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.

Taylor Martin | Abstract Artist

I think the most important creative risk an artist can take is putting their true touch into their art and out into the world. Yes, you’re left open to be judged and all you want is to be accepted, but if you show up as your true self then you will find your community and your true path which is the best risk you can take to support your art. Read more>>

Tuti Do | Founder, Marketing Strategist, Publicist and Event Planner

Taking risks has been woven throughout my career. Initially, many questioned if specializing Marketing was a wise choice considering I live in predominantly French city with limited French communication skills. There was concern if I could even find a job but fast forward, I’ve now been running own Marketing & Communications agency for close to 20 years. Before becoming an entrepreneur, early in my career, I took a financial risk to change industries and follow a dream. I left a high paying position with my own office and its floor-to-ceiling windows to sit in a maze of cubicles and start my way up the fashion industry. Risks continued as I took on high profile projects outside my comfort level. Read more>>

Allen Chodakowski | Director of Photography

My career has evolved taking on more risks with the projects I chose. I was caught in a loop shooting Lifetime movies for a couple years, which was a great training ground for honing my skills as a cinematographer but, I got too comfortable and didn’t feel challenged anymore creatively. So I began to work with directors who wrote their own scripts and found more creative freedom working outside a formula. As an artist, once you learn the rules, and you should, I believe in taking a step outside your comfort zone in discovering what else is possible in the medium you’re working in. Read more>>

Lance Zaal | President and Founder of US Ghost Adventures

Risk management is key to every important decision I make. You need to account for the impact of risk on both your short- and long-term goals and how they impact all stakeholders involved. Risk needs to be considered from different perspectives, and risk is more than financial. When I evaluate risk, I think about likelihood and impact. How likely is something to happen, and if it happens, how could it hurt us? What are the opportunity costs? This year, I turned down the purchase of a famous tourist attraction (which was mostly an eCommerce business under the hood) I was selected as the buyer for. Read more>>

Amy Beavington | Psychic Medium

Having the willingness to take risks in life is essential. We wouldn’t get anywhere without risk taking. As I started to lean into the idea of starting my own business, the feeling of how big of a risk it was terrifying. The overwhelming fear of; “What if I fail?” “What if I am criticized?” “What if I loose?” however, I knew that if I didn’t just jump and go for it, that the regret would haunt me forever. I knew there was more for me, I knew I wanted to be my most authentic self, and I knew I had something to share with my community, and the world. I thought Fuck It – the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. Taking the risk paid off for me, I am so glad I went for it. Read more>>

Meghan Carrasquillo | Actress

Without taking big risk you’ll never get to experience big change. At least that’s what I’ve always told myself. I see taking risks as a positive. If I didn’t feel nervous about taking the kind of risks that I do as a filmmaker, then I wouldn’t think I was as passionate about my craft as I”d like to be. Thankfully, I cherish and appreciate the doors that can open for you as much as the doors that can close with every risk you take. It can all lead you to the next best thing in life. Read more>>

Trezere Zeus Stunna” Johnson | Recording Artist”

Risk taking is essential to achieving any difficult goal. When i first came to LA i took a risk of being homeless and possibly dying to search for a bigger opportunity in music Read more>>

Crystal Balcom | Bouquet Preservation Specialist

Founded “Once upon a quarantine” Ever After Bouquet was funded using unemployment during the pandemic. I invested everything into experimenting, researching, learning and mastering this floral science (which I should mention is not an affordable hobby.) At the time, there were no modern floral preservation studios in the greater western USA, no tutorials on this subject. I began on the floor of a spare bedroom in my home, dreaming of introducing this business to California Weddings, though during a time of economic uncertainty it was a major risk. I had taken a leap of faith this floral concept would bloom once Covid had passed. To my surprise, and right as my unemployment checks ran out, I was quickly emerged into this beautiful industry during the historic wedding boom, an unanticipated event resulting in more demand than I could have imagined. Read more>>

Gage Tapia | Sound Mixer, Boom Operator, Utility, Camera Operator, 2nd Camera Assistant, photographer.

