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.
Chelsea Brown
The biggest risk I took in my career was deciding to go full-time. I did it in the heart of Covid when the uncertainty of the world was strong. I realized I was not happy with my other job and that I was completely burnt out. Every time I thought about what I wanted to do next I just couldn’t figure it out. I never thought I could truly make a successful life out of what I thought was just my fun side hobby. I slowly grew up my business and clientele and noticed even though I was temporarily laid off from my other job due to Covid I was still able to pay my bills just fine with only photography. Read more>>
Joelle Cardinale
We would say our big risk was jumping into freelancing. It’s scary betting on jobs and getting paid late. For Joelle, she went into freelancing full-time in the middle of the Corona Pandemic. Logan has been freelancing for a little longer. Freelancing has some amazing perks though! You can set your rates, set your schedule, and you get to meet pretty awesome people doing what you love! Read more>>
Monica Kalpakian
I take risks in my art collecting, and given that they are all based on gut feeling, I follow my instinct. I could not do this with a client as most of the time; I have no logic to prove the reasoning why except I know (in my gut ) I should follow this lead. For example: There was a work by the artist Sam Gilliam I wanted, and I kept searching for the best job for me. I went to his Washington studio and found a great one in Munich. Read more>>
Mark Meram
The biggest risk I have ever taken was moving to Miami, FL from Michigan to pursue my dream of opening a business in nightlife. Having no experience in hospitality but a background in real estate, starting small business’s & music/entertainment triggered the dream! My business partner also has a background in real estate & small business concepts. We would both go out in Miami (& live in the Brickell neighborhood) & wanted to create a vibrant classy neighborhood bar with a focus on quality music, design, service & classic yet sophisticated cocktails… Read more>>
Toni Harris Taylor
My mantra and brand is all about being drastic. Drastic simply translated is taking a risk. Let me share with you one of my many personal drastic stories. It was 2019 and I was this close to leaving my business. I was frustrated, lost, confused –and at one point even feeling hopeless because I started worrying about my “end game” and about how I was going to retire from coaching. (Pause) Read more>>
Marcus Nelson
As an actor you take risk everyday. I would say mental and financial risk more than any other. We get auditions that can change our lives all the time and we sacrifice our friendships , relationships and money all the time. We move from different states thinking the opportunities could be better here , we quit our jobs ,we deal with uncertanty , we make choices realizing that we have only one life and we just hope we didn’t make the wrong decision. Read more>>
Sheena Chakeres
Leaving my 15-year career as a full-time educator was the biggest risk I’ve taken. I suffered a miscarriage, the pandemic had arrived, and then my father passed away. These challenges made me realize that I didn’t want to play it safe anymore. I wanted to spend my time doing the thing that I had been afraid of doing for so many years. Photography. Read more>>
Annette Felder
My sister Daniela and I started our fashion brand Felder Felder while still at college at Central St. Martins in London for our BA. When we started our brand, we really focused on building an identity and a unique style, which was so exciting. However at that time sustainability was not anything that was on our radar with regards to fashion and design and even though we never worked with mass production, we didn’t know about the environmental damage that a lot of the fashion textiles. were causing. Read more>>
Kimberly King
I moved to Goergia in 2016. No job. No plan but I was painting everyday and making money from it here and there. Finally found a job working at the post office and that lasted for 5 years and 1 month. On November 23, 2021, the day before my 35th birthday, I decided to put in my two weeks and never looked back. Read more>>
Jakill Thomas
I took a risk with music. R&B means so much to me. I remember wanting to be a singer. All of the 90s R&B artist had me in a chokehold. Especially destiny’s child. And when I become older I became super inspired by SZA, Summer walker, Jhene, Kehlani. I realized being an artist was for me when I took a risk and quit my job to pursue music full time. Read more>>
Brandon Patterson
