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.

Marina Messura

Investing money and time into a small business while balancing being a student was one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken. But, 10 months into running my small business, I can now say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. It was daunting and scary to start selling items, running a social media, and putting myself and my work out there, but it’s been a great experience so far. Taking this risk helped me learn a lot of valuable skills like social media management, finance management, and communication. Not only that, but it helped me grow as a person as well. I’ve become more confident in both my work and myself, and have gotten much more comfortable with being outside of my comfort zone and taking more risks in my life. Though it was a scary first step to make, starting my business has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Read more>>

Dean West

I wanted to talk about taking a risk, particularly as a creative, but I encourage you to consider risk in any aspect of life. Regardless of your career path or even if you’re unsure of your direction, everything carries an element of risk. For instance, you might decide to open a donut shop instead of pursuing your dream as a musician, but that choice doesn’t eliminate risk. As Jim Carrey once wisely said, “You can fail at what you don’t want, so why not go for what you do?” Risk is an inherent part of life; it’s even present when you get out of bed in the morning. There’s seldom a single right way to do anything, and under the right circumstances, rules can be broken. Read more>>

Brigitte Fuker

Looking back, you could say the start of my education in the creative world began with a failure. I didn’t pass an entrance exam for a Psychology-study. The exam in itself had been a risk as only a numbered amount of people could get into the university and yet, the even bigger risk was paying a high sum of money for a school and Diploma degree in Game Art. I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future, after two failed university attempts (there had been a semester in another course that didn’t motivate me enough) and jobs in the catering industry, I saw this as my last shot of finding something that I would enjoy doing for 40 hours a week. Read more>>

Isabel Soto

I never dreamed of living in the US. When I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 2016, it was love at first sight, and I assumed LA was going to be my home. I came to LA to study acting at Stella Adler Academy, one of the best acting schools in the world. Then, I went back to Spain in 2018 and decided to go through the process for my O1 visa, which is an artistic visa with extraordinary capabilities. The real move happened in 2019 when my visa was approved. I left everything behind in my home country, Spain, with only a luggage full of dreams. I was a woman over 35 years old when I moved to California in 2019. Actually, I wasn’t a young girl with the “right” to dream in the way I did, but the reality is that I knew Los Angeles is the place for me. Read more>>

Cathy Segal-Garcia

My life has a series of taking risks, continually! Being an artist involved risks creatively. Getting gigs involve risks. Surviving as an artist involves risks. Til the day you die! One thought/memory is when I decided, in my 20s or 30s to not do any kind of straight job anymore, and put the same effort into music. Big risk. Right decision! :) Read more>>

Kaye Kang

During my time at a university in South Korea, I encountered various challenges that led me to reassess my educational path. The workload was overwhelming, and the field of study didn’t align with my interests. However, I persevered due to the prevailing societal belief that obtaining a college degree in Korea was essential. Eventually, I made the bold choice to take a leave of absence and focused on building a portfolio to enter the job market. Read more>>

Evan Black

The biggest risk I’ve taken is probably shared by many a freelancer – the risk of leaving a stable job to pursue my career in film. Before I knew I wanted to work in the film industry, I knew that the traditional career paths weren’t for me. I knew in my bones I wanted to do something creative and fluid. I stumbled into film through a group of friends who invited me onto a film set and after that first day I felt truly alive, like I had found the place I was supposed to be. Read more>>

Megan Sherer

One of the biggest risks I’ve taken was making the decision to pursue entrepreneurship. I knew that building my own business and practice in the wellness space would be challenging, but I also knew that not pursuing my dreams would be even harder. What felt even riskier was giving myself permission to pivot and reinvent myself, and my business, many times along the way. There have been several moments in my career where I knew I had to make a 90-degree turn away from what I had been investing my time and energy into. Read more>>

Mason Kennerly

Not too long ago, some creative friends and I took the big leap of trying to create our own sketch comedy show – Unearthed Tapes. None of us had any real knowledge of how our shared sense of humor would be received by the populace, and even less about how to get any sort of creative attention on the internet. Still, I always had this long time hunch that the ridiculous stuff that I found funny when messing around with my buddies would translate to others, whether they wanted to laugh at it or not. It took us several months to even get off the ground because of wanting to make sure we researched everything we could about the internet, put real thought into branding, and especially tested the waters of our individual writing styles and ideas of what’s funny and why it’s funny. Read more>>

