Embracing risk is one of the most powerful things anyone can do to level up and maximize the probability of reaching your full potential. Below, you’ll find risk-takers across industries sharing their stories of how they began to embrace risk.
Conni Lovelace
The thrill of diving into something uncertain, especially when the timing feels right, has been a major motivator for me. This drive is fueled by a blend of confidence and hope. My ability to take risks has evolved through a mix of strategic planning, hands-on experience, and a readiness to embrace and learn from uncertainty. Read more>>
Luisa Mejia
Being born in Colombia, I had to learn at a very young age to deal with risks and with fear. It is not a secret that our country has been hit by violence for many years. At the time when I was living in the country, I kept a strong faith and always felt somehow protected. However when the fear doesn’t come from the outside, but from the inside, with self-doubt and fear of failure, I always ask myself two questions, what is the worst that can happen if I do it?, what do I lose if I don’t ? I always think to myself the only failure will be if I don’t take a first step Read more>>
Amy Lynn Durham
My journey in developing the ability to take risks has been both enlightening and transformative. As a Founder of an Executive Coaching firm and an Edgewalker facilitator, I’ve learned that taking risks isn’t about recklessness but rather about navigating the unknown with a blend of intuition and strategy. Read more>>
Konica Cherry
As a business owner, developing the ability to take risks is crucial for growth and success. The ability to take risks is a gradual process that combines experience, knowledge, and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. As a business owner in the skincare industry being confident in my products helped develop my ability to take risk. When you’re confident in your craft no matter how many times you fail as a risk taker you’re willing to fail over and over again, until you see the results you want. You have to be willing to make mistakes that’s the only way you’ll succeed. Read more>>
Kelly Fitzpatrick
My ability to take risk has ebbed and flowed over the years as different opportunities and life experiences have shaped circumstances. There are ways in which I took great risk in my younger days that I wouldn’t dream of now, and ways in which I take risk now that I never would have thought possible. Ultimately, I love to grow and to learn. Staying stagnant gives me anxiety! And movement in any direction carries inherent risk. It often feels easier to cope with the status quo, but I have never regretted a risk I have taken. In one way or another, it has helped lead me to where I am today. And since I am so happy personally and professionally in this part of my life, I can look back gratefully on the paths that led me here. Read more>>
Mel Mack
I’m not sure if I’d call it risk taking vs. looking at all the variables and making a choice. There is risk involved of course. My ability to take risks comes from being in the entertainment industry for over 28+ years on both sides of the camera, being raised by an undiagnosed bi-polar parent and owning my own business. Read more>>
Taylor Latouche
I believe my ability to take risks stems from many influences throughout my life; a mixed race American, born a child of an active duty Navy man, was the beginning of my journey of learning to face my fears, and take the risk to have the experiences I desired. Facing forced new experiences due to travel, my tenacious spirit, and desire to make friends as a child taught me very early to “Feel the fear but do it anyway”, a book by Susan Jeffers, a book I later discovered in adulthood that also helped shape my perspective. Being a risk taker as an identity really took root in my adolescence, being somewhat of a angry, rebellious child. I experienced a number of small traumas that further formed my ideas, creating a; “I am going to have what I want, do what I want, ask permission later type of child. Some of these traumas included witnessing domestic hostilities between my two very different parents, later witnessing them divorce, leading to lack of parental supervision, also being bullied in all white schools, being bullied in all black schools, and being exposed to unwanted sexual encounters as a fast developing adolescent, all influenced me to become thrill seeking personality in college. Growing into adulthood rapidly, I learned how to transform myself, whether it be for a job, passing a test, or making new friends, this ability created a fearlessness with in me, that I can be whoever I imagined. Also the thirst for new experience never left me, I married very young to a Jamaican born Airforce vet and moved away from my family, not an unfamiliar feeling. Trauma never seemed to escape me either: trying to have children with my husband I almost died twice, loosing my ability to have children all together. This Trauma created a burning thirst to create a legacy for my life, as many women are validated in their womanhood by their children, I had to begin the difficult journey of self identity after trauma. After struggling through my grief, and a failing marriage I decided that my legacy would be business, creating business became my way to give birth. At 24 years old, I opened my first business, a jewelry store with my first school certifications Art, Jewelry Design and Repair. So many Risks, so much reward. I felt empowered by choosing industry that was and still is white male dominated. It gave me a renewed sense of worth and self -value, that not only my craft gave me, but the feeIing that I was making a difference pursuing a career path that women would not normally be in, specifically being a woman of color. I later partnered with my now ex husband to create my second business, a successful restaurant. I took another risk to attend culinary school, while running my business. It was hard but I don’t regret it. I currently own a catering business and private chef company now, and I also host groups that promote feminism and equality for all Americans. I will be a businesswoman until my last days, and I continue to take risks through my hardships and successes, while encouraging other young women to be bold and fearless has been a way of life that has not only rewarded me, but has saved my life Read more>>