Ever since I was in middle school, I knew I wanted to perform. I knew I wanted to be on stage entertaining people. I attended New World School of the Arts, a magnet visual and performing arts school down in Miami, for high school where I studied Musical Theater. Most of my classmates had aspirations of performing on Broadway or in film and TV. While I would have greatly enjoyed that, I knew how hard it was to make it there, plus I dreamed of something a little more personally fulfilling that had sentimental value to me. It was more stable than anything Broadway or Hollywood could have offered me. I wanted to perform for Disney. Read more>>
Anthony Morgan
By far the biggest risk I have ever taken in my life is when I left my job of 10 years at AT&T at the end of May 2022. I’ve learned in life that sometimes when you get too comfortable it’s time to get uncomfortable. There were those that disagreed with my decision to leave. I myself thought at first “What have I gotten myself into?” However, then I had to remember why I left… It was becoming a struggle to focus on my Full Sail University studies where I’m working towards my Audio Production degree. In addition to this, I found it was becoming more of a challenge to focus on my creative side as a Producer/Engineer. Read more>>
Nikki Edwards
As a creative, I am always taking risks. Any time I put out content, there’s a possibility that someone isn’t going to like or understand it. Lucky for me, I’m a risk taker. The biggest risk I’ve taken professionally is turning my content brand into a podcast. Nikkilosophy is always evolving. Its started on Snapchat, then moved to Facebook live. Now it has evolved into a podcast. Every change it goes through is so I can better connect with my audience and reach more people. It was a risk because my fans (The Nik Force) was accustomed to seeing my face every Thursday, now they only hear my voice. To my amazement, the feedback has been incredible & they love it being a podcast. Read more>>
Nicole Rhone
In the middle of 2020, I was faced with a major decision: to stay employed at my six-figure HR job (provide for my family) or leave the full-time job to become a stay-at-home mom (also to provide for my family but in a different way). I was torn between what to do because I’d spent the last 15 years building my career in Human Resources, but the pandemic required me to shift my perspective of what was essential vs. important. Not only was it necessary for me to help my children through mandatory e-learning, but I was also the primary care giver for my father. On top of that, I was struggling with overwhelm, exhaustion and burnout from trying to do everything. I was operating at what I now call max capacity. Read more>>
Aaron Artrip
The risk I took was following my gut. After one semester studying Civil Engineering, I realized this wasn’t for me, and decided to transfer to Kennesaw State to ‘figure it out.’ I’ve never had a dream job other than doing what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do so. So I followed my creative aspirations and studied fine arts, specifically printmaking. Read more>>
Taylor Latham
Sometimes you have to take risk for the things you believe in and the things you love . I knew being a actor was something I really wanted to do so I put my all into it and I had to sacrifice not working a regular job because I was becoming so busy with acting, I had to make a choice to either keep acting or just go work a 9-5 job . I chose acting and here I am now with 7 projects about to come out this year and a dope tv series that I was cast as a lead actor! If you truly believe in what you do you can accomplish anything Read more>>
Rodrick Robinson
I’d had to say my biggest risk was leaving my job and moving to a new city to pursue my career. Honestly when I moved to Montgomery Alabama I didn’t have a solid plan,I just knew that it would take hard work, networking and promoting myself to create a foundation for growth in the music industry . I dropped everything I had going on in life at the time and stepped out on faith and believed in myself that I could make it happen. I’ll admit I didn’t have the confidence to take the risk at first but my brother said to me “You have the talent to make it and this has been your dream since you were a kid, you owe it yourself to give it a shot”. That statement is what sparked my determination. Read more>>
Danny Maltagoya
I took a huge risk years ago that resulted in me spending 10 yrs in Michigan prison. Before prison I had started attending classes at a local cosmetology/barber school however before finishing the required amount of hours I found myself being sentenced to 15 yrs in prison. In prison you were expected to work and assigned a job. They would allow you to pick 3 different kind of jobs you may like. Earlier on during an orientation I had,one of the counselors noticed I had some experience/education for cutting hair and suggested I work as a prison barber! Read more>>
