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.

Holly Michelson

We bought one way tickets to Africa. Moved there with our five-year-old son to meet the five year old twins that we intended to adopt. Our wedding photography business was only a few years old and we had our best year yet. But nothing was going to stand in our way, we knew these girls needed a family and we planned to give them one. We lived there for 5 months while going through the process to adopt. Read more>>

Rose Price

All my life, I have taken risks. But becoming a business owner within an industry where i had no networked connections and no prior experience, was probably the most terrifying I have gone through. It all began in 2001, when I was 18 years old and decided to join the U.S Air Force as a Healthcare Manager. Tragically, 9/11 happened that year and it made me want to become a part of something bigger than myself; to be a part of influencing change. Read more>>

Ana Rodriguez Caballero

Back in the summer of 2018, my mom and I decided to change our lives and move to America from Mexico, specifically Callahan (a VERY small town near Jacksonville!) Little did I know, this risky decision was one of the biggest blessings in my life. My first year at a school in the US wasn’t the best per se, a new language, culture, and country was a big shock in my life and at times I begged to return to Mexico because I missed everything and everyone back home. Thankfully, perseverance came and I began my freshman year of high school; Read more>>

Nepado

Taking risks is a big part of being someone who is creative. I can take a risk in how I approach making music by trying something I believe is unique, but wondering how it will be percieved. I’ve also taken risks by exploring my artistic expression in different ways, like making clothes and painting. Although I’ve encountered many small risks on a day-to-day basis, the biggest risk I’ve taken so far in my career as a creative, is moving out if my home town. I’m from Ellicott City, Maryland, and had been there all my life until a little over a year ago when I decided to move to Atlanta, Georgia. Read more>>

Chris and Heather Campbell

Back in 2005, Chris was working full time in information technologies as a network specialist in the Automotive industry. At the time Chris was teaching Kiteboarding on the side and thought it would be fun to do a side job by opening a business related to it. In 2006 he jumped in and decided to take everything he had and open a Kiteboarding store. Read more>>

Elizabeth Nestlerode

On March 11th, 2020 I taught a workshop introducing students to music and choreography from a Broadway show and facilitated a talkback (15 min Q & A between the audience and performers) for what we would soon find out had been the penultimate performance of Frozen on Broadway. I was in rehearsal for a concert I would be performing at the Florida Thespians Festival the following week, stepping in for one of the members of the band The Skivvies. Read more>>

Emma Scott

I knew that pursuing a career in live theatre would be risky. Though I knew I wanted to be involved in costumes, there’s always the fear of the unknown. Would I be successful? Where do I even start looking for backstage jobs? Am I the right fit for this career? Ever since I was young, I’ve wanted to be involved in some kind of creative career. I loved designing clothes, and admired all the popular designers that have become household names. Read more>>

Jorja Gust

I was a senior in college, two semesters away from becoming a teacher, and I decided to change my major and go a route where I felt called- write and become an author. Like many of us, we have had a dream of becoming something since we were little. When I grew up, I wanted to be a teacher. I told everyone I knew that this is what I was going to be, I had connections, assurance, and so many things lined up that I would be silly to say “no” to teach. Read more>>

ReallyRich Kp

Music businesse take a lot of work. As a artist I feel like we take risk every day. The time, money, & sacrifices is a big part of the business being in the industry. Read more>>

Teela Brown

A risk I’ve taken in life has been to leave my retail management employment of 20 years and start over in the real estate industry as an entrepreneur. An industry I knew nothing about. In May 2019, I had 2 weeks left of personal vacation time sitting in my employee account at my retail job. I was not happy where I was in my career. I had been a retail manager for over 20 years and knew there had to be more to life than just opening and closing a store. Read more>>

Arden Coutts

In 2019 I left my six-figure job to start my own business. I have worked for the federal government for 7.5 years. My mental health was declining at that job, and I took a month and a half off from work to go to therapy for the first time and began to evaluate my life and where I wanted to go. I was extremely unhappy and wanted to be in a more creative space and eventually start my own business. I left that government job and got a new position as a contractor. I worked for them for a year, using my new salary increase to fund my upcoming departure. Read more>>

Brandon Rittenhouse

The best risk you can take is betting on yourself. It’s the hardest yet most rewarding thing you can do. Jason and I worked for numerous bands in Nashville doing tours we didn’t like and playing Broadway on repeat. Every time a new opportunity appeared, it was too good to be true or wasn’t exactly what we were looking for in our careers — we wanted to be in the moment with the people on and off stage, not read from a script. We were stuck, aimless, getting burnt out. Read more>>

Jadah Mcclam

Hi, my name is Jadah, I’m 20 years old and I’m the CEO of McClam Accessories At the age of 16, I decided I wanted to change the path I was heading down. On January 28th of ——-, McClam Accessories was born! From humble beginnings to now—we started off originally only selling bangles and bracelets. However, being that I knew I wanted to scale my business larger than my own city, with discipline and hustle, Read more>>

