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.

Brittany Maurizi

In April 2025, I took one of the biggest risks of my life: I opened Balanced Behaviors, LLC. At the time, I had a stable full-time job, a young family depending on me, and no formal background in business. But I also had something else, an unshakable feeling that I was meant to build something of my own, something that aligned with my passion and values. I recently made the bold decision to step away from my full-time position to pursue this dream full time. It’s terrifying, if I’m being honest. I’m responsible for little ones who count on me every day, and I’m stepping into unfamiliar territory, guided not by a business degree but by my own grit, heart, and belief that this is the right path. Read more>>

Rachel Snyder

After 18 years of teaching choral music and show choir in public schools, I decided to leave the profession all together. I was burned out through covid, fighting for the performing arts in our county, having to navigate teaching online while sports got to prevail, being falsely accused of many things via media, parents, and eventually students. All while enduring the death of my father, healing trauma of my students from their previous experience, as well as my own. “Burn out” was an understatement. Read more>>

Avai D’Amico

One risk I took was deciding to forge my own path in the entertainment industry, instead of just working for someone else, or waiting for the right person to notice me so I could finally get my big break. Choosing to make my own opportunities was a scary thing, because when you’re producing your own film and television productions independently, you take all the risk, and you’re the sole person ultimately responsible for, well, everything. If someone else drops the ball, you’ve got to pick it up and run, for the sake of completing the production. It’s a responsibility that requires either a lot of money, or the ability to wear many different hats, so you can get many tasks done on your own if you can’t afford to hire someone else for specific things. Read more>>

Ali Mandsourwala

It was 2020 and Covid has just shut down the entire world and we being in the Senior medical staffing business had access to thousands of medical professionals and ended up signing a contract with the Florida Department of Emergency Management, which was working under FEMA, to provide nurses and other medical professionals, throughout the state of Florida to provide Covid vaccines and Covid testing. At the peak of the contract, we had almost 400 medical professionals working with the state helping with Covid testing and Covid vaccinations. So when we first started working with the government, we started with 20 nurses and then little by little that ramped up to 400 nurses in a very short amount of time. Read more>>

Rohit Relan

The biggest risk I have taken was moving countries and letting go of a stable, promising career back home in Mumbai, India. I was working on mainstream Bollywood projects, collaborating with some of the most prominent names in the industry. A successful career was already within reach, but I chose to immigrate to the United States instead. Read more>>

Ryan Benjelloun

Back in 2019, I started posting on TikTok.
No blueprint. No brand deals. No “creator economy.” Just me, a phone, and an idea: What if I just made stuff I actually enjoyed?

At the time, no one in London was doing it. I’d walk into rooms and get side-eyed. People made jokes. They’d say “That TikTok app? That’s for kids.” Or they’d act like content creation wasn’t a real path — like it was some phase I’d grow out of. Read more>>

Patricia Avila

Since 2022, I’ve proudly served as the Executive Director of the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame & Museum, a role I stepped into after the passing of my father, Reynaldo “Rey” Avila Sr., the museum’s founder. His vision was to preserve and celebrate the legacy of conjunto music—a genre born in our hometown of San Benito, Texas, in 1934. Often called the folk music of South Texas, conjunto is a distinctly American tradition deeply rooted in our cultural identity. Read more>>

Michael Warrick

The biggest risk I took was launching the GeekedT brand. I’ve been an avid reader of comics and a viewer of media such as television and film. I enjoy learning about the history and highlighting the best parts of my community (LGBTQ+), and I like listening to how other creatives develop their work. Read more>>

RGM ACCOUNTING

After 14 years in the pharmaceutical world, Natalia Lopez Melendez had built a reputation for excellence in clinical engagement and strategic leadership. But something deeper was stirring. She began to feel a disconnect between the systems she was helping to optimize and the communities she longed to serve more directly. The spreadsheets, protocols, and boardroom meetings no longer felt like the full expression of her purpose. Read more>>

Gabby Durden

For years, I was known as a professional gaming broadcaster. I spent over a decade in the industry, eventually becoming the first woman play-by-play caster for the League of Legends Championship Series—one of the biggest esports leagues in the world. On paper, it was a dream job. But behind the scenes, the environment was toxic for me. I was burning out, losing my voice—figuratively and almost literally—and feeling further and further from the person I wanted to be. Read more>>

