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.

Jonathan Martinez

Following my heart and pursing what felt right was one of the greatest risks I took in 2019. When deciding on what path to take in university, it’s common for immigrant parents to push the idea of becoming a doctor, lawyer, or an engineer because of the financial security and the high chances of living a sustainable life. I initially had the idea of entering a career in biomedical engineering. Read more>>

Quinton Kufahl

In April of 2023, I moved halfway across the United States from Milwaukee, WI to Nashville, TN. Prior to my move, I was questioned and mocked by peers, fellow musicians and even a past band mate for my quarter-life gamble, in the way of, “only playing country music in Nashville” and moving on “to go play rockstar”. Read more>>

Jesse Westfall

Getting started is often one of the biggest barriers we can face in life. Whether it’s making a career change, Embarking on a creative endeavor, or even having a challenging conversation with a loved one, taking that first step can feel impossible. Beginning my own practice, I knew I was taking a risk. I was walking away from the stability of a predictable salary, leaving the comforts that came with working under close supervision and guidance, and doing something that frankly no one I knew personally had done before. Read more>>

Alex Dispence

I was a successful chef, I was only 24 or 25 when I first became a head chef. During the 2019 pandemic I started making cooking videos, one thing led to the next and I had grown a small following in early 2020. By 2021 I knew it was time to take a risk. I left my executive chef job and went full time as a content creator! I have been running my own business since, and I have also started an adjacent pizza company under the same brand! Read more>>

Shemar Pierre

Big risk, big reward. Believe in yourself. Know that what you want is yours already and walk in the direction of that goal. You fail when you stop. Read more>>

Erin Berry

8 years ago, I started over completely. From the outside, it looked like I had it all. The marriage, the house, the 2 kids, the corporate job, the cars, the travel, ect. Looks can be deceiving…. On the inside I was dying. My relationship lacked intimacy and connection, I felt like I was going through the motions every day in every aspect of life. I was trying to be someone I wasn’t. I always felt I was meant for more, and felt completely stuck. Read more>>

MYRANDAS

Our journey has been an extraordinary adventure marked by a willingness to take risks, starting with the hard decision to leave our hometowns. It takes courage to leave everything you know behind and a belief in the potential rewards that lie beyond your comfort zone. We miss our families and friends in Moscow and Havana, but we are fortunate that they encouraged us to follow our dreams. Read more>>

Anastassiya Petrova

It was my 17th birthday. I was on my first international trip with a big band – an international jazz festival. Before that, I had never experienced playing for a festival crowd and felt the impact that music had on the audience. It is an energy exchange that drew me in. Coming back from that festival trip, I immediately transferred to a different university on part-time basis and made a decision to become a full-time musician. I was born into a musical family, and my parents knew how hard it was to make a living with music. Read more>>

Christopher Sheffield

When it comes to being a successful working artist, I believe there has and will always be a huge inherent risk to your livelihood with every project you truly love. This is even more apparent if you’re someone who is dead set on escalating the quality of your art, even if the means with which you’re creating hasn’t necessarily escalated for you yet. Read more>>

Maiysha Clairborne

My career has been full of taking risks, some calculated and some on pure faith. The first risk I ever took in my career is deciding to start a cash based integrative (holistic medicine) practice at a time when no-one knew what holistic medicine was. Through a pandemic I grew that practice successfully, and it taught me to always bet on myself and follow my intuition. However, one of the biggest risks I took was leaving medicine altogether. I spent 8 years of post secondary education and another 3 years in residency to get this education. Read more>>

Karol Dias

To be a tattoo artist is to understand that dealing with end customers is inevitable, involving intimate connections. Tattoos are permanent, and when a tattoo artist creates something irreversible on another person’s body, it becomes a risk. However, it’s a positive risk, offering daily challenges, and I love this. Read more>>

Evan Burke

Jumping into being a shop owner has been one of the biggest risks i’ve taken. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid. To own my own business, do something I love, and be able to give back in some way. I started piercing back in 2007, and had no idea where this career would take me!! After working in a handful of different studios in my city, I never quite found my home. Read more>>

Michael Benz

a situation involving exposure to danger. This is the definition of risk, taking risk can be anything actually. Going to the Mall. Going to drive to the movies. Its all something you do and you go with the intention of not knowing. I feel that when we don’t know the outcome it can create a curiosity to find out the answer on our own. With faith and believing in your vision is the ultimate risk. When you go after and seek a way to make your vision come to fruition you take not just a risk but a leaf of faith that will become your reality. Read more>>

Brandon Ricketts

I’ve been a photographer and videographer for almost a decade and I’ve had plenty opportunities presented to me and made plenty decisions to move the needle in the right direction for me. I struggled sharing my work as it felt to risky and opened me up to criticism I didn’t believe I was strong enough to take on. Read more>>