Samantha Hill

One significant risk I took was the decision to start my own architecture firm, Design With Skill. It was a pivotal moment in my career, and it came with a mixture of excitement, uncertainty, and a strong sense of purpose. This decision traces back to my experiences at world-renowned architecture firms like Gehry Partners, Arquitectonica, and Gensler. While working on diverse projects, ranging from luxury hospitality to public facilities, I found myself gravitating towards multifamily and mixed-use developments. These projects resonated with me on a profound level because they offered the potential to address not only functional design challenges, but also societal and community needs. Read more>>

Andie Olson

I’ve recently taken a huge risk in my career. I am currently pursuing my lifelong dream of being a full-time artist and art instructor. Due to income issues, lifestyle and motherhood I have had my dream on the back burner for a very long time. Prior to my recent decision, I have been creating art and teaching lessons here and there. But mostly, I have filled my time with jobs such as art program manager, server, barista, virtual assistant. You name it, I’ve done it! This jobs have had their own rewards and lessons, but it is time to take the leap.  Read more>>

Samantha Mendell

For the last several years, I worked full-time in ministry in both church and parachurch (non-profit ministry) organizations and picked up as much freelance copywriting as I could. Writing and editing had always been my passion, but I feared making the jump into full-time freelance. In 2022, the tension between what I longed for and where I currently was grew stronger every day; by the summer of 2023, I knew that I needed to take the risk and commit my full-time efforts into what I loved. Once I made the leap, projects and connections poured in, and I have never been more grateful! Read more>>

Jumillah Roche

I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. The idea of setting my own schedule and being there when my children came home from school was extremely important to me. However, as much as I wanted to start my own business, I wrestled with the idea for several years before pulling the trigger. I am a planner to my core, and the idea of not knowing how much money I was going to make from month to month gave me an anxiety that I can’t put into words. After speaking to my mentor for what seemed like the millionth time on the subject, he finally said, ‘you’ll know that it’s time to go when the pain of staying far outweighs the fear of leaving’. Read more>>

Isabel Custer

Taking risks is essential to being an artist. There’s the obvious financial risk because it’s difficult to make a living off something whose value is difficult to determine in any consistent way. Then there’s the creative risk of saying what you want to say even if it will shock, offend or rattle some people, perhaps even alienate you from people close to you. Read more>>

Justin Banks-Walker

In 2020 the pandemic hit and had all of us out of work. The only options were to find a way to make money or sit around and wait for a handout. Art has always been a huge part of my life but it never was more than a hobby, during this time two quotes stood out to me in particular. The first one was “if you’re good at something never do it for free” and “if you love what you do you’ll never work again a day in your life.” I decided to use my talents and love for art as a new way to find my life and to be my new career. Read more>>

Nikki O’Neill

Risks have been an integral part of my life, and I need to name a few from my past before getting to the main one for this story, because they’re all interconnected. Note: life events are rarely simplistic, but in order to keep things short and easy to read here, I’m skipping the more complex details: I was born in LA, but moved to Stockholm, Sweden when I was seven, and lived there until I was 27. Read more>>

Dr. Lara Devgan

Launching Dr. Lara Devgan Scientific Beauty was undoubtedly the largest risk I’ve ever taken in my already-established career as a board-certified plastic surgeon. Expanding on my medical expertise, I created my brand in order to vertically integrate my surgical practice with my skincare line to provide users with clinically proven ingredients. Read more>>

Dalal Bruchmann

It’s all a bit of a paradox, isn’t it? If you don’t take a risk it’s also a risk. If you do take it, it either works or it doesn’t. I often wish I had a better grasp on the difference of what’s a wrong gamble and what’s the right risk. For sure when it comes to work, definitely when it comes to love. I think life in general comes with a big fat R plastered all over it, but then there is also the heart of our nature. Read more>>

Samantha Colella

Starting my brand The V Spot 101 was a life-changing risk that I will be forever grateful that I took. Starting a brand (especially one called The V Spot) was difficult because it made me vulnerable and open to the world. My brand is an extension of the person I am. I have always made my path in life and have never regretted being the authentic person I am. So starting a brand around me is not taken with open arms at times, but it is who I am and I am continuing to grow with my followers. Read more>>