Brittany Renee
I’ve always been something of a rule-follower. I never really considered myself a free spirit until recently. When I first entered my 20s, I was in college and as graduation loomed closer, I began to panic a little.I still didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do or how to get there. However, I was steadily learning what I did NOT want to do– work an office job, go to graduate school, stay in my college town, etc. So after I completed my degree, I enrolled in a government funded service year program called AmeriCorps NCCC. Where you were sent and what kind of service you did was totally up to chance. I sounded crazy explaining it to my parents and there was so much more to the process that I didn’t discover until later, but I just jumped. It was exhilarating and exhausting and illuminating in so many ways. I visited over 20 towns across numerous states, met lifelong friends, and worked with disaster relief teams, the Girl Scouts, and a host of other nonprofits. Not to mention that we got to do cool stuff like represent our organization in Washington, DC, pet donkeys, and kayak in the Gulf of Mexico. That experience was the turning point for me. Some of the most fun and rewarding things in life are the things that we don’t plan. It takes a certain level of willingness to release control but if you can do that, you’d be amazed at the beauty that’s on the other side. Read more>>
Manuel Fuentes
My ability to take a risk has been within me ever since I was a kid. I would envision an idea and somehow the idea would align towards my goals. During COVID, it was a leap of faith getting into acting as a full time job switching careers. Even as I’m turning 30, I’m uncomfortable being comfortable. Now, I’m adding onto becoming a streamer live on Twitch (@heisnolo), which is a new adventure for me. Read more>>
Taylor Peacock
The worst they can say is no. Don’t count yourself out of an opportunity for fear of failure, or you will never grow.
Like many things these days, I’m sure I absorbed this sage wisdom from TikTok or some other social media snippet. Nonetheless, it rewired my adult brain. I realized I had been counting myself out of opportunities before even giving myself a chance. Read more>>
Christa Joy Spaeth
Almost three years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard loudly in my spirit, “Help the Hurting!” I was shaking, it was so impactful. In that moment, I knew that I needed to resign from my 24-year long career as a successful dietitian for a large food manufacturing company. I also knew at that moment that I was not to look for other work until I left the company. With great prayer and my husband backing me up, I handed in my two-month notice. It wasn’t an easy step, it was a huge step of faith, one that led me closer to the purpose God had for me which is provide hope and encouragement to others through Christ. Read more>>
Eryn Bruback
One of my favorite things I’ve always asked myself is “whats the worst that can happen?” and then I proceed from there. If you discover the worst thing you think can happen, you will realize the reasons don’t typically outweigh the best thing that can happen. Taking risks has always been an exhilarating feeling for me. It pushes me to think outside the box and to be vulnerable and reach out to others for guidance. When you surround yourself with others who take risks confidently, you will also feel empowered to create something special. Read more>>
Nina Meerbott
I think the catalyst for my risk-taking actually started with years of doing just the opposite. I spent several years throughout high school and college running far, far away from risks. I applied to universities that I knew I would qualify for and weren’t too far from home. I chose music therapy as my major before knowing what it was, because I felt it was less competitive than music performance. I ended up falling in love with music therapy, as it allowed me to use the talents God had given me in a way that would serve others and fill my own cup. It was, and still is something that I feel comfortable in and capable of. Throughout college, I had other passions that were always peeking through, like songwriting, singing and creative projects. But at that time I never saw them as anything but hobbies on the side. Pursuing any one of them more seriously seemed delusional to me, because it was too unstable. I knew even from an early age that I eventually wanted a family, and that in order to support a family I would need a very practical and stable job. At the time, having both a family and pursuing my passions fully seemed completely incompatible. So, music therapy was the perfect marriage of a stable income, job security and giving some wind to my creative side. Read more>>
Mike Rellick