Julianna Eidle

My journey has been shaped by lots of small risks. Classical music as an industry is steeped in tradition, a canon that doesn’t always reflect my values around art and humanity. (My training focussed almost exclusively on Western Art Music, predominately highlighting white, male, European, musical voices of the 17th-20th centuries.) From the first moment I gained autonomy around programming (choosing what music I play,) Read more>>

Suzin Daly

Taking a Risk My description of taking a risk is like running as hard as you can, jump off a cliff and pray there’s water at the bottom. As I write this I’m still falling and can’t tell if there is water or solid ground at the bottom. So dear reader, I have just crossed the 75th year of life and I have no f*cking idea how things will turn out. What I can do is share the story of choices and risks I have taken. Read more>>

Nicole Yost

As a child, I thrived in theatre. I loved the thrill of applause as I took my bow on stage. I spent 13 years creating worlds through plays and musical theatre. After college, I felt I needed a ” big girl job” and after dabbling in several areas, I landed in education as a Montessori Guide for children PreK-6th grade. It’s amazing how when something is meant for you, there is nothing you can do to avoid it. Read more>>

Giuseppe Cossu

In the summer of 2021 I was selected to participate in an artist residency project in Abruzzo, Italy. The residency was located the a mountain refuge at an altitude of 1,600 meters. With no running water, electricity, or internet connection. I had graduated in March 2020 and 3 days later, the world would be rocked by an event that would bring it to a halt. The Covid. I had planned my life, tried to imagine going outside Sardinia to have new life experiences, yet it was not possible to imagine that for the next two years the world would inevitably be frozen inside the grip of a global pandemic. Read more>>

Danny Sainz

I wouldn´t describe myself as a risk taker but I can say that when I´ve decided to take a risk, usually things work out; I remember seeing and hearing this quote several times “Life always begins outside of your comfort zone” in the moment it was kinda odd but then I realized that it´s true, how can you win if you don´t take the risk. Read more>>

Lucy Mills

This story is actually about two risks! The year was 2013 and I had just graduated from Liberty University with a B.S. in Psychology and Counseling.
Everything was in place and I was to begin a Master’s Program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with Dayton University. A few months before the program’s start date, my youngest son who was 19 at the time, began having some health issues. Read more>>

TenTillDeath Aka Rojelio Capone

Between October to November of 2022, I announced on my now-deleted Instagram, Rojelio Capone, that I was retiring from music and social media for good. By that time, I had become a micro-influencer known for reacting to independent artists, running a podcast for independent artists, and having become a live streamer and a music artist myself. At the time, the many people in my network that I had worked with were shocked and confused that I was leaving. Read more>>

Scott Fifer

Reinventing one’s self and taking a completely new path in life is certainly full of risk, but for me, it’s proven to be the most rewarding way of living a fulfilling life. I’ve done it not just once, but twice. In the early 1990s, I left the practice of law in New York City and packed up a used car and drove all my possessions to L.A. in hopes of becoming a writer. A dozen years later, I left a successful TV and film writing career for a job of my own making – as founder and CEO of a new charity bringing opportunities to children around the world. Read more>>

Sharon Well

When I was 17 years old after graduating high school, I went on a deep journey of soul searching. After many years of searching, I had a powerful encounter with the higher power in 2014. I found the key of unlocking my purpose and meaning to this life. I took the biggest risk of all time and it was to give my life to Jesus. I gave up everything, my agenda, my desires, my dreams on what I thought was fit for my life. I trusted that He had a better plan mapped out for me better than what I originally had thought for myself. Welp, surprisingly…Read more>>

M otto Sturm

Some times you just have to jump ! Once you find your gift and your purpose you’ll have to jump to make the dream happen . A step out in faith and your going to get beat up a bit and get some bumps and scrap’s because at first it will be like your falling. Read more>>

Isaura Carolina Marquez

I’ve always has had in interest in pastries and felt that baking a cake to a family member or friend is showing love. In receiving great appreciation and motivation to start my own business, but due to the circumstances back home (Venezuela) it felt impossible to accomplish. One evening after seven years that I had arrive here in the USA, my sister and I was enjoying a piece a cake, it was then when we encouraged each other to take the risk of what is now BLOSSOM MOBILE SNACKS LLC. From that moment and on, it has turned into a fun adventure for both of us as intrapreneurs.  Read more>>

Brittany Ballard

I was always an artist, always creative, but I was told as a child that no one in our family is creative. So that confused me for a while. I listened to them and not to me. I knew in my soul that I was always searching for spaces and places to get lost, to lose myself, not to find myself. I loved playing piano, but refused to learn how to read notes. I played by ear – big, extensive, difficult pieces, like Moonlight Sonata, I memorized and played by ear, swaying and closing my eyes as I played. Read more>>