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.

Billy Hawkains

Yea. Risk taking is scary. But oh how necessary it is for our growth. I’m currently generating a new dance creation through Dance Canvas’s Choreographer Career Development Initiative with five incredible dancers (shoutout to you all!). I hadn’t choreographed a dance for a production of this magnitude since my graduate thesis in 2020/2021, and even then it was a film that (if I do say so myself) wasn’t at all my best piece of work choreographically. Read more>>

Paula Brett

Everyone was looking at it. The painting was big and beautiful and alive. As I stood there with my baby strapped to my chest, a woman next to me in the middle of this huge, important art fair said, “It’s so good.” “Yes”. I nodded. “I love it.” We both wandered away from it looking at other pieces when she asked if I was an artist. “Yes, I am.” “Oh, do you have a card?” I fumbled and reached under the baby carrier to pull one out of my diaper bag. “ Here you go.” Read more>>

Rochelle Perez

I started off my photography journey in my hometown of Silver City, New Mexico running my very own photography studio full time. I had established my cliental in my time there, but towards the summer of 2021 I was ready for a change in my life, and I decided to move me and my two kids to Chandler Arizona. I knew making this move was risky, but I also knew it came with more opportunities for us all! Read more>>

Noelani Putirka

Choosing to become a writer was one of the greatest risks I’ve taken in my life thus far. English was my hardest subject in school, and even though I am an avid reader, my brain works three times as hard to retain vocabulary words than my perfectionist self thinks it should. With this in mind, choosing to write and put my thoughts out into the world, made an already vulnerable experience, one that deeply challenged me to face my insecurities. Read more>>

Dayon Bryant

My biggest risk that I’ve taken . Would really be taking a leave of absence from the my first passion which was Basketball . The blood , sweat ,and tears put into that sport . My injury was probably the worst things that could’ve happened to me . It took away my chances of furthering my career in that sport , and without it I felt lost , and also vulnerable. Read more>>

Chastity Crenshaw

To say any part of starting my business was planned out would be false. Back in 2018, I was at the pinnacle of my career in corporate America. I had accomplished so much and at such a young age, but I still felt unfulfilled. I had also endured loss, assault, and lost my job to top it all off. This sent me down a deep, dark rabbit hole of depression and giving up completely. Read more>>

DaSan Onyx Frazier

Have you ever heard the expression,”Make money doing what you love”? Well, I have been blessed to actually make that statement a reality and live my life according to what makes me happy. Let’s go back to the beginning. Spring of 2020, COVID-19 hit the world by surprise and turned it upside down. I was a sophomore at Morehouse College playing football in Atlanta, GA. Once school became online only, I had this overwhelming amount of free time. Read more>>

Jordan Peter

As a young kid, moving to a whole new country was a life-changing experience. My parents play a very important role in my music career. if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to chase this wild dream of becoming the best artist in the world, let alone in this country. for them to sacrifice all that they had, just to move across the world to give their kids an opportunity to become something of themselves. Read more>>

Cece Carter

I knew since I was 12 years old that I wanted to be a hairstylist. I loved to see my grandmother smile after fixing her hair Saturday night for Sunday morning church service. So I enrolled in my high school’s cosmetology program and when I graduated I had my cosmetology license as well. When I decided to live out my dream as a hairstylist and then an owner of my own salon with my own products, I was so happy. Read more>>

Mckenna Raymond

The biggest risk I’ve taken is entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur was the only route destined for me & I took the necessary risks & sacrifices to get me here & further . With the perspective of my upbringing it wasn’t/isn’t normal to work for yourself . It was either go to work or go to school . I chose to do both. I knew I loved beauty , artistic , creative , free-minded things but it wasn’t something that was foreseeable for my parents. I went ahead and went to nursing school , made it to clinicals & I quit to pursue my nail/beauty career. That’s when I knew I was undoubtedly ready for the path God has for me . Read more>>

Marcus Whitner

I have always had a great imagination. I’ve always wanted to be a multimillionaire, but chasing the money wasn’t the goal. I wanted to be an asset and of value at something! I would have to say that my biggest risk came in 2011 when I made the decision to move to the mid-west. Thirteen hours away from any close relative other than my wife, children, and In-Laws. It took me out of my comfort zone and forced me to become “MAN.” I was able to achieve obtaining my college degree along with discovering my passion for Multimedia. I spent 2011-2017 developing mentally, physically, and spiritually. Read more>>

