Barrah

suspend.it has been nothing short of a gift—birthed out of one of the most difficult phases of my life. Around Christmas of 2015, I was a new mom who also worked full time and was also pregnant with baby #2. During this time, I was also helping my husband battle through his mental health issues and encouraging him as switched careers and was going back to school….it was a rough time. We were truly in the thick of it. I was pouring into everyone else, but nobody was “filling my cup.” Hearing my exhaustion and frustration, our marriage therapist gave me permission to “Dream a bit and take a Risk.” Immediately, the concept of suspend.it was born! Read more>>

Anthony Ieradi

I learned very early in my college career from a production of The Light in the Piazza that “Risk is everything”. Although it is truly difficult to follow through with that most of the time, when you do make those bold exciting choices, life seems to take you on extraordinary journeys. Street Photography being the main one for me. Read more>>

Tracy Updike

In January 2018, I took a risk and quit my full-time corporate job. I left because I felt desperate and needed to regain control of my destiny. I was on the wrong path. Creating is an integral part of my life’s journey, and I have dreamt of being a self-employed creative all of my adult life. I have dabbled in various crafts and sold them with different degrees of success. However, I have lacked the conviction to pursue making art as a means of living without a supplemental income. I have let fear hold me back. By January 2018, I had stopped pursuing my creative endeavors and resigned to filling the void with other activities. Read more>>

Michael Brown

Late in the year 2021 I got a few opportunities to start filming some extreme sports. I was having so much fun filming some professional athletes such as scooter riders, Dirt bike racers and others. I knew I needed to step it up in the beginning of 2022, I had one Goal in mind, to film some BASE Jumpers. If you don’t know what that is, it is the people who jump from a cliff edge with a parachute. I knew this type of filming is of the highest risk, so I did much preparation to get myself prepared to try to get some people to work with me. First thing I did was begin to research all things BASE. I also reached out to some buddies who already have been filming these types of events for tips/tricks and things to be safe of. After I felt I knew enough I started researching areas that often people would do BASE jumping and I became familiar with these mountains. Read more>>

Adrian Paul

The biggest risk I have ever taken would definitely have to be starting my business during the pandemic! Although it was very nerve-wracking it also was very exciting. I truly believe it’s all in the way you view things as a individual. The pandemic was also a time when many learned and practice makeup so I literally told myself “Why not “ and spoke to my team and launched my Beauty line in 2022. Read more>>

Kiera Cook

I took a risk by opening my own salon. I left a great paying job to venture out on my God giving talent. Was I terrified? Extremely, but I had a dream, a big dream of being this great hairstylist (braider). I struggled but the struggle was necessary. I painted the picture and I did the hard work and I’m still doing the hard work. I took the risk and it paid off greatly and now I am the proud owner of Successful Hands Braiding Lounge. Read more>>

I take small risks very often instead of ‘big,’ life-changing risks. I may risk using my time, energy, and supply expenses to find that a design I made doesn’t resonate with my audience and customers. While I understand that consistency is critical, and I have an idea of what my audience would like to see from me, I still try to stay true to myself to make art that differs from what I have done before so that I may continue to grow and have fun as an artist. Read more>>

B. Nilaja Green, PhD

I’ve always been a little bit on the different side from other people in my family. In fact, I often felt like I didn’t belong, like everyone else was speaking a language that I did not speak. This felt especially true when my family endured a significant transition and loss during my teen years and I had to learn how to figure out a lot on my own fairly quickly. My family should not have expressed surprise then when after graduating with my hard-earned degree from a very prestigious university, I told them that instead of getting a job or going to graduate school, I planned to fly halfway across the world, to spend a year volunteering in another country, living with strangers and getting paid basically nothing. Read more>>