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.

Rachel Adkins

In 2015, I took one of the biggest leaps of my life—I became a mother and a business owner in the same week. After years of working as a professional nanny and preschool teacher, I decided to start my own nanny agency when I got pregnant with my first son. It was something I had been dreaming about for years—parents would constantly ask me if I knew “someone like me” to help care for their children. I had a strong network of nanny friends, a love of supporting families, and a deep desire to build something of my own. So, I went for it. I made my very first placement—introducing a nanny to a family—from my hospital bed after giving birth. In hindsight, I probably should’ve taken maternity leave, but at the time, it felt right. I had this instinct that I needed to start building something for my future and my family. Read more>>

Manna Dabholkar

Sometimes, the biggest risks aren’t the ones that seem reckless, but the ones that force you to step into the unknown with nothing but conviction. Leaving my job at the American Red Cross was one of those risks. On paper, it was an incredible job—stable, reputable, and filled with purpose. But over time, I started to feel a disconnect between the work I was doing and the person I was becoming. I wanted to be in the trenches, directly empowering people, standing beside families in need rather than operating within structured systems. The job was meaningful, but it wasn’t aligned with the way I envisioned making a difference. Read more>>

Alexis Sones

Many people think the boldest thing an artist does is make their first mark on a blank canvas. But there’s a step before that I feel is far more significant: to fully devote oneself to being an artist. After 10 years of dividing my focus with other jobs, I finally took the leap to pour all of my creative energy into my art. Read more>>

Friday Jones

My biggest risk? Getting tattooed in 1991 when I was still considered prime stock on the high-value marriage market. I was a private university student, daughter of a high-ranking military official, and newly working as a tattooist in the Bible Belt. You could practically hear the pearls clutching. Back then, a woman getting visibly tattooed wasn’t edgy, it was a one-way ticket to spinsterhood, or at the very least, social Siberia. Read more>>

Aisha Midgett

For a long time, I chose safety. Not because I lacked ambition. I’ve always had big dreams. But I was just trying to make it through. Showing up for everyone but myself. Giving and giving, while my own spirit stayed half-fed. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t just exhausted. I was disconnected from who I truly was. Read more>>

Luke St. Amand

For most of my life, I was convinced STEM wasn’t for me. From middle school through high school, no matter how hard I studied, science and math were always the classes I struggled in most. I’d tell myself what so many students still do today: “I’m just not meant for this.” Read more>>

Monique Burt

My entire career as an unconventional wearable artist has been shaped around risk taking and trusting my unique path. I spent my first year of college at a small, private, university. During that first year, I was going through the motions of higher education and aimlessly working towards nothing. When I decided to leave the university I was told that I would not be able to retain my transcript to transfer due to a large balance on my bursar account. My two options during that time were to stay unhappy and unmotivated at the small, private university or leave the university without my transcript. I decided to leave. I began working at a retail store that helped me reconnect with my love for design and fashion. Read more>>

Corey Comer

Debut Ticketed Concert Set for November 8, 2025 at the Historic Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines, NC

Southern Pines, NC —
In a bold and inspiring career move, Corey Comer left behind his role in law enforcement in 2024 to pursue his true passion—music. Now an emerging singer, songwriter, and musician, Comer is finding success on stages from New York to Nashville. Read more>>

Lino

I was born in Mexico and raised in Santa Ana, California. After graduating high school, I made one of the riskiest decisions of my life, I chose to return to Mexico in search of better opportunities. As someone who was undocumented in the United States, going back to “home” I barely remembered was terrifying. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to return to the U.S. leaving my family behind was really hard, and it eventually took me five long years to become a U.S. Resident. Read more>>

Deb Ryder

I have been a singer/songwriter my entire life and have performed on numerous national commercials, Las Vegas shows, countless demos and television and motion picture scores. One day I turned to my husband bassist Ric Ryder and said “ you know, everyone knows my voice, but no one knows it’s me singing”. He said “well, we’ll make a CD” but he believed so strongly in my writing and singing abilities that he insisted we only record my original tunes”. We created our first record together “Might Just Get Lucky” and released it in 2013. Read more>>

Michael Feldkamp

The biggest risk I’ve taken in my life was starting a business with two of my best friends: my mom Jeanne, and my best friend Jack. I think it’s pretty common to hear the saying “don’t go into business with your friends” and the same for your family, but I am forever grateful to have been given the opportunity to do both.  Read more>>

Stephanie Jesko

My career path has been somewhat unconventional, and I believe that’s where some of the most significant opportunities for growth and risk-taking have presented themselves. I began my career in advertising after graduating from Bowling Green State University in 2009, working as a designer at a new agency. That experience was foundational, but life led me to a different path for a time. I spent several years at a local bank, which allowed me to build strong community relationships that later became invaluable. My husband and I started our family, and I gained experience in different roles, including at a custom apparel shop. Read more>>

Nate Krimmel

I’ve been acting since I was seven years old, growing up in Baltimore and spending years immersed in the local arts scene. After I graduated from Washington College in 2018, I moved back home and worked locally for a few years in local theatre (shoutout to Fells Point Corner Theatre, The Strand, and Vagabond Players), student films, and indie projects. As time went by -and the pandemic- I kept thinking about my big move. I was either going to move to NYC or LA. I had always loved movies and knew that if I was going to pursue acting commercially as a career I’d have to make the leap. I also wanted to live in a big city away from all the usual machinations that made me comfortable. So instead of moving a couple of hours north, I moved across the country! Read more>>

