Shoot your shot? Take a chance? Society bombards us with messages, phrases, examples and stories of how taking risk is the key to success, but is anything ever that simple? We asked some of the brightest folks we know to tell us about how they think about risk. We’ve shared their responses below.

Lisa Callamaro | Producer/Manager/Story Consultant

On a layover in Vegas with a friend once, I put a quarter in the slot machine in the airport. I won two quarters back and walked away as a “winner”. My friend asked if I was afraid of risk. “Afraid of risk?”, I thought. My entire career has been about risk. My work day is a slot machine. I just never know what my return will be. Read more>>

Kristine Wang | Model

I actually have a bachelor’s degree in economics/accounting and started my career in banking. But after realizing that that was not my dream and it was crushing my soul, I went against my parents’ best wishes and started my career as a model. It was a major risk from a full time 9-5 to a freelancer who had no support or idea of how to even begin! After working the market in Austin and Dallas, I decided to full send it in LA during Covid-19. Deciding to come to LA was the best decision of my life and my career as a model has fully transcended my expectations! I never thought I’d make it, let alone succeed as much as I have, but you miss 100% of the risks you don’t take. You just have to be brave enough to jump! Read more>>

Soraya H. Yousefi | Ceramicist

I think risk is imperative for over-thinkers like myself. My entire business and self-growth has been built on taking risks. I spent my entire life second-guessing every aspect of my existence and every decision I wanted to make, and would often talk myself out of taking action, until one day I finally stopped. I graduated from university and was laid off from my job in the summer of 2020 and instead of looking for work, I took a risk and spent some time delving into pottery. I signed up for a 4-week wheel-throwing class alone (although my social anxiety was internally screaming) and consequently signed up for a monthly membership at the studio. After a year, I left the studio, purchased my own pottery wheel and supplies and rented a local ceramicist’s kiln. Read more>>

Erin Enberg | Screenwriter and Director

A consequence of risk-taking is failure. It’s taken me a long time to learn that failure is one of the biggest teachers in life. I’m not sure how else you learn except through trial and error. Taking career risks, as it relates to the entertainment industry, personal artistic risks, or even moving to a new place, also helps you learn what you like and don’t like. Every time I make a film, I fear it might not be “good,” or what if I disappoint everyone who worked on it or supported it? But to stay in a comfort zone has its consequences. How else will you grow and learn from mistakes? Read more>>

Yoonsang Hwang | Ceramic Artist, Painter, Father

I hate taking risks. But taking risks is what brought me to the place that I’m currently at. If I didn’t risks, and if I don’t continue to take risks nothing would change, there would be no progress. I always want to evolve and become something more and I realized that only comes when I take risks. But there’s degrees to risks. When I was younger, I would take stupid risks out of desperation and fear. Making rash decisions and mistakes that would impact my life negatively. Read more>>

John Bach | Executive Chef and Owner of Seoul Food KBBQ Catering

My entire young adult life was a literal gamble with more losses than wins, so when it came to starting Seoul Food KBBQ, I was very, very calculated with the type of risks I took. Read more>>

Benny Sheng-pin Chen | Writer& Director

I remember in the movie “Past lives”, there is a line saying “It’s true that if you leave you lose things, but you also gain things, too.” And for me, that’s what risk is. To pursue a career in art/creative filed, I have to put the plan that the society consider safe and stable on a scale: to risk stable, good life away, to choose what my heart calls, to create and to tell story. And in the end, the heart want what it wants. To gain something different, you must change certain things, and with changes, there is risk, it’s that simple. Read more>>

Bao Le Cheok | Cinematographer

I don’t think of myself as a risk taker. In fact, I think of myself as an extremely safe person. Or used to be anyway. After spending 26 years in Singapore, my life choices have often been shaped by societal norms, making it difficult to stray from the conventional path. Read more>>

Armani Fountain | Career Coach & Content Creator

As the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. I believe you can be successful whether you have a low risk tolerance or a high risk tolerance. I think the main difference is the outcome you can achieve depending on how big the risk is. That doesn’t mean all big risk will automatically give you a reward. It just means that if you’re up at bat and you’re consistently going for home runs, though you may strike out a few times, at some point you’ll hit one. Read more>>

Daniel Papillon | Artist

Risk is everything, I wouldn’t be where i am today without it, at times you lose everything, especially your mind, but when you finally get out the other side its all worth it. My whole life I’ve put myself in situations that require me to take risks, i guess i see life as a pendulum, sometimes the harder you push, the harder you get to experience both pain and pleasure. In other words your highs are high and your lows are low, i cant imagine how boring would it be to be sitting still in the middle not experiencing anything. Read more>>

Ramon Lyons | Filmmaker & Multi-hyphenate Creative

I believe my entire adult life has been one big risk after another. I went from graduating from Georgetown University to making a decision to chase an idea of being a filmmaker with no prior experience in that field. That led me to sleep on couches of former teammates of mine while I was producing my first documentary. And when there were no couches I had to resort to luggage bags. The only thing that kept me sane was my Faith and the belief that I was going to make this work. I had no plan B and doubled down on my dream until it came my reality. Read more>>

Alyssa Fitchie | Commercial Hair and Makeup Artist

I consider risk the reason my career has become what it has. It’s the art of putting yourself out there with the hopes that your vulnerability helps position you for success or gets you into rooms you can only dream of. For me, risk comes at the cost of showing my cards. I have to express what I want, that I want to be invited, that I made something and hope people like it. Read more>>

Tania Hassanzadeh, Md | Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon

Risk is ever-present in my daily life as a Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon. Any procedure I perform involves a patient entrusting his or her face into my hands—the most visible part of anyone’s body—and in surgery, even entrusting me with his or her life while under general anesthesia. As the adage goes for doctors in medical training, surgery is “high risk, high reward.” Read more>>

Alexandra Meredith | Writer, and Mental Health Advocate

The definition of “Risk” in simple terms is the possibility of something bad happening. I disagree. When I think about “risk”, I hear the words “Possibility”, “Opportunity”, and “Warrior”. Read more>>