When I think about risk, I don’t see it as a chance for failure. (Maybe its because of my glass half full mindset) I treat it as a learning experience. Its a fundamental part of life. There is risk in finding love(rejection) or public speaking(embarrassment), lastly spending time outdoors(danger). although, We always have a choice to grow from it. We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one. – Confucius For my career risk is buying equipment for sound mixing. It is quite expensive. I’ve at least spent twenty thousand dollars on a chance of making money from it. That money could have gone to furthering college, property, or another business venture. Read more>>

Matthew Sato | Music Composer / Music Producer / Song-Writer

I believe risk-taking in your life and career is essential in order to reach your next goal. I wouldn’t have been where I am today if it wasn’t for taking risks. I took one of the biggest risks of staying in the states during the pandemic, when all my friends, colleagues and fellow composers went back to their country. As an expat, staying in a foreign country is risk-taking in many ways, however, I don’t regret the risk-taking decision that I made surviving in LA. Life had changed after taking this risk, meeting new industry professionals and also to be given great opportunities from a great mentor, Nathan Wang. Although, I took risks, I also felt that I went with whatever my heart felt right at the time. Read more>>

Christie Shinn | Comic creator, Creator of Demon BItch, and President of Comic Art Professional Society

Sometimes the fear is what makes you fail over and over again. When you feel like it’s something you HAVE to do – you just need to do it. Then it ends up paying off for me in a big way. You’ll know when to push your own boundaries to standing fast. Read more>>

Brionna Louis | Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, supervised by Nyssa Von Doeren, LMFT

Risk-taking has played a huge role in my life/career. I wouldn’t be in my line of work now if I hadn’t taken the risk of going back to school and switching careers. I couldn’t even begin to establish a business if I didn’t take risks. I risk failing on every front and don’t have a plan B. I can have setbacks, frustration, and a lot of no’s, but failing in this particular business venture long-term isn’t an option for me. Even that mindset is a risk. I could pour my blood, sweat, and tears into this and still not be successful…I don’t know what that would do to me, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Read more>>

DIEGO ANDRES | Creative Director / Art Director

Risk is a factor you always have to play with. If you don’t take risks, you don’t win, and that’s part of life. With time and experience you may win more times than you lose, but failure is also a part of victory. I have been in comfortable jobs, where it was not necessary to take any risk, neither at work nor in life, but also with very little evolution. If you are in your initial stage of your career, you have to make mistakes, you have to assert yourself when you are right and try to be non-conformist whenever you can. And non-conformism and risk are very good friends and it is very good that it belongs to your gang. Read more>>

Jared Hickman | Comic Artist & Illustrator

Risk can be uncomfortable (or terrifying!), but it’s impossible to achieve your dreams without it. When I moved to LA years ago, I took a huge risk. I threw everything I owned into my Camaro and drove across the country from Oklahoma to start a new life. I knew exactly one person here in LA and had no job lined up. All I knew is that I wanted to be a comic artist, and I wanted to be as close to the industry and conventions as possible. I then took a risk applying for a job as a video game tester at THQ, and I ended up testing games professionally for years. Read more>>

KD Moeller | Screenwriter, Director, Producer

For me, making the choice to take a risk does not always lead to a positive or successful outcome in work or in life – it can be embarrassing to pursue bold action based solely on some uncanny gut instinct only to then fall on your face. A few years ago when I was still fairly new to the industry, I applied to a directing fellowship with a script that I knew wasn’t right for the judges panel but I had this irrational notion that maybe I could distinguish myself with the sample – ultimately I basically disqualified myself. For a long time, the negative feedback I got in through that process blocked me from wholeheartedly working in film, but from a larger perspective, I do think taking a risk sends a bright signal that you are in your own corner, willing to jump off the cliff in service of what compels you, and that’s the porch-light that pulls me toward it like a moth. Read more>>

Zach Koepp | Filmmaker

Risk taking is one of my favorite feelings in the world. The fear, the exhilaration, and the bravery that others do not see. It requires a bravery that, even below the surface, doesn’t seem brave at all. It’s primal. It’s scary, and its reward is the greatest feeling, I believe, one can achieve. Where I’m currently at as a writer-director simply couldn’t exist without a culmination of risks that birthed from “go big or go home.” In order to get my first movie accomplished, I leveraged everything I owned and borrowed the rest. That movie ended up being purchased by Gravitas Ventures, an Independant powerhouse that purchases 1% of all films it reviews. Read more>>