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.

Janay Stevens

I’m living the high life in a big city, doing what I loved and cutting through the corporate business world. But there was a small voice of intention calling me in a different direction. Read more>>

Jenna Hernandez

I became an RN in 2010. It was a lifelong dream of mine to be a nurse. I had known at a young age that working with mom’s and babies was my passion, and something I worked hard for over the course of my nursing career. Read more>>

Ronnie Costa

Here is my story in short. I could share a lot more, but I’m not sure exactly how much you need. I have been working in the mental health field close to 20 years. I started in 2005 working at juvenile hall in Los Angeles then transitioned to a youth offender reentry program helping young adults transitioning from juvenile Hall to adult probation and parole. Read more>>

GG Hawkins

I’m a big fan of risk taking. Every time I’ve made a big leap in my career, usually when I don’t know how it’s going to end up or if it will even work out, it’s always pushed me to grow. For that reason, I chase being out of my comfort zone. Read more>>

Daniel Sovich

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken was pursuing music. I’d been an actor my entire life–been confident that I was on the right path. Things were going decent too; I’d graduated from NYU, had a couple small TV roles and just booked my first Broadway Show (Almost Famous). Read more>>

Kelly Porter

I opened my barre studio, Barre Roots, in 2019. At the time, I was renting space from a small pilates studio. It was a really interesting location because it was on an historic property, behind a house, above a garage. Read more>>

Jennifer Icard

In July of 2021 a spot opened up at a strip mall in town and my husband said I should open up a coffee shop (it had always been my dream for our small town). Read more>>

Francesca Astino

Creating my business has been one of the biggest risks that I have ever taken. I studied Business and Human Resources in college and when I look back now, I realize that we never learned about creating our own businesses. Read more>>

Yuting Wang

Starting my full-time art career was a risk from the outset. Looking back now, I realize the magnitude of that leap of faith. The risk was multifaceted. While I had cultivated a solid foundation in painting and drawing since childhood, there was still much to learn. Read more>>

Rona Johnson

When I was five years old I was watching America’s Next Top Model and realized I was completely enamored with the competition and beauty of the models from America’s Next Top Models. Read more>>

Jay Anthony White

In a world of uncertainties, I took a leap of faith, rallying two of my friends to embark on a cinematic journey. Faced with the daunting challenge of securing investors, I decided to bet on my vision and self-fund my movie. Read more>>

Terry Link

I already had a great double Aloe skin cream that is my proprietary formula. I was driving Uber to make some extra money when one of my customer asked me what I did and when I told him about the cream, he said “you should put CBD in it”. Read more>>

Thays Franca, Teri Althouse

In 2019 Thays França and Teri Althouse met as competitors in an art fundraising competition in Ormond Beach, Fl. The two acquaintances, having art in common were always ready for friendly banter and art talk when they ran into each other at community events. Read more>>

Lynette Medley

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken as the CEO of No More Secrets Mind Body Spirit Inc. was opening the Nations first and only menstrual hub and uterine wellness center during a national pandemic without funding all while tackling the systemic racism and oppression within the menstrual/uterine health sphere Read more>>

Rolonda Qualls

I started pharmacy school at age 40. I was always employed except for the 2 times I had been laid off because the businesses closed. Side note, both businesses were run by the same person. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Read more>>

Nikki High

Opening my bookstore was a huge risk. I have worked in corporate jobs for my entire professional career and earned a good living. There is something very comforting about being able to budget your lifestyle based on a regular income. Read more>>

Ivy Felicia

In the grand tapestry of life, taking a risk is akin to crafting a delicate recipe. It demands a blend of courage, faith, and trust in oneself, allowing the ingredients to meld and evolve into something extraordinary over time. Read more>>

Josue Cruz

In late 2021, amidst the chaos of the pandemic, I found myself at a crossroads, grappling with the weight of uncertainty and the pressing urge to reassess my life. Read more>>

Joanna Kramer

I was working as a school social worker and art therapist while teaching ceramics out of a community studio. I decided to rent a small space and commit to a one-year lease. Read more>>

Theodore Johns

Moving from London, UK, to live in the Dominican Republic. Changing from Art Dealer to Art Consultant for a Tech Company in USA. Joined forces with Authentify Art and brought a concept of transformative technology (Concept) as a positive for the Art Industry. Read more>>

Hilary Johnson

I used to daydream about owning a business while I was working a corporate job. When I finally made the decision to leave that job, I thought I was taking the biggest risk of my life to become an entrepreneur. At the time it was! Read more>>

