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.

Shannell Arroyo

I took a risk launching my small business online. I pursued my passion during a pandemic and truly believed that I could only find out the turn out if I took a risk. Read more>>

Oluchi Madbuike

One of the most significant risks I took in recent years was leaving my nursing job in the United States to return to Nigeria and compete for the title of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria in 2021. Read more>>

Myesha Williams

Taking a risk, whew! I’ve done my fair share. I took a risk and went into full-time entrepreneurship July of 2019. It was scary but also felt right if that makes sense. Read more>>

Mando Silva

Whether is podcasting, comedy in any of it forms, music, etc., I’d say all creative pathways are certainly riskier than the conventional careers. Read more>>

Ruth Molenaar

In 1987 I’d just graduated high school and was attending my first year at Grand Rapids Junior College. I was taking a dance class at Grand Rapids Civic Theatre through the college. Read more>>

LaCicely Nicole

The two biggest risks I ever took in life were relocating away from everyone I knew and also opening up a business without planning to do so! Read more>>

Rixx

Right out of high school I moved across the country out to Los Angeles with no contacts at all, and it was tough. I was thrust into a world I never knew before. Read more>>

Jack Foster

As a young father of 5 children, I always wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist. I went to night school to learn the art of cartooning and the business end of it. Read more>>

Kent Danger

2022 was THE year of risk for me. Some might think it’s because I moved to LA from North Carolina, but that was the easy part in my mind. The real risk was in overhauling everything I had done musically up until that point- restarting from scratch and rebuilding everything fresh. Read more>>

April Smith

Embracing the Risk: The Beauty of Competing in Pageants When I made the decision at 40 years old to re-enter the world of pageantry, I knew I was taking a risk. Read more>>

Rita Hallaveld

In my early career as a social worker, I spent a lot of time working with families in a community based setting. This meant meeting in their homes, and spending time on-call for crises. Read more>>

Rhoda

The year was 1989. I met a boy in Junior High, and during Spring Break, we found ourselves at the beach with a bunch of our mutual friends. Read more>>

Kevin Kawano

Joker’s Hand was born from risk. Growing up, I lived in a strict household that prioritized education. My father immigrated here from Japan with his family when he was a child and had a tough time assimilating. Read more>>

Sandra Cavanagh

Making work as an artist is risk taking at every turn, the singularity of the work demands it. You might rightly say risk taking becomes the blood of a creative life. Read more>>

Kyndra Scott

Have you ever taken a risk? It’s a big yes for me. I use to be afraid of taking risk, all the what if’s & negative thoughts that seemed to plague my mind evey time I even thought about taking a risk. Read more>>

Zoë Wassman

I started PATH FILMS during pre-production for the first feature-length movie I’ve personally ever attempted to write and consequently produce: BAMPIRE, a 90’s horror-comedy creature-feature inspired by Bambi: A Life in the Woods by Felix Saltan. Read more>>

Yue Yu

There is a saying: “Risk is always better than regret.” On Oscar day at the Bel Air Hotel, I was snapping a pic of Janelle Monae for her gorgeous Thom Browne look; and not far away from us, Irina Shayk was posing in front of a full bloom magnolia tree, before heading to the Vanity Fair party. Read more>>

Tyler Henson

Fall Semester, 2015 at Salisbury University was a time in my life where i experienced change in a very intimate way. During that first semester i chose to study Exercise science as my major, simply because i enjoy going to the gym so i thought that it would be a seamless transition to learn about it at a deeper level. Read more>>

JoMaureen Koko Darpolor

I moved to Round Rock, TX in June of 2021. What many don’t know is I leased my new apartment and resigned from my position in West Texas BEFORE landing a new teaching position. Read more>>

Hannah Street

After months of planning and dreaming we quit our jobs on May 1st, 2018 and opened Oasis Plant Shop on June 1st, 2018. Read more>>

Nicky Posley

lIving life to the fullest involves risks. I’ve always been a risk taker, but it can be scary at times. Coming to NYC to pursue a career in beauty has always been on my list of things I wanted to accomplish. Read more>>

