Are you a risk taker? Do you think you have a stronger appetite for risk relative to your friends and family? We asked some folks from the community about their approaches to risk and have shared their thoughts below.

Kittrell Poe | Professional Dancer

I believe risk plays a huge factor in my career, especially as an artist. As someone who is trying to make their own path in history, I have to bet on myself a lot more than others. Read more>>

Jah Jah | I’m originally from the Bronx, NY, and raised in Ft

Risk taking… One of my favorite things to do lol. My life is all about taking risk. There’s no reward without it. Some of my best life experiences came from me taking risk. From me deciding to move back to NY for college literally 3 weeks after I decided to go. To years later moving from the East Coast to the West coast sporadically with my partner and our son. Some of my best interviews came from risk taking as well. From Dipset, to Guap Dad 4000, to even Soulja Boy. Just to name a few. Read more>>

Bradley Baumkirchner | Artist, Designer

Risk taking? If it’s worth doing, it worth risking everything. I have always functioned this way, I throw myself 1000% into anything I do, otherwise I don’t see a reason for doing it. Do you? This of course has it’s consequences obviously, like some other matters get ignored by necessity. But again, that is perhaps the price of excellence. Without a doubt there is always an expense to excellence, yet the reward is priceless. Read more>>

Aleksandar Adžić | Musician

The risk is necessary! Going with the feeling doors get open. There is a thin line between these doors and there you need faith and courage to get through. Do what you feel you should do, and do it now. Read more>>

Starr Shapiro | Writer & Performer

Risk has been inherent to my life and career the moment I decided I wanted to pursue screenwriting and playwriting. In the entertainment industry, and particularly when it comes to writing, there is no set path and absolutely no guarantee that you will ever “make it” and earn a living writing words on a page. Given how inevitable risk is in my career, I’ve found that I cannot afford to waste energy being scared of it. After I graduated college and moved to Los Angeles, I was certainly taking risks by diving head first into pursuing writing, but I was also spending a lot of time worrying about the “what ifs” and all of the ways things may not work out for me. Read more>>

Ronan Lemus | Standup comedian

Taking risks has given me things I never thought I could have so far . With out taking risks you could never escape your bubble . You learn a lot from every risk you take and when you learn, you can grow. Read more>>

John Westphal | Mussician

Risks have played a huge part in my career as a musician. I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for me taking risks. Taking risks can be a good thing and a bad thing, as sometimes they workout in your favor and sometimes they don’t. For an example a risk playing out in my favor I was given the opportunity to meet with a record label & artist (Ar-Ab & OBH Records). I was given a notice of 2 hours to make my mind up for the opportunity if I wanted to take the chance or not, I had no transportation and work the next morning. At the time I was living in Toledo, Ohio and the opportunity I was given was in Philadelphia which was a 9 hour drive from where I was at so thankfully i found a ride and I took the risk of taking the drive and praying it played out in my favor. Read more>>

Brian Brown | Travel & Lifestyle Photographer

I think there’s always a risk in starting your own business as a creative. I couldn’t see myself being satisfied with a typical 9-5 job and I knew that I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to express myself creatively and without boundaries. As a photographer, I constantly feel motivated to challenge myself artistically and to work in new environments. Read more>>

Júsef René | Singer-Songwriter-Podcaster

Taking risks have been my saving grace and why I possess the perspective that I have currently. It allows you to gain knowledge of your capabilities and who you truly are. Experience, in this case, is the best teacher because of what you gain during the journey. You will never know what the possibilities are until you take a chance on yourself. Read more>>

Michael Sugimoto

Taking risks has honestly been one of the biggest parts of my journey. It’s like a baby bird being pushed out of the nest, sometimes, you just have to take that leap to learn to fly. If you never jump, you’ll never know what you’re capable of. In my journey as a student leader, I’ve learned that success doesn’t come from staying where it’s safe and familiar; it comes from having the courage to step beyond your comfort zones and tackle challenges head on. Read more>>

Fu Yang

Fu: Speaking of risk-taking, I feel like running an animation studio is really just a series of one risk after another. I took a risk by leaving my country to start a new career path. It was another risk to decide to depend on a dream to sustain myself and my husband. It was yet another risk to decide to later move away from California and the industry we depend on to find a financially stable place to plant roots and found our studio. It’s an extremely niche career path. Read more>>

Shu Dai

Risk and opportunity always coexist—this is something I’ve always believed. Especially in the field of art, it’s not as black and white as gambling, nor can you predict an outcome through data like in a math problem. Risk, more often than not, can actually spark potential and force you to look at things from a different perspective. Rather than focusing solely on risk, I think what’s more important is confidence in the face of challenges and the ability to not fear failure. A great work of art is always the result of constant experimentation—believing in yourself at the start, accepting mistakes along the way, and learning through failure. This is the necessary path to creating something truly great. Read more>>