Ayeisha Diaz
Natures Serenus Esthetics and parties has been the biggest risk I have taken. Quitting a job in which I was making good money to commit myself into growing my business, because I believed in its potential was scary but so worth it. A lot of the times we do not do things because we stay stuck in the mentality of “What if it does not work”. And following your gut is the best decision you can make specially if you have support. My mother, husband and kids have been very supportive through this journey. And if it was not for them, I would had not accomplished what I have so far. Read more>>
Jabari Jenkins
The biggest risk I took was deciding not to go back to my job at Ross when businesses started opening up after lockdown. My manager knew that I wasn’t the best employee, constantly showing up late or not at all. He had to text me from his personal phone to let me know that they wanted me to come in. I took about two days to respond and told him “I won’t be able to come in. My career is doing good.” My career actually wasn’t doing anything. But, I knew that going back to work would not make me happy. This decision pretty much forced me to make things work with my film career. Fast forward to today and I haven’t had a job since. I guess we can say things turned out pretty well. Read more>>
THE OSHI
A MAJOR TIME FOR ME WAS WHEN I KNEW I HAD THE MUSIC BUT I JUST NEEDED MORE FUNDING TO GET THINGS DONE. I WAS ACTUALLY NERVOUS AT FIRST BUT I HAD A GOOD FRIEND REACH OUT TO ME AND TELL ME TO SUBMIT MY SONGS TO CERTAIN MUSIC GRANT PROGRAMS. I DIDNT PUT ANY DOUBT BEHIND IT THIS TIME, LIKE I WOULD IN THE PAST, I REPEATED TO MYSELF OVER AND OVER. I WILL WIN THE GRANT. I HAPPEN TO WIN TWO MUSIC GRANTS IN A SPAN OF ONE YEAR AND THEY BOTH HELPED FUEL MAJOR MOVES IN MY MUSIC CAREER THAT I AM SO THANKFUL FOR TIL THIS DAY. I AM MORE OPEN TO TAKING A RISK NOW BECAUSE WITHOUT A RISK THERE IS NO REWARD. Read more>>
Katana Jay Immortal
Leaving my home state of New Jersey to Focus on my carrier and my health was the greatest thing I could have ever done. Having not one soul in Atlanta it forced me to focus on myself as a person and as a creative. Being completely on my own with just my service dog I networked and got myself to a point where I had a booking almost everyday. Acting with YouTube show “Atlantas ugly” directed by Reality of Black Royal Family, going from just a cameo to becoming a regular character, modeling for many publishing’s, and contests such as “Inked Magazine Cover Girl”. Read more>>
Jamia Morrow
Moving to Atlanta was the biggest risk I have taken and not just mine but my family’s life in 2018. Leading up to this time I was really down, depressed and not feeling like I had a purpose in life. In 2016 I was laid off for my government job, lost my big brother in August of that year and my grandfather in October and was set to get married in December of that same year. Talk about life’s twists and turns I felt that I was being tested and pulled on each side of my life. I did not know whether I was coming or going but knew I needed a change not just for me but for my family. Read more>>
Sheila Szulanski
When I was a kid and having a bad day, I used to go to my mom’s wardrobe and try on some of her jewelry. As expected, the sparkling diamonds and shimmering gold and silver made me feel better over and over again. Many years later, while working in the film industry as a wardrobe stylist, I realized that my mother’s jewelry, most of which was antique and inherited from her mother and grandmother, was still popular and worn by movie stars and was seen in all the magazines. Read more>>
Corey Cooper
I would like to share a risk I took regarding how I got into my career choice. I was an All Big Ten athlete at the University of Nebraska, also a team captain and a NFL draft prospect. My professional career did not last as long as I would like, and my child was born as I decided to give up on pursuing my NFL dreams. I got a job as a Elementary school teacher and quickly realized I was not doing something I was passionate about. I then decided to start studying to become a certified personal trainer while teaching. As soon as I was certified, I quit my job and decided to pursue training full time. I started with no clients, no facility, no job in a actual gym setting, and no experience. Read more>>
Ray Wells