Traci Mims

I chose this question because a lot of artists face this. Oftentimes we are pushed to take the “safe” way to do things by our friends or fami.y because a lot of people don’t consider art as a career when if they actually thought about it everything they use everyday depends on the work of artists and designers. Read more>>

Brian Horner

From Security to Satisfaction: My Leap from Government Engineer to Design Build General Contractor For thirteen years, I was a cog in the vast machinery of government, specifically within an engineering team tasked with constructing transportation facilities. Read more>>

Kristin Lewis

I have always been a woman of lists. Checklists for work, grocery lists, family to-do lists – my life has been a symphony of organized efficiency. Read more>>

Wawi Amasha

I took a risk back in 2003 when I decided to Perdue a career as an artist. I had just graduated from college earning a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations. Read more>>

Robert (CLAY) Williams

With aspirations of pioneering new voyages to the moon as an astronaut, I grew from a young boy to a young man, now dreaming of designing the very vehicle that would make such a journey as an aeronautical engineer. Read more>>

Edward Eubanks

We all have one thing that subconsciously circulates throughout our minds on any given day: survival. In today’s world, our survival and well-being are linked to monetary values. Read more>>

Jean-Claude Cubias

For most of 2023, I was unemployed. Lots of things were happening in my life at such a fast pace that led me to decide on no longer pursue art as a career or passion. Read more>>

Erin Mead

Voiceover requires a deep dive rabbit hole exploration into all of the facets of the VO industry, including technical issues of audio recording and editing, setting up an acoustically treated space and troubleshooting noise, learning acting skills, business and marketing skills, and practicing persistence and dedication to the craft. Read more>>

Irene Pluim Mentz

As a physical therapist owning my own practice, my husband and I were doing pretty well. I was working with my clients, at times teaching at a local college for the physical therapy assistant program, and I was teaching water exercise classes at the local community college. Read more>>

Brooke Richie-Babbage

I never saw myself as being a “risk taker” per se. A friend in college described me affectionately as a “road MOST taken” kinda girl – unlike Robert Frost, who chose the road least traveled, I always saw myself as someone who wanted the road ahead to be paved, well-lit, with rest-stops and lots of fellow travelers up ahead ;) Read more>>

Trevor Merchant

Originally born in Dallas, TX on July 23, 1996, I moved around a lot as a kid for my father’s job to include Las Vegas, NV, Toledo, OH, Chicago, IL and finally Raleigh, NC in 2009. Read more>>

Mandy Penn

I self-published a book at the beginning of February and boy was that NOT in my wheel house. As a photographer I tell peoples stories through imagery, the book was my way of telling stories through the images that I did for each author but also gave each author a platform to expand on the story they decided to tell. Read more>>

Darrin Lee Jr

When I was 25 years old, I separated from the best job I had being a Food Service Coordinator for a multi-county multi-million dollar non-profit. Read more>>

Jay Hud

Leaving my career in teaching after dedicating 12 years of my life to education was a monumental risk that I embarked upon with careful consideration and a leap of faith. Read more>>

Andres Silva G

I’ve been taking risks sometimes in my life, but this was the biggest one, because it was involved my family too. When I told my wife that I wanted to come to America, I knew I wanted to came but I was not totally sure. Read more>>

Brittani Millington

I was tinkering with an idea for a few months. But I was afraid to pull the trigger on it even though I’ve always wanted to do it. It was getting published. I wasn’t sure how to go about it, but I eventually figured it out. Read more>>

Sabrina Thomas

I worked in the corporate world all my life as you know we all go through a season in which we change and want something different. I got bit with the entrepreneur bug. Read more>>

Pablo Sapien

It was 2018, I was going through the hardest time of my life struggling with my mental illness, addictions and I had no direction or idea where my life was taking me. Read more>>

Big Zay Mack

Risks are scary. They are uncertain. They are hopes. They are dreams. Don’t we as humans all have hopes and dreams? In this profession, risks are part of the job. For me, I’m not always sure if a record will resonate with people or if it will reach the masses that I intend. Read more>>

Commando Luv

Throughout my music career I’ve learned that you have to be willing to take some risks. I never imagined opening up for major acts like “Toosie 2x” or setting up my own tour if I didn’t risk a little time, effort, & money! Read more>>