Dorah Blume

Each person needs to know their risk tolerance. Some people think starting a business or making a life in the arts is highly risky, while I always felt a regular 9-5 job, especially if it were going to be something I hated, would be life-threatening. Hooking up with an inappropriate life partner is highly risky, so I’ve been very conservative in that area of my life. Read more>>

Sharon Yaoxi He

Risk-taking has been essential to both my personal growth and artistic development. I see it as stepping into the unknown—whether that’s through experimenting with new painting techniques, exploring theoretical ideas, or adapting to a completely new environment. For me, risk fuels creativity and opens up new perspectives. Read more>>

Olga Leonova

Risk has played a significant and transformative role in my life and career. I began my professional journey as an architect, a field that many would consider stable and promising. However, despite the apparent security and the respect that came with the title, I found myself increasingly dissatisfied and unfulfilled. The creative constraints and the corporate nature of architecture left me longing for a more personal and expressive form of artistry. Read more>>

Lea Cayanan

“A bird doesn’t land on a branch trusting that the branch won’t break, but rather trusting in its ability to fly away” I think life is about taking risks. On the other side of risk is potentially your dream life, your happiness, your purpose. While risks can be daunting, I think as long as you trust yourself, your capabilities, and your resiliency, you will never fail. Your “failures” will merely be lessons and building blocks on your journey. Read more>>

Andrew St Juste

I think risk is the essence of life. Too many people let the idea of failed consequences freeze them. I read a book that had a “worse case scenario” exercise in it. It went like this… Imagine the WORSE CASE SCENARIO. Everybody thinks about getting fired. You lose your car. You have to leave the city. You have to move in with a family member (or worse). Read more>>

Nataliya Ilkiv

Risk has been a consistent factor throughout my life. Growing up in Ukraine, uncertainty was a constant presence, leading me to reflect on the future and the direction my life might take. However, my mother instilled in me the importance of adaptability and facing challenges with resilience, fostering a sense of confidence from an early age. Her courageous decision to immigrate to the United States provided us with greater opportunities and opened doors for me to pursue my aspirations. The risks we took in starting anew in a foreign country shaped my perspective, teaching me that embracing risk is essential to navigating life’s complexities. Read more>>

Shannon Coty

When talking about risk, a lot of people assume we are talking about monetary risks but today I want to touch on the depth risk actually has on the soul. Taking risks and living audaciously is something I have always done. Maybe I can attribute that to being the first born in my family and having to navigate life with no instruction manual? All jokes aside, without it, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I have not lived the “conventional” life that was laid out for me. We are given one shot at this grand adventure and I want this life I have to be inspiring and something I won’t shut up about to my grandkids. The only way to do that, is to be radical with bringing my visions to life. Read more>>

Mary Anselmo

I have always been a big risk taker because it’s like gambling – high risk = high reward. You only live once, so why not take the risks because if you don’t you may regret it. I’ve never looked back on my life regretting that I’ve done something I’ve only looked back regretting NOT doing it. I say go for it, it’s God’s way of giving you an opportunity! Read more>>

Adrianne D.

Though risk is a terrifying thing, it is a fear that I have spent the past three years leaning into. Before I moved to California, I had never visited. My driving force to leave my hometown and come here was based off of something I said I was going to do when I was nine years old. Act. Despite my desire to appease my inner child there would be many roadblocks and logistics threatening to get in my way. Before I left Indiana I had been laid off due to COVID, which left me with unemployment as my only source of income. Read more>>

Xiqian Luo

I’ve taken two significant risks in my life: moving to Los Angeles alone with just $500 and investing all my life savings to open Purple Magpie Mandarin. While some may view these as risky moves, I see them as essential steps toward achieving my goals. When I have a clear vision, I muster the courage to take bold steps and work hard to realize my dreams. Read more>>

Shawn Triple6

I took a risk getting my hands, neck and head tattooed before I was actually tattooing for a living. I was already quite heavily tattooed early on but those spots were a bigger deal back in the day. Everyone told me it would be difficult to get a job but I had decided that if a job didn’t want to hire me because of my tattoos, then it wasn’t the right job for me. It also just pushed me to land an apprenticeship and start tattooing as a career. The last thing I want is to be an old man wishing I would have taken more risks when I was younger. And I’m not getting any younger. Read more>>

P J

I think it’s necessary to life. In it’s truest form, everything is a risk, though the weight of it is different for everyone. Even still, we do our best to mitigate the ones that’ll have the greatest (negative) impact with the ones that’ll afford us the greatest rewards. Investors take risks all the time. Adrenaline junkies laugh while jumping out of airplanes. The marginalized…well they just simply have to exist at times. I thrive in it, but i’m also calculated and analytical. I do it mainly by standing up for injustice and calling out things that don’t make sense. Read more>> 

Erica Moore

In January of this year, I decided to take a big risk. I quit my 6-figure, salaried job that I’d had for 7 years. People approached me on my last day in the office, marveling at the “big leap” I was taking. “You’re so brave!”, “I wish I could be like you!” What many didn’t realize is that I had been preparing to take this risk for years. Read more>>