Lennox Rees

Much like The Fool card in a tarot deck, taking a risk requires both courageous trust and wild curiosity. When I decided to create my first deck, Coastal Curiosities Oracle, it was not only a risk to create something I had never created before but also to make art in a way I had sworn to myself I would never do. Read more>>

Hannah Hughes

The biggest risk I have taken was moving from New York, where I grew up, to Los Angeles at 20 years old. I knew it would be beneficial for me and my creative path, but also knew that I had to part ways with my old life to build new beginnings. This was one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself, and taught me that taking a leap of faith is necessary to become the highest version of yourself. Read more>>

Jeff Smith

I grew up in a far-from-perfect home. At one point, things got so bad my mom left my dad. But eventually, she came back. She didn’t have a college degree or a work history, and in her mind, the best way she could take care of me and my two brothers was to go back — even though going back meant returning to a situation that was painful and unhealthy. Read more>>

Nika

Taking risks is a big part of being a business owner, but it’s not always the obvious kind. For me, the risk wasn’t just starting my Esthetics practice during uncertain times. The real growth came later when I faced two pivotal moments.

First, I had to overcome the fear of charging my worth. There’s a common saying, “charge less than others and you’ll get more clients,” but I quickly learned that undervaluing my services and skills meant clients would too. Early on, I relied heavily on companies that offer discount promotions to attract potential clients, which mostly brought in one-time visitors chasing the next deal. Read more>>

Lenni Jenkins

In late 2020 after being locked in our apartment for months during the Covid epidemic in Portland, Oregon with no end in sight, I decided it was time to make a move. We were a family of 5 including myself, my partner, and my 3 children and like the rest of the world, we were struggling to exist…mentally, physically, and emotionally. Our daily routine had gone from school, work, preparing meals and weekend adventures to becoming prisoners in our home, not allowed to leave. We basically spent our days in our pajamas with no routine or adventure…just existing. After several months of this with no end in sight, my partner and I decided that in order to preserve whatever sanity we had left, we had to make a leap of faith. Read more>>

Sydney Weed

I know it sounds like the classic “biggest-risk” story, but the boldest move I’ve ever made—personally and professionally—was walking away from my corporate gig as lead counselor in a residential substance-use facility and betting on myself by launching my own private practice.

I loved guiding those clients, but the burnout was next-level. After an hour-long commute home, I had zero energy left for my husband or my two little girls. When my second daughter was born, the lightbulb finally flicked on: something had to change. Read more>>

Louis Brown

When I was 25 years old, I was a manager at Red Lobster. One day, as I was getting ready for work, I got this overwhelming feeling that it was time to quit. I don’t know what was causing me to feel that way, but it was too strong to ignore. So I quit- with no job lined up, no plan to pay rent, nothing. 4 days later, I received my first tv job offer, and I’ve worked in tv full time ever since. Read more>>

Jessica Morrobel

One of the biggest (and scariest) risks I’ve ever taken was walking away from my corporate job to become a full-time content creator. At the time, I had what many would consider a “dream” career, including stabilityand the kind of title you’re supposed to be proud of. But deep down, I felt disconnected. I was spending my evenings filming tutorials and my weekends editing videos, dreaming of a more creative and purpose-filled life. Quitting that job felt like jumping without a parachute, but I knew I couldn’t ignore the pull any longer. There was no blueprint, no guaranteed income, just a whole lot of hope and late-night editing sessions. Read more>>

Val Yang

One of the biggest risks I’ve taken was claiming myself as an artist. Even though I trained in the arts for years, it still felt impossible to say out loud that I wanted to make art on my own terms—telling my stories instead of other people’s, working for myself instead of being safely employed. My parents are both hardworking people from a small town in China, where stability and modesty are prized. Growing up, even eating out at a restaurant or buying a new shirt felt like an indulgence. So when someone like me says, “I want to be an artist,” it can sound like a luxury, even a sign of delusion. The fear of seeming irresponsible or entitled kept me from fully stepping into that identity for a long time. Read more>>

Daisy Mollica

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was moving my entire life from Belgium to the U.S.—without a plan, a job, or any guarantee that it would work out.

It started when I was 21. I had just graduated with a degree in Business Management (major in accounting and taxes), and before starting my first “real” adult job back home, I took a trip to California. I signed up for an international language course—mostly because my mom wouldn’t have let me travel to the U.S. solo otherwise—and that’s when I first landed in San Diego. I immediately fell in love with it: the energy, the lifestyle, the sunshine. Something in me knew I wasn’t meant to go back. But I had a job waiting, and life was moving forward, so I did what I was “supposed” to do. Read more>>

Amanda Bryant

The risk I took was to become a travel agent toward the end of COVID and follow that with opening my own travel agency less than a year later in October 2022.