Emily Krusche-Bruck

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge risk taker. I’m bad at decisions. I’m an over-thinker. I get in my head about what the “right” decision is pretty much constantly. All of that was thrown out the door when I decided to move out to LA to be an actor. I had been involved in the arts most of my life and always had a deep passion for performing, but in college I double majored in musical theatre and psychology and learned very quickly that I also had a deep passion for psychology. I fell into some lucky situations and classes and jobs in the psych world that led me to the decision that I was going to apply to PHD programs in neuroscience to start right after graduation. However, the same year that was all falling into place (my junior year) I also started helping friends out by acting in their short films and boy oh boy did that throw me for a loop. Read more>>

Melissa Rothman

In 2017, I worked as a graphic designer for a small magazine in South Jersey, where the long hours and low pay made me feel like a disgruntled employee. As someone with social anxiety and introversion, I have always had difficulty with traditional jobs and realized that working in a cubicle from 9 to 5 was not a sustainable long-term option for me. Read more>>

Rika Tuikolongahau

Risk taking is essential to success. If we do not take risks, we will never find out our true potential in life. If we make decisions that keep us safe then life may not ever feel fully realized. My life has always been about taking risks as far as my creative and business decisions. Understanding that I knew I was meant for more and had to take the chance to find out. Most recently, I took the risk of selling everything I owned in California to move to Bali 4 years ago in order to develop by fashion brand. Read more>>

Riana Sather

I had always created art, for fun, for small commission money, even for college but I was not doing art as a business. I was working two jobs at the same time and had a summer job lined up, but everything changed in January 2020 when I lost all three jobs in one week. I believe the root of all fear derives from the fear of the unknown, and at that point in time, I was living a world where nothing seemed normal anymore. I did not know what to do about my work situation, but art always seemed to be an escape for me. I decided to turn my passion to do art into a business, even in the midst of a somewhat scary situation. Read more>>

Mia Mimica

About 10 years into my career as an actress I slowly, and kind of painfully in the beginning, decided to change careers. I had finally, since arriving in the US, booked a TV role for a major streaming service and in the end I couldn’t do it because the company that owned the production company required a Green Card and I was here on an Artist’s Visa. This crushed me. The process of even getting an audition for something like that was a lot of work in and of itself, let alone the several auditions, and now knowing this happening again was a strong possibility, it was tough. Read more>>

Artur Lago-Varjapetian

The biggest risk I took in my life was and is never compromising my vision for my life of someone else’s idea about what and how I should live it. From my early childhood back in my old country into my current adulthood in my home country we call united States of America, people always told me that pursuing my passion as a creative storyteller was just a childish dream and something I should do as my hobby. But the universe had a different plan for me. At age of 21, I won a green card lottery and decided to move to California where I could test my limits and challenge my perception of the world. Read more>>

Skye Amber Sweet

I take risks daily… I would think that it is in the make-up of who I am, my soul, and my inner being. I am awake; aware. I don’t quite understand how not to take risks. Since I was very young, through my DNA or just the moments in time defining the survival in me, I find that taking risks is always in a positive direction. Whether in my art, my career, or my dreams, I find ways to achieve and surpass the goals I set for myself by not fearing my inner being or the world around me. Let’s say that I am not one to follow a crowd and I am gifted with the inner light of seeing who I am and how far I can take myself in this world we currently live in. Read more>>

Todd Schleuning

Our biggest risk came very early on when we decided to name our product Shart® and spent $3,000 to purchase the domain Shart.com. On the surface, it makes sense because we’re turning shirts into art. Shirt Art = Shart, right? But did we really want to align our beloved product with a meaning that had already been reserved by a foul, slang term? Read more>>

The Southern Creative Grant Tyson & Mary Hartshorn

Deciding to start your own business is always a risky decision. Grant started The Southern Creative in 2015 after his best friend passed away suddenly. Loss really puts things into prospective and shows you how delicate life is. After the loss of Aubrey, Grant was motivated to make changes in his life and really start living for what he wanted. He had talked about starting his own business for years, but like so many other people, wasn’t sure where to start. The first few months were difficult, but he started getting clients and growing. Fast forward to 2022. I joined The Southern Creative full time after years and years of working unfulfilling jobs that just made me miserable. Read more>>

Christopher Richardson

One of the big risks that I took was producing my own Stage Play. About twenty years ago, I was awoken in the middle of the night with what I can only label as a labor pain, similar to what I’m sure most mother’s go through when it’s time to bring forth a child into the world. For me the pain, the pressure was to get up and write. And write I did. I handwrote, start to finish, an entire stage play that I had no prior thought or knowledge of. I firmly believe this was a diving moment between God and myself. To this day, I feel awkward listing my name as the person who wrote it. I put the play on the shelf in my closet, and it literally collected dust. Read more>>