Adrian Varon

Taking risk in my life has been an ongoing event that has been occurring in my life since I started in the film industry. I believe taking risk is a great way to know where you are in life. When starting off I wanted to learn everything I could. I decide not to go to film school. I would reach out to creatives and drive up to LA for 12 hours shoot days, I didn’t know anything at the time so I went in with no preparation. Sometimes I had to sleep in my car at times, but by taking these type of risk I learned from the best and made connections. Read more>>

Mark Andrew Swan

Like many, 2019 was a year of drastic transformation for me. I was in a stable office job after ten years of working my way up through the company. I was making good money and reasonable hours. I was effectively miserable. I disliked my bosses and my work environment. I didn’t believe in the company’s philosophy, nor did I appreciate its penny-pinching or the way it treated its employees. I desperately wanted out but felt stuck, as many do, because of the security the job offered. Read more>>

Bilyndra Walker

Growing up, I had so much stacked against me. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon but I was surrounded by people who wanted to see me win and encouraged me to go after all of my dreams. So, when the pandemic happened, I wanted to figure out a way to give back. Becoming a photographer was a huge risk because I’m surrounded by so many great photographers but I still went after it. I reached out to so many to help mentor me and was turned down or simply ignored. Read more>>

Joanne Donn

In 2013, I was living in San Francisco. After working in office administration for many years, I decided to try freelancing part-time, focusing on a couple of motorcycle-related jobs that I had fallen in love with while doing my office thing. I quit my stable, full-time office job and pursued motorcycle-related work. My first job was part-time at a dealership, selling apparel. My second job was part-time as a safety coach, teaching people to ride. I loved it. I still did some office work to cobble together a living, but I really enjoyed the motorcycle aspects. Read more>>

Patsy Mull

I was a stay at home mother just as we both wanted for our children. Money had always been extremely tight but as transplants in a new town we didn’t want strangers caring for our kids. From just before my first born arrived until my second and youngest went to kindergarten, I was home doing all the things a mom and homemaker does. Having the freedom to go to work was liberating. Although I’d already been building my business and my art we still struggled financially. I went to work at the local high school as an in-school suspension monitor. Read more>>

Sue Serna

I am a big believer in taking educated risks when they make sense and the opportunity is right. In 2008, in the middle of a recession, my husband and I both quit our jobs and moved from North Carolina to Minnesota on our own dime with no job lined up for either of us. It was insane. But it was also extremely rewarding and set me up to transition from journalism to communications/social media. In the end, that turned out to be a terrific move that set me up for this phase of my career. Read more>>

Jenny Hughes, PhD

One of the biggest risks I have ever taken was starting my business, BRAVE Providers, LLC! BRAVE is committed to supporting helpers and healers manage and overcome the inevitable experience of vicarious trauma, helping them prevent burnout and find realistic and sustainable ways to thrive in their work. This mission is near and dear to my heart because I too have experienced vicarious trauma and its effects! Read more>>

Elijah Lamar

One of the biggest risks that I have taken in my career is quitting my corporate job to focus all my time and attention on my dreams. Going from a guaranteed paycheck to not knowing when you’re going to get paid again is a very uncomfortable feeling, you see when you have a 9 to 5 you know that you’re gonna get paid for the work that you put in, you’re gonna receive a paycheck either every week, every 2 weeks, however the company’s pay structure is, Read more>>

Cheryl Curtis

I’ve taken quite a few risks in my life. However, the biggest risk I’ve ever taken, by far, was leaving my job at 45 years old, after 25+ years in the same line of work, at the height of the pandemic. You see, I’d worked in the finance, banking and accounting field for 25+ years, prior to leaving my last corporate position working for a private industry government contractor. In my last position, I worked in a Senior Accountant role, where I really did enjoy the work that I did. Read more>>

Elzeard Stallings

Being Human is inherently risky, from driving our cars, to eating questionably foods, we are taking risks all the time. This being said, nothing big can be done without taking a risk, and everybody who has had success in any arena will tell you about taking leaps of faith into the unknown. Deciding to be a part of a professional touring band is very risky, investing thousands of dollars into albums that no one may ever hear is risky, being a musician is the business of risk taking. Read more>>

Eula Amosun

The biggest risk is not taking any- Mark Zuckerberg I find that I work well under pressure or taking risk. Most business owners fail within the first five years of business. When I started in business in 2017 I scaled all the risk up front which was mostly money. I invested thousands of dollars in products and branding that when it was time to reap that risk it benefited me because I thought it out before I invested into myself. Read more>>