I began my journey as a travel agent in December ’21. The world was generally closed or just starting to open and I began to educate myself about the industry and what the opportunity presented. It was a big risk…to enter a “new to me” industry where the future was uncertain. When would the world open again? What would travel look like? Would people want to travel with the risk of falling ill? Could I deliver as a travel agent amidst the turmoil? Read more>>

AESON

The biggest risk I’ve taken wasn’t giving up everything it was believeing in myself later than most.

A lot of artists begin their careers young, but for me, it took time to fully step into who I am and realize music wasn’t just something I loved it was something I had to do. I kept putting it off, thinking maybe it was too late, that I missed my shot, or I should I just focus on college. But deep down, I knew I had something special to offer a unique voice, real stories, Cinematic visuals, and a sound that didn’t follow trends, but set them. Read more>>

Micayla Bedoian & Sahara Embry

When we started Refined, I (Micayla) walked away from a 6-figure 9–5 that looked great on paper… but felt like a dead end. I was stuck in a role that didn’t light me up, and I knew my heart wasn’t in it for the long haul. Bottom line: I couldn’t keep building someone else’s dream.

Meanwhile, Sahara had already built two successful businesses in the real estate world and was scaling her third. When we started dreaming up Refined, it wasn’t just about design. It was about doing things differently – building a studio that actually gave a damn about the business behind the brand. Not just pretty logos or cute websites. We wanted to create brands that work for you; brands that are strategic, intentional, and built to grow. Read more>>

Philip Trossarello

Since separating from the Military and attending SCAD I have been lucky to have had alot of Performing opportunities on Sceen, Stage, in VO, and in Digital work. That all came with risks, but the wonderful thing about this business is you have to continually start over every day, and in the event things don’t pan out, you can fail forward and try again. Read more>>

Christina Davis

In 2021, I decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in video production. I didn’t really know anyone in LA, except for 1 or 2 friends I wasn’t too close with. I was moving mid-pandemic with no connections and no leads on work, so I knew I faced an uphill battle. However, I knew if I was ever going to move on with my life I had to get out of the Bay Area and try something new. I got divorced in 2017, and moved back in with my parents for the past 4 years. They were concerned about me, because they didn’t know what I was going to do. Shoot, neither did I. All I knew was that I loved filming content, and I had a knack for it. Read more>>

Chris Alan Evans

I’m a cliché. I’m the “it’s never too late to start chasing your dreams” variety. At age 39, I was in a successful broadcasting career, and I was miserable. I saw how corporate culture was changing my chosen industry of radio broadcasting and I could forecast how the next 15-20 years would go and i didn’t like it. Honestly though, I was protected… I was kind of the “golden boy” in my broadcasting group. I feel like I could’ve retired in that field and been financially fine, but I’m certain I wouldn’t have been mentally fine. I just wasn’t fulfilled creatively. I had a “cool job” in most people’s eyes, but in my eyes it was no different than the typical 9 to 5 slog that people all over America lament for themselves. For my whole life I had dreamed of making movies and performing; but here I was, 15 years into a radio career and I had gotten so comfortable that I had forgotten that dream. Read more>>

Paige Madden

I have typically been a pretty risk-averse person in life, and enjoy consistency and predictability. However, the biggest risks I have taken thus far have led to the most rewarding and formative chapters in my life.

The first big risk I took was moving across the country from Oregon all the way to Orlando, Florida. After spending the first 22 years of my life in my hometown, I had grown quite comfortable with my life there. However, after graduating with my undergraduate degree, I make the decision — that surprised even myself — to move to the complete other side of the country to get my masters degree. I didn’t know a single person in Orlando, and was leaving my friends, family, and familiarity for a complete unknown. In the weeks before moving, I felt sick to my stomach, wondering what it would be like – what if I hated it? Read more>>

Laura Martin

I am a pretty adventurous person, and am quick to say yes to new opportunities or experiences, especially as it relates to travel or cuisine! In my work, however, I haven’t always lived with the same spirit of adventure. In fact, I’m living out the biggest professional risk I’ve ever taken right now! Read more>>