Kristin Sremba

In May, 2021, I put in my notice to leave a 10 year career to pursue starting a business. I did not know what I would be selling, I had no business experience, and I had very little savings. The risk trifecta… I have the same story as a lot of people; I was unhappy at my job while convincing myself that I should be grateful for my paycheck, for the home my paycheck paid for, and for the benefits my job provided. When 2020 hit, I had about one month before I was called back to my old life to figure out how I’d do the old things in a new way. During that month I was home, I got to see a version of myself I hadn’t seen in a very long time. It was not bliss by any means, but I got to see how my creativity was healing and how it was opening a door for entrepreneurship. Read more>>

Allison Cursey

The risk I have taken would be pursing my dreams of working in the beauty industry. I graduated college in 2014 with my Bachelor’s of Science in Human Health. I worked in the medical field for about 3 years and soon realized my heart just wasn’t in it. My passion was being a Makeup Artist. I gave up working a full time job to working contract work in the beauty industry. I knew this was the only way to network with like minded creatives, build my clientele and get my talent noticed. I branded Makeup By Ms. Cursey in 2021 and I am now the Houston Regional Makeup Artist for COTY. Read more>>

Jamaal Thomas

Taking the entrepreneurial route was a monumental risk that I embarked on in 2009 when I started my first brand COSTY. We officially launched in 2010, and it marked the beginning of an exhilarating journey. The foundation of this venture was a complete vision of an apparel product and a brand that I believed in passionately. From the outset, I was committed to delivering quality products in the fiercely competitive fashion and apparel industry. I understood the importance of creating unique ornaments and compelling reasons for customers to keep coming back. My pride in my vision and creativity fueled my determination to ensure proper delivery. Read more>>

Lior Tzemach

The word risk is a relative term, I would call it “A leap of faith”, and that is something I’ve been somehow doing many times in my life. By this point of my journey I have been able to learn the valuable lessons behind every big step and decide that it’s an opportunity to grow and expand my skills, rather than not. I would say that my first “risk” have been leaving my home country Israel at the age of 20, when I was already performing as a guitar player, touring and recording with many artists. I went to study Audio Engineering & Production at Berklee College of Music in Boston, going deeper in the realms of the science and technology behind the creation of this magical thing, looking for explanations on why it makes me feel this way and how can I inspire others. Read more>>

Ben Kirkpatrick

To be honest, I didn’t start with a lot of technical know-how. I had a passion for food, a decent eye for aesthetics, and an Instagram account—that was about it. I self-taught photography techniques and video editing by watching YouTube tutorials and reading endless articles online. My first posts were shaky at best, but I learned from each one, constantly tinkering to get better. Read more>>

Tianshu Zhang

In the 4 to 5 years following my undergraduate graduation in 2017, I didn’t immediately choose to pursue art. Instead, I opted for jobs that provided relatively stable income. The only work experience related to art during that time was when I worked as an art teacher. During this period, I frequently traveled between China and the United States, searching for a lifestyle that better suited me. Read more>>

Kelsey Bigelow

What started as a small risk turned into a life of risking it all to build a life I’m capable of. After my mom died while I was in college, I turned my grief into poetry and risked sharing something deeply personal and raw with classmates. How could I subject my grieving process to critique and possibly hurt myself more? Read more>>

Bob Eldon

I had a well-paying job, but it was less and less satisfying to say the least, and playing and recording music became an escape. After spending a lot of time in the Washington, DC area, we needed a change and began making plans to leave the area and move to the Pacific Northwest. It was a pretty big risk financially, and we had never lived in that part of the States, so we would be making a big step. I was lucky in that I reached the point where I could leave my job and retain benefits, to include a small pension (although much less than what I was making at the time). Read more>>

Jephthah Schlingensiepen

My life has had many twists and turns. I was always creative and working on music outside of my regular day to day activities – but it was very much shrouded. I didn’t feel like people would understand and I was worried about judgement. Why? I don’t know. My own fear and sadness…negative beliefs about self. All that changed end of 2020 when I decided to develop my craft more intensely, intentionally, and with a focus on sharing it with others. I was worried and every release felt nerve wracking at first, but by now, I feel more free than ever. Read more>>