Establishing a successful construction business (Man Ant Services) as owner/operator, I wanted to still grow. I didn’t want to spend my entire life known as a business owner. Nothing wrong with that at all, it has paved the way for me and anyone around me to become better. I read an article about a guy who was an Army Ranger, a doctor, lawyer, and successful business owner who implied that you can always change your path and become who or what you want if you put in the dedication and time. That really made me switch things up a bit. I started managing my construction company more. That allowed me the time to go to school to get my Real Estate license, further my commercial realtor certification and Business Broker certification. Read more>>
R.C Lee
I took the risk of losing my family and friends to seek peace, create boundaries, and address all of my trauma. It took so much strength and love to do this because I had to move away from home to find myself in the process. Read more>>
Dale Boyer
Risk is a requirement for creativity, innovation, and art. After spending years experimenting with different mediums, and mixing materials that are technically incompatible, I fell in love with plaster and its limitless versatility and endless nuance. Knowing the long history of plaster artisans, I sought out a mentor. The only problems were that he was based in Tampa and needed me there within two weeks. Read more>>
Megan Duncanson
When I first started my career as a full-time artist, I was mostly creating original paintings that were abstract landscapes. Usually with a black silhouette of a tree and bold, rich colorful backgrounds, often with circles floating about. I became well-known for this style, and some of my best selling prints, and product placements, are with this type of art. Over the years I created a more unique style that was more distinguishable as being exclusively mine, but it was harder for that style to grab hold with a larger audience, so I also kept creating the tree paintings, as that was what I was known for. Read more>>
April Ann Pearson
Risk… Man, do I ever know about taking risks. I’ve done it in every part of my life. Maybe it’s due to my entrepreneur creative spirit that causes me to be more of one to throw caution to the wind. Jumping head first into all things when it speaks to my spirit. As I type this, I have to be honest about my risk taking life. My business partner and I just currently decided to shut down the our company, Shash Lifestyle. I’m sad, we worked so hard at trying to make it work in an industry that wasn’t willing to try new things as in being open minded and fashion forward. Sometimes it’s just looking at the outcome as “We tried our hardest, we gave it our all” but you have to know when it’s time to call it a day and move forward. Read more>>
Elvis Sanchez
I released 5 singles between 2020 and early 2022. Those releases were very well thought-out, it took me months to drop them because I Directed and edited videos for each single. I would plan the perfect strategy and the perfect time to release them. A couple of months ago, I watched a tv show called “Heartstopper”, a wholesome lgbtq+ story that inspired me so much and made me feel so many things, so I decided to make something with those feelings: Music. Read more>>
K. Merrissa Hughes
I have always been the type to dream big. I remember looking around my therapist office as a teenanger and knowing I can do this. They way that I normally went about dreaming big was in a very well planned out step by step plan. I just liked to be prepared. I didn’t mind working two three jobs or so I thought. This past school year threw me for a LOOP. I was a school counselor in my dream district and well liked and respected by my colleagues and students. I was making an impact and I LOVED it. Now It was hard but I have always did hard things. Read more>>
Keshia Lockett
I recently launched my first Black Doula Tour. The Black Doula Tour is all about providing education for a pregnant women and pregnant people. Our speakers educate on a wide range topics such as birth, breastfeeding, tongue tie, and pregnancy. The Black Doula Tour is going global to help educate more families. Read more>>
MUSTAFA FERMAWI
Imagine being out and you meet someone new and as you are getting to know each other they ask you what you do for work? You answer content creator for video games. Their eyes say it all. “So you just play video games all day?” You reply “Yes and people can subscribe to your channel to support you.” They ALWAYS reply “Who would want to watch someone play video games?” Read more>>
Aaron Bookhart
In life we have to take risk. My biggest risk was me pursuing a career in acting. This was something I knew I wanted to do since I was kid. However, I didn’t start truly pursuing acting until I was 26. Initially I didn’t have much support but the people who believed in me kept pushing me. Early this year I was living in a hotel while saving up for the Launch Showcase in Chicago. I also was in school finishing up my A.A degree and working on a movie. I knew in order to be successful that I was going to risk some relationships with friends and family. Read more>>