Karla Pacheco

I was a regular employee for 15 years in the automobile industry in Puerto Rico, I took various positions seeking to generate more money for my family. I finally took the risk of moving to Florida, jobless, with just $500 in my pocket, but eager to get ahead. My boyfriend’s family gave us accommodation and in three months, we had a furnished apartment, a car and everything we needed to settle down. Read more>>

Aretuza Caldas Garner

I lived in Turks and Caicos Islands for many years. I had a Dance School that provided scholarships opportunities for children that loved to dance. After moving to USA in 2010 and teaching Ballet everywhere; i’ve decided it was time to open a another Ballet School. I took the risk and opened the School in 2021 where Covid was hitting all the Countries. Read more>>

Dana Toledo

I had been living in Los Angeles for 7 years already when I established the beginning of my creative career as a hospitality interior designer. Los Angeles was my home and a place that I’ve really grown to love and embrace as it had opened so many life-changing opportunities for me. My whole life was in LA – my chosen family, my 12-year-old Siberian Husky, and my connections in the design industry. Read more>>

Tavon Bookman

While I was managing and iLoveKickboxing location in Atlanta, I had a very unique opportunity and it might be perhaps the biggest work-related risk I’ve taken in my career to date. I had previously managed boutique style gyms for the past 3 years and acheived major successess while doing so. I figured out a system of training, sales, and provided a customer experience that seem to cultivate success within my teams, studios, and myself personally. I was comfortable earning my salary and commissions for the work I was putting in. Read more>>

Brandy Cochrane

I’ve always wanted to live in NYC. I’m not sure why, but from an early age , the city just called me. After doing a little research I realized, I would need to get a roommate if I wanted to eat and pay rent so I went to Craigslist and started my searched. I met a girl who seemed really cool. She was my age, had a good vibe and was actually from NYC. We found an apartment that we loved and on the day we went to sign the lease, she didn’t have her half of the money. Read more>>

zandi holup

I think risk taking is all about perspective. If you take a risk, you are usually risking stability. But by not taking a risk, you are risking never being truly fulfilled. I have taken many risks. I never went to college, some people would say that is a risk, but for me it would have been more of a risk to pursue something I wasn’t passionate about for 4 years. Some people would say it is a risk that the music I write goes against the grain rather than fitting in, but I think it would be a bigger risk to sacrifice my individuality. Read more>>

Shenel Rimando

One of the most significant risks in my life was relocating from Houston, TX to San Antonio, TX after graduating college. I was moving to another city alone and knew nothing about the construction industry. My degrees were in Marketing & Finance and my background was in retail and hospitality. Read more>>

Corry Rogers

I took a risk at quitting my job and pursuing my career as a full time Artist. I was a Police Officer. and I was miserable. The job impacted my physical health. I had a major back surgery as a result of an on the job injury. Additionally, my mental health was declining because I was unhappy. I used to paint on the side, with hopes of eventually being able to pursue my art fulltime. However, long work hours made it very difficult to complete any artwork. Read more>>

Muriel Smith

I think the biggest risk in my career that I have taken is leaving a job where I was comfortable, successful, and well-liked to begin a different journey. Throughout my career, I have always said that I wanted to run a small nonprofit organization. I wanted to use the knowledge and skills I had amassed to make a good organization, a great organization. The change was risky because the organization I was going to was very young and the climate was volatile. But, I believed that I could stabilize it and really make a difference in the structure of the organization. Read more>>

Crystal Moon

When you’re a kid, everyone tells you to be yourself. But as we get older, we learn that being yourself—showing the world who you truly are—filter free—is one of the scariest things you could ever do. In fact, to me, being yourself and dreaming up the life you truly want is quite risky business. When I was 21 years old I asked my friend if she wanted to jump out of a plane. My friend, being the crazy good friend that she was, agreed. I remember waiting…and waiting. Finally going up 10,000 feet above the ground. Read more>>

Tara Reed

One year ago I quit my stable full time job to pursue my life long dream of being a full time artist. It was one of the scariest but most fulfilling risks I have ever taken. I was the Artist Community Manager for the print-on-demand fabric and wallpaper company, Spoonflower. Here I was working tirelessly to help other artists make a living doing what they love, meanwhile putting my own art on the back-burner. I never believed in myself enough to feel like I could be one of those artists. I shifted my perspective and began to think – if I can work this hard for others, why not for myself? Read more>>

John Bumstead

The biggest risk I’ve taken was dumping the corporate world after 14 years and deciding the start my business. At the time I felt I had everything to lose and very little to gain, but I later realized I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. My business became the foundation out of which so many other opportunities and interests grew — opportunities that would never have come to light had I stayed in a place that was not open to them. Read more>>

Tia Evans

In 2018, I walked away from the life I built as a pastry chef. I became a teacher; it was stable, it had health insurance, it was going to pay off my debt. I was going to love it. I kept telling myself that, kept lying to myself. In March of 2022, I didn’t return to teaching after Spring Break. I cried every day and it had to stop. I had to figure out what to do next. Due to the support of my partner, I was finally able to take a risk. Read more>>