JadeDaModel

Personally, I don’t consider myself a big risk taker. I’m always worried about what if the consequences of failure can hurt tremendously, but this is something that I have overcome. In order to get to the next level, you have to move outside your comfort zone and take risk. I can say the first rist I took in modeling was deciding to travel. And I don’t mean just to the next state, but to the fashion, Mecca of the United States, New York City. This was the year after I graduated high school, and I was in my first year of college in a new city. I attended University on the other side of Tennessee. Read more>>

Jen McGeehan

My hubby, Pat, and I, lived in the mountains of Southern California. We had a custom-built, million dollar home on an acre with 2 horses, goats and chickens in the backyard. He worked for the City of Riverside as a fire captain, and I was the buyer/operations manager for eight gifts stores on two national forests. life was good…until it wasn’t! Read more>>

Julia Vargas

Growing up, I was never a risk taker. Even in my early career life, I followed a system that was already created. It felt completely comfortable and I was content. Not till 2019 is when I took a life changing risk, we can also call it a leap of faith. I went off on my own and started my hair business. It started when I moved to a different state and had no clientele. I decided to go into a salon suite with a business partner. The first 2 years were rough and I kept thinking if it would be better to go back to the salon life?! But my amazing husband believed in me and supported me. I’m happy to say that I’ve grown so much as a person and as a business owner. I love what I have created! Read more>>

Dr. Jayco McCowan

As I have evolved and experienced things professionally and personally, I have learned that with every decision made, I create my own destiny. No one has to live with my decisions but me; that said, I try to be purposeful in making sure that I positively impact and/or inspire people that I cross paths with, in life. To go deeper, I believe that with most decisions made, a risk is taken, however, one must decide if the risk in question is worth it in the end. Taking risks gives one perspective and experience to enhance life’s lessons. To expound, your decision not to take risks in life may be what blocks you from truly basking in your purpose. Read more>>

Alonso Sanchez

Alonso Sanchez was a member of the high school class of 1986 who decided to take a risk just two years after graduation. Despite having zero knowledge or experience in the fitness field, he decided to pursue a career in this industry. Alonso’s journey was not without its challenges. However, he was fortunate to meet a great mentor named Tony Brown who took him under his wing and helped him to develop the skills and knowledge he needed to succeed.  Read more>>

Shweta S

I have always lived my life with courage of conviction. I have never entertained manipulative, selfish people, doesn’t matter who they are. As a woman it’s important to stand for your values. What is life without a risk. It’s better to live short life with all those challenges instead of living unhappy life.I have always taken huge risks from my early childhood and the one risk changed my life ,when I have decided to get Masters degree in London when I was doing so well professionally at that time . Read more>>

Screaming Mimi

Picture it, Texas, 2014. Screaming Mimi was just a road name my husband gave me. Little did I know that road name would turn into my pen name and alter ego. At the time I was a stay-at-home mom, reading and reviewing books for a blog. I’d been introduced to several Indie Authors and became friends via social media them. That’s when it happened. I was minding my own business when the song “Drunk on the Plane” by Dierks Bentley came on the radio one day while I was driving. Read more>>

Angela Pitts

In 2019, I had spent nine years growing a family portrait photography business that saw some success while allowing me to stay at home with my young children. This was something I had been working towards for a long time, however upon arriving at the goal line I found myself approaching burn out. It took a few months to figure out why, with each photo shoot, I was less and less interested. I would enjoy the sessions, but then dread the time in front of the computer editing. Read more>>

Moriel Sparks

Me becoming a model was a big risk because, it meant that I was leaving the music industry. I walked away from something I was chasing for years. From a kid to now, it was the only thing I knew. Music has gotten me through so much and just to walk away was something i never thought I’d do. I’m happy with the decision i made, I’ve grown so much from social media. I’ve had a lot of brands reach out to me to model, agency’s. I feel like i made the right decisions. Read more>>

TREY WALKER

Becoming a full time business owner was the largest risk I have taken. Before creating T.A.G Team Mixologists, I was in the education field for 9 plus years. I spent my 20’s and early 30’s working in a classroom as a Kindergarten teacher, 5th grade teacher, 2nd grade teacher, and even a Dean of Behavior. I loved teaching and seeing the growth and development of each student, it was definitely one of the highlights. Read more>>

James Roan

There was a point in time where my career was in at a stand still. I felt there was much more that could be done, but I had really figure out how to get to the next level. Simply just “putting out music” wasn’t going to be enough anymore. Not in this day and age where social media has evolved so much. Now everything is seen right before our eyes at all times. Read more>>