Stormi Yates
Back in 2006 there was rumors about economy crashing, it really truly was already was, I had been with Saks fifth ave in Los Angeles as a traveling artist/cosmetic manager & worked for many high end Brands ( trained by Bobbi Brown) for 5 years. Five years into my career as a artist I had learned a lot & had built a nice size client book. I knew that I was ready to spread my wings and fly. Read more>>
Kayla Dawn Gladney
In the summer of 2018, my family went on our favorite vacation: a cruise. I couldn’t wait to be back out on that big blanket of blue – to watch the sun drop into oblivion and see the moonlight shine so bright you’d think there’s no way it doesn’t produce its own light. I was especially looking forward to getting a break from my job. I was working as a digital content producer at a local news station, and although it sounded like the coolest job in the world to people who didn’t know any better, I was miserable. News is a difficult profession anyway, but our work environment could’ve won an AP Award for making us more miserable than any of the news we reported. Read more>>
Elizabeth Medina Ross
I am a type A personality person and as such love order, dependability and being in control. At the beginning of Covid after much deliberation I made the difficult decision to get a divorce. I was married to a great person, but we no longer made each other happy or whole. It was so very difficult to make and to share with my grown children. During the same time, I decided to pursue completely my love and dream for interior design. I have been designing my whole life. First as a systems designer which was my degree and now interiors. Read more>>
Christa Chase
We opened Lagree Luxe Golden Triangle about three years ago. Covid hit just six months after we opened our doors. It was an incredible journey trying to figure out how we were going to pay all of our expenses without being allowed to operate. After a few months past, the regulations changed and we were allowed to run small group classes of four people. We worked incredibly hard to help people stay safe and motivated to work out! In the process of this, one of our competitors, Pilates Evolution, was thinking about selling their studios. Read more>>
Amber Gordon
Even pipe dreams are bigger in Texas. It all began when my high school sweetheart (J) and I had a dream of living by the lake….but how would we, a public school art teacher and him an engineer, be able to afford it with twin boys and Bubble Gum, our lovable, but curious Welsh Terrier? Well, wouldn’t you know it? In the midst of the worst drought central Texas had ever seen, where parts of the lakes were near rock beds, we struck location gold; three acres with a view of God’s green earth, and all the glorious colors of an unobstructed sunset over Lake Travis. Read more>>
Jazmine Paige
My biggest risk was being forced to be an entrepreneur, due to my son’s (Kace) special needs; Autism and Vision impairment. Every move I had to take while being his mom were all risks. I couldn’t commit to any workplace‘s schedule and time. My time became Kace’s time. Which lead me to getting more serious with my entrepreneurship. Thank God I found my gift before becoming a mother. I always loved/love what I do, but now instead of it being a hobby it became my full time job! Bills were coming and I needed food and a roof for my son , so my grind and motivation sky rocketed! Read more>>
Jalen Henderson
Doing Music Overall Is A Risk , People Always Tell You Get A Job , Go To School , Or Go To The Military If You Want to Be Successful Which Isn’t True At All Most Millionares Didn’t Attend College Or Work A 9-5 Job They Are Entrepreneurs , And People Who Put All Their Eggs In A Basket For What They Love To Do And Thats How I Took A Risk Doing Music. I’m Taking A Route That Not Many People Actually Believe In But A Few Others Around Me. I Take That Risk To Potientially Live The Life I Want To Live Which Is A Peaceful- Financially Free Life. Read more>>
WENDY DARLING
When I was young, I was definitely a risk taker. If I was offered a challenge, I took it (trusting I would figure it out). At age 28 I accepted the position of Dean of Students for Semester at Sea. We had over 700 students, living on a ship, sailing around the world. It was a huge undertaking, but I did it! However, after a serious accident in 1990, my confidence was severely shaken. VERY long story, short, I passed out while outside of the Dallas airport, falling over a ledge and dropping 25 feet. I shattered my leg, had back fractures, and later diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Read more>>