Sione Vasi

First of all I’m C1 and I truly believe I’m one of the best singer songwriter in the world right now even tho the world don’t kno me yet. If my voice was at a hunnit, hands down I’m the best lol fr Well I guess You can say this was a big challenge and a big risk at the same time Kinda lol Russ is a famous rapper with a good voice and the style he brings is dangerous. Early last year My little brother brought up to me that RUSS was releasing a song a week at that time. I think he was bouta drop the 5th song that week . Read more>>

Roniesha Adams

After graduating from college in 2016 as a double honors major in Education, I packed my bags and left my hometown in Youngstown Ohio. I decided to move to Columbus, Ohio to pursue greater opportunities. The backstory of my career path in cosmetics began in middle school. I was bullied by my classmates. I was called “raccoon eyes” or “raccoon” by classmates due to my skin pigmentation. At that time, I slowly began questioning my appearance, as my self-confidence was low and I wasn’t quite aware of a skincare regimen at this age. Read more>>

Nylon Keies

Being an Entertainer is hard work and dedication and you just never know if you will get the one viral moment or the one rare opportunity to be heard and noticed. So, I feel like putting all my eggs in one basket could be considered risky. However, for me it’s worth it because I know that I was born to sing. All my life I never saw anything other then being an artist for me. I believe that without risk there is no reward. Read more>>

Annie Scherer

In October 2021, I moved away from home for the first time to pursue my musical career. I saved my money during the 10 months that followed my college graduation, and moved to Nashville with no job. Out of all the music hubs, Nashville made the most sense. It was the most affordable and I had a couple friends who had made the move first. Read more>>

Shari Lacy

I have always been a creative. Growing up, I was always drawing, creating, experimenting with different mediums and having fun. I worked as an airbrush artist from ages 16-22 at a major amusement park and it was excellent “training” for learning the discipline of being consistent. Then I went to college and decided to major in Fine Art and marketing. Read more>>

Adrienne Pearl

I obtained my business and salesperson license in real estate while being employed as full-time school counselor with Virginia Beach Public Schools. I loved both careers but I started to face burnout as a school counselor. Additionally, my career as a real estate professional started to take off. As I grew in real estate, it became difficult to balance both careers, especially during the pandemic when the demands and needs were high. Read more>>

Ryan Dietiker

When taking risks, you weigh the options. For myself, it was the option to stay in place or push the limits of what I thought capable of myself and risk everything for a dream. To open my business in the respected field of barbering was a huge risk. How would I make money to support myself? Where could I even afford to open a location? Read more>>

Danielle Dudley

I am not a big risk taker. I am not a gambler unless I know the odds are more than in my favor. However, at the end of 2020 I decided I was no longer happy at my job. I had become a single mom of my toddler and newborn girls. It was a really tough time (and sometimes still is). I was only planning on taking 10 weeks for maternity leave, but that turned into 8 months, partly due to COVID. After I went back to my job at a franchise, I dreaded going to work. I didn’t feel like there was any more room for growth as a massage therapist or income. Read more>>

Deanna Agbalaya

Taking risk what’s something I was always scared to do, but May 14, 2022 I quit my job to pursue full-time entrepreneurship career as an artist and working in reality tv. I work as a case manager for four years, while still working towards my dream of becoming a famous entertainer. It was hard to travel to do bookings while still working 9 to 5, because I always had obligations. This was one of my biggest risk I ever took in my life because I didn’t know where my next real income would come from at that point and music and reality TV was not pay my bills, so I was going out on a dream, hoping taking that big step of pursuing my dream 100% will take off and support me. Read more>>

Tiffany Jones

In October my partner and I launched Nosybystanderstv on Roku. Months before we had to gather talent for the channel, which is depending on others to contribute content to the channel, and we still had to maintain our own social media platforms to promote the channel. We have 20 creators that make content, so it is a huge undertaking. Also, the success or failure of the channel depends solely on the us. It’s a HUGE risk. Read more>>

Rebeca Paro

One of the biggest risks for me was switching my photography business from weddings to equine portraits. It was scary to start over and rebuild my client base while learning a whole new industry. But over the years I learned to work with others that lifted me up and wanted me to succeed. That community helped me grow my photography business into something I’m very proud of and love to do. Read more>>

Tom Meredith

I’ve NEVER SHARED THIS WITH ANYONE… Holy Fuck!! Let me go!! Where am I?! Let me go!! was the first thing I yelled when I woke up inside the craft. I was mentally strapped to a cold metal table covered in hot sticky sweat. I was breathing heavily as if id just ran a marathon. I was dizzy with flashing bright lights in my face. I couldn’t see them but have flashbacks of their outlines. Read more>>

Cassie Brooks

The biggest risk was writing the story at all and publicly sharing it. There is a lot of background that surrounds this story for me personally that has changed my life and made it quite magical. I’ve always enjoyed writing and dabbled in poetry and fanfiction and am an avid reader too. At one point 2 years ago, I decided I wanted to invest in my writing, so I signed up for a writing program to help my focus and help me actually writing my fantasy novel. Read more>>