In our experience, most folks, including ourselves don’t have enough of an understanding of risk and the role it plays in our lives and careers and so we have made a concerted effort as a team to have conversations about risk with our interviewees. We’ve shared some highlights below.

Sea Mo Aldermoon | Movie Director & Actor

Taking risks has been everything in my life, I’ve had a very “leap and the net will appear” approach to my career. It has always worked out but has always also been horrifying. Back in the day I worked in restaurants and one last straw made me quit one day with no back-up plan other than making my videography my full-time gig. It was the push I needed, and after moving to LA, I was put in the position to do the same transition but from videography to filmmaking. Read more>>

Taryn Segal | Photographer

My risks feel less like risks and more like things I have do. Asking anyone I don’t know personally to take their photo is putting myself on the spot.. Doesn’t matter if they’re a stranger on the street or online. They could say no, but what if they say yes? You have to be equally prepared for Yes’s and No’s. Everyone talks about the rejection in the art world. All the no’s, the radio silence, and not letting your hopes get too high. Read more>>

De’André Watkins | Photographer

Risk taking is a major role as a photographer. You have to take risks in order to find that success in this business. You can’t second guess your self when it comes to putting the best project possible to the attention of the business or people you want to work with in the future. Risk for me is having that courage to contact that magazine in hopes to work with them, send a message to a celebrity with hopes they’ll see the message and response. Even with 99 No’s that one Yes can be a major game changer. Read more>>

Gabriel Gutierrez | Producer

My journey to LA and later to the American Film Institute started with a risk I took. Back in 2017, I was living in Fort Worth, Texas. I had just graduated from Texas Christian University (TCU), and I position at the Lone Star Film Festival. In my two years there, I had an amazing time working with filmmakers from all over the world. I watched thousands of submissions each year. Looking for something that would connect my culture with my passion on film I started Fort Worth’s first Latino film festival Cine-Más. Read more>>

Devin Desouza | Director/Photographer

Risk is a leap of faith. If you truly believe in yourself, you’ll do whatever it takes to get where you’re trying to go. It’s a bridge to newfound growth. Sometimes we live stagnant lives because it’s the safe thing to do. Our minds are trained to feel this way, but risk is where you allow yourself to be uncomfortable and have faith in yourself by taking initiative. Risk has played a huge role in my life. I wouldn’t live in California or have my career without it.  Read more>>

Shanthal Caba Mojica | Filmmaker and Sound Designer

Taking risks is intrinsic to creativity in my opinion. Curiosity is one of the main driving forces in my work and I think to truly experiment you have to surrender to the notion that your idea might fail. You have to try it in order to know if it’s going to work the way you want it or not, but it’s important to find out for yourself and to set your own standards. Read more>>

James C. Velasquez | Film Director & Producer

Risk is an intimidating thing and most people see it as something they don’t want to confront. For me, it’s especially hard taking on big career and life risks when I want to prioritize spending time with my family and friends. I was raised as a family man in a big Filipino family that values always being there for each other. The fear of failure after taking career risks led to a lingering pain mentally that took most of my 20s to overcome. Read more>>

Sarah and Darren Hendry | Photographers

Sometimes risks most definitely pay off! For example, the most substantial risk we’ve ever taken was moving our business, and lives, over to Los Angeles from Scotland. LA, and California in general, is somewhere we’ve always loved to visit, ever since making our first trip over here in 2009. Read more>>

Neil Aaron | Founder and Lead Teacher of the Shiva Murti Learning Center

I love risk taking! It’s the crux of manifestation and has been a key component to my success. Risk taking is necessary in order to bring the next level up into existence. When faced with an opportunity to take a risk, I remind myself that it is an opportunity to step beyond what I think my maximum is. All the risks I’ve taken have paid off in spades. Does that mean I get the desired result of what I thought the risk might pay off? No. But the energy from me taken the risk pays off in other ways. Read more>>

Erika Degraff | Actress | Artist

What I think about risk is like the old saying goes, “No Risk, No Reward.” I truly live my life by this statement. I believe that there is so much beauty in the risk, because it makes you uncomfortable, while also revealing how strong you truly are. I share my story with many artists who have asked about my journey and how I’ve been able to obtain a great amount of success in a short amount of time. Read more>>

Carmel Samiri | Creative Director & Photographer

Hm, the word risk is interesting. A risk can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the outcome. Some of the risks I’ve taken include dropping out of high school to pursue a career in creative, moving to a different country for a job that didn’t pan out like I’d hoped, continuously pitching editors (back in my PR days) or cold emailing potential clients with little return. Read more>>

Nikki Coffelt PhD | artist + evolutionary consultant

Evolution is impossible without risk and sacrifice . My life has been one calculated risk after the next . For better and worse — it’s how I got this far . I’ve always had a very strong connection to my intuition (although this was severed during my years as an addict) The past 15 years of healing have deepened this gift to include instinctual intelligence (from my body and the earth) — but I’ve pretty much always been a quick, Read more>>

Sakinna J | 3X Best selling author, CEO/Founder of I Choose Me Enterprises LLC, & Transitional/ Family Life Coach

Well let me just say that in the past I was never the person to take risk. I have always “played it safe” and was never interested in taking risk because i was afraid of failing. However as i grew older and matured i realized that some risk are good to take because it can open the doors for opportunities. Prior to me taking risk i was living a life where i was unhappy, unfulfilled, and just taking one day at a time. I didn’t understand what my purpose was in life but i knew i had to do something because i needed to be happy and fulfilled.  Read more>>

Nistha Dube | TEDx Speaker, Author, & Podcast Host

I’ve noticed that when it comes to the age-old “secrets” to success, they are often times portrayed solely as consistency, hard work, book smarts, etc. While each of those elements play a crucial role in one’s success, I think operating out of courage is a whole different ballpark. Read more>>

Shmuel Siegel | Commercial Real Estate Broker | Transformational Coach

What is risk in business? Risk is any time you are dealing with an unknown outcome. Simply put, if I knew exactly what the result of an action would be, there would be no risk involved, rather an informed decision. Therefore, weighting in all the options, potential outcomes, pitfalls, and minimize the margin of risk is key to having risk play in your favor. Unfortunately for me, this was not always the case. Read more>>

Laura Lopez | Producer

Risk taking has been an integral part of my life and career as a producer. As someone who is passionate about creating meaningful projects, I have embraced the challenge of forging my own path and helping others navigate this transition. Read more>>

Katherine Downey Miller | Contemporary Painter and visual art educator

I think taking risks is necessary and essential to growth in one’s personal and professional life. Painting is full of risks. Just putting that mark down on canvas is a risk, but then think of all the visual discoveries found. Read more>>

Levina Lasmana | Graphic Designer

Taking risks and getting out of my comfort zone has been the greatest decision I made as it expanded my point of view of the world. When I decided to leave my home country of Indonesia to further my studies in Japan and the United States, I did feel anxious, but more than anything I was thrilled and excited as I was looking forward to a new adventure. Read more>>