Shannon Swaby

I was drowning. Not literally, but figuratively I was drowning mentally, and physically. I was in college attempting to complete my undergraduate degree in nursing. Read more>>

Mina Sisley

A creative career is usually looked at as a “risk”, which is why, I denied wanting it for so long. I had been told a number of times, by many career creatives, how unrealistic and unsustainable it was to make art your job and I believed them. Read more>>

Ahlyia Ralston

Taking a risk in crocheting as a fiber artist and starting a small business has been a journey fueled by passion and determination. Embracing the uncertainty, I dove headfirst into turning my love for crocheting into a viable business venture. Read more>>

Christiana Roverso

As an independent artist, I think that there are always risks that have to be taken. The first risk that I took related to my artistry was probably when I was in college for the first time after high school. Read more>>

Annette Back

I had been painting for myself, sort of as a hobby for about 5 years. My friend, also a painter stumbled upon a call for art to take part in the ArtExpo, NY. She applied and asked me to also apply. Read more>>

Jasna Bhayani

The journey of advocating for the rights of makeup artists to teach their craft began when I embarked on the endeavor of establishing a makeup school. Fueled by a passion for education and a desire to empower aspiring artists, I ventured into this venture with enthusiasm and determination. Read more>>

Gwendolyn Little

The RiskIn 1995, divorced with three children, Associate Degree in Veterinary and Animal Health Science and years of working experience in said field, I took a leap of faith and moved from Detroit, Michigan to Akron, Ohio. Read more>>

Allyson Wald-Gray

In June 2022, I finally made the bold decision to take my photography business full-time, a leap I had been contemplating for years. For four years, I had juggled my passion for photography alongside my corporate job, honing my skills by working with friends and local families, often without charge. Read more>>

Christopher J. Calabrese

I believe entrepreneurship is adopted by individuals who are not afraid to take a risk and fail. I think that society today instills the idea that failure is a bad thing and that people shouldn’t risk taking a chance at anything if the odds are against them. Read more>>

Ashley Hoffman

I moved from Seattle, Washington to Pittsburgh, PA to start SweatNET in early 2020. Shortly after arriving, the pandemic hit in full force as I was gearing up to launch an event based fitness platform that relied on people being able to come together in person. Read more>>

Laurence Delaunay Masters

It’s more of a story than a specific event Back in 2020, when the pandemic hit I was still a French teacher in a school in Boulder, and painting was my second job. Read more>>

Tanisha Culcleasure

I would like to say that I took a risk starting my own business. I started making jewelry as a hobby in 2013 when Inwas pregnant with my first son. I had just recently moved to a new city, and had also lost my job. Read more>>

Brandon Thrift

The first initial risk I took to spearhead this Spread Love journey of mine, started in June 2020 when I decided to rent a car, pack it up with as many painting supplies I could fit, and head out on the road trying to saturate as many cities with my art until I completely ran out of all the money I had in my savings account. Read more>>

Charlotte Gray

My twin daughters, Katie and Sydney, were 18 months old when their father and I split up. My mother, who had been my only other family, died 11 days after the girls were born, and I was pretty much on my own as a single mother. Read more>>

Brandon Wolford

The biggest risk I’ve taken is the one that changed it all for me. I was 18 living in Denver, CO trying to figure what I wanted in life, I had to figure it out quite fast because after about a year I was fired without warning. Read more>>

Jenevieve Broomall

My whole artistic journey has been one massive risk after another. Currently, I am taking a risk right now in collaborating and illustrating an entire graphic novel! Read more>>

Bridgett S. Holden

I risked leaving a job with a guaranteed salary to become an entrepreneur. I started a YouTube channel at 50 years young because I wanted to show women that, for one, age is truly nothing but a number, and there are ways you can dress while looking like a million bucks without breaking the bank through thrifting. Read more>>

Andy Gordon

I drew a 34 page comic all by myself, then crowdfunded on Kickstarter to raise interest and money for printing. My writer and I were confident enough in the story he had written and art I was producing that we knew we wanted to make the project regardless of the outcome of the Kickstarter. Read more>>

Gwendolyn Garth

Background…it is January 2000 and was I preparing to be released (for the second time) from prison In May of 2000, I found myself scared to death of my addiction which had been inactive for 2 years. Read more>>

Mitchell Wierenga

A few years ago, I was in a stable job with the City, complete with health benefits and the security that comes from such employment. During that time I had continued to develop my hobby in 3D modeling and animation and started to ventured into the world of freelance, gradually building an online portfolio that attracted a steady stream of clients. Read more>>