Crystal Robinson

For four years, I worked in a job that slowly but steadily took a toll on my mental health. At first, I tried to push through, thinking it was just stress or part of the grind. But over time, I realized that the environment was draining me emotionally, mentally, and even physically. I was constantly anxious, uninspired, and felt like I was losing parts of myself just trying to keep up. I reached a point where I knew something had to change. Read more>>

Max Mignot

I was born in Paris and raised in Montreal, where I built deep friendships and envisioned a future in a vibrant city full of opportunity. But at 20, I made the bold decision to leave that behind and move to St. Barts, drawn by family roots and a sense that something new was waiting. It was a risk—trading the familiar pace and possibilities of city life for an island where nothing was guaranteed. Read more>>

Mark

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was going to college.

To many, that might not sound like a risk at all—but for me, it was everything.

I come from a family of immigrant workers. My parents came to the United States to work in the fields. They were just teenagers when they had me—my mother was 15, and my father was 16. Both dropped out of school to provide for me and, eventually, my four siblings. Life was hard. By the time I was 16, my father had started grooming me to help him in his drug-dealing business. At 17, after he left our family, I was driving six hours to deliver money across the Mexican border—all to be the obedient son I thought I had to be. Read more>>

Erin Hadfield

I believe that the biggest risk I have taken is to become an actress full time. This is not a business for the faint of heart. Sometimes you can be lucky or in the right time and place, to have a certain role dropped in your lap that launches your career; but for the majority it is a struggle to become simply a working actor/actress. I had certain self-doubts, which we all do. Excuses to keep up from striving towards that big dream we’ve always wanted. It can be daunting at times. Auditioning over and over to the abyss where auditions go, and not hear back a single word. Which then brings about all the questions, like are we “winning the room,” were we terrible, Read more>>

Ishadai Jones

It is the year of the snake and the snake sheds the old ways it has outgrown. This year feels so much like the great snake shed, revealing the new and the risk to do something radically different, not defining my life or seeing myself through the lens of who I was, but see the possibilities of who I am becoming. Read more>>

Chris Villegas

One of the biggest risks I ever took was walking away from a stable career in the military to pursue acting and writing in Hollywood. I was born and raised in Texas, and like a lot of people I knew, the military offered structure, purpose, and a guaranteed paycheck. I enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served for 10 years, traveling around the world and experiencing many different cultures, environments, and communities. It was life-changing, but not in the way I expected. Read more>>

Danielle Saff

One of the biggest risks I’ve taken was shifting my career path after completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Central Florida. I had studied Political Science with the intention of going into law or lobbying. On paper, it made sense—but deep down, I realized something was missing. I craved more direct, one-on-one connection and the ability to make a tangible impact in people’s lives. Read more>>

Audifax

When I was young, all I wanted to do was be an artist, but being from a small town and a family trying to make ends meet, art wasn’t encouraged as a career. When it was time to go to college, I didn’t know what to choose and my family didn’t have money to pay for it, so I found random work until I was 25 when I had saved enough money to open a clothing and record store while working other jobs to support it. After four years, the economy shifted and it had to close, leaving me lost once again… But the universe had other plans. Read more>>

Rob Beedle

I’m taking a risk right now — launching my own small apparel business. People do this every day, but it’s a risk for me because I’ve never done anything like it. I’ve mostly worked tech jobs with various art-related side hustles, like branding and design for local businesses, sign art at Trader Joe’s, tattoo illustration, and other odd jobs (think pet portraits). Read more>>

Tequona Neal

The biggest risk that I took was running and operating my business full-time. As an Event Designer, there are highs/lows, and your peak season for events. The industry of event planning is forever evolving and one must be willing to adapt and keep up if one desires to remain pertinent. The saying “When God gives you a vision, He makes provision” has never been more true in instances such as that. During off season, one may not receive as many bookings, leaving one to wonder how will they sustain. When that happens, one may look for ways to elevate the services offered perhaps by adding another, or simply revamping your business. Read more>>

Hilary Weingarden

I’m a licensed psychologist who has been on a well-defined career path for the past decade in grant-funded academic medicine research. My work has focused on using tech to better assess and treat obsessive compulsive and related disorders. When you enter grad school in clinical psychology, you’re taught in pretty black-and-white terms that if you want a research career, you have to pursue it full-force and without taking detours, or you can’t get back on track and you close the door to that career forever. It’s a lot of pressure! Read more>>

Amy Bauer

I’ve taken many risks in the last three years. They were really propelled by a risk I took in 2013. With one suitcase and a backpack I bought a one way ticket moving from NYC to California. No job lined up. No friends waiting for me. Nowhere to live. Yet, still I am here. A proud resident of Long Beach California and loving every minute of my life. Read more>>

Daniella Quagliara

I never thought of myself as a risk taker until I received this question and reflected back on my life. There are three key moments in my life where I took big risks because my heart and Spirit were so strong, I truly had no choice. I’m sure there were smaller ones throughout the course of my life, but these are the ones that directed me to stay on the path my higher self and soul chose for me. Read more>>