I found that in my life there’s been a consistent pattern of moments of overwhelming need to accept the call to adventure and take the risk. Back in my junior year of high school, I was taking part in a computer science program that had me spending every single day for half of the day at another school learning IT servicing, coding, and cyber security. While I always had a passion for music and performance I thought it to be unrealistic to try and become a creative so this computer science track would be perfect to get into university and get to pick the corporate ladder that I can climb. Throughout this year I grew increasingly miserable and dreaded every day being surrounded by my peers who were extremely passionate about the work we were doing in the program and had to keep asking myself is this it? One day, while sitting at my desk, half asleep, we were notified that a shooting had occurred a couple of streets down and the gunman had entered the school we were in. Fortunately, no one in the school was harmed but for a moment being faced with my own mortality at 16 made me realize that I no longer could accept not taking the risks that come with the pursuit of self-actualization. Later that day once I returned to my high school I learned another very important part of this pursuit which is to never fear asking for help when i turned to the choir teacher to help me figure out how to really study music. Since that day I had taken private lessons, joined every performance group possible, was accepted to 8 out 8 of the universities I auditioned at, performed at national conferences, toured Italy performing at places like the Pantheon, St. Francis of Assisi, and the Pope’s Mass in St. Petersburg, founded a student record label, acted in a film version of Philip Glass’s Hydrogen Jukebox which won the American Prize and received 1st honours at the National Opera Association, and then graduated university with a degree in Vocal Performance and another in Arts Management & Entrepreneurship. Following university I immediately jumped into a job as a festival production manager and worked many fantastic events such as High Water Music Festival, Rail Bird, and Bonnaroo to name a few. While this job might have been more in my field than computer science was, I began feeling that same miserable feeling that comes with rejecting the call, because through all of this what I truly wanted was to tell my own story through the creation of music and if I didn’t give this my 100% at least once in my life I would spend the rest of my life wishing I had, so, I left the job and began writing music, forming a band, and managing a brand. How did I develop the ability to take risks? I can’t afford not to. Read more>>
Mike Kelley
My ability to take risk, if I had to guess, stems from my youth. I was always obsessed with skateboarding, snowboarding, and surfing, and every single thing you do in those sports involves some element of risk. Read more>>
Justine Lafond
As an oldest daughter, I feel like I have kind of always inherently met risk face to face. For me, taking a risk never put me in a panicked or debilitating state. I feel like it always came rather naturally to me and I have always loved a good challenge. The moment that anyone from my parents to a boss tried to put a limit on me, I would dig my heels in ten times harder. I love to prove someone wrong and taking risks in business and in life has paid off in dividends for me. My husband is in the military and in marrying someone in the military, there comes an immediate understanding of risk. Knowing that your spouse has voluntarily signed up to volunteer their life to keep our country and it’s people safe is a terrifying risk. Even further, you are likely pulled from whatever familiar and comfortable environment and location you reside and sent to wherever the military needs you to be. With typically no family and no friends yet, sometimes no job or career, you take on a huge risk in finding your place in that scenario. In my situation, I moved away from my family, a robust business and professional network that I had been working since college, a 6 figure salary and all of my support system of friends. I moved to Florida with my husband with just a part time job, 6 months pregnant and a new home that was still under construction. I have a background in luxury interiors and I saw a huge gap in the market here and decided to start a business in January 2020. Little did I know that the world would turn upside down just a few short months later with Covid. At that point, nothing was known, I had a baby in March of 2020 and absolutely everything felt like a risk! I’ve always loved my career and I know that I would want to work again full time eventually but I really wanted to find something that I could do on my own schedule as a new mom. Starting a business felt like a great way to do that. At this point in my life, most of the risks I have taken have paid off. This one was no exception. I have leaned into the challenge and in return, I have been able to mostly keep my daughter home with me since birth, I am in my 3rd year of a successful Interior Design business and growing exponentially year over year and in growing my network here locally, I have made dozens of great friends over the last few years that will be lifelong. Read more>>
Unique Unknown
My biggest joy in life right now is improvising and freestyling with a loop pedal during shows. Over the past few years I have developed my skills as a looper and improviser. These skills have allowed me to be my whole complete self on stage with no compromise. This skill took years of battling self confidence, imposter syndrome, pain, anxiety, and depression. I have been making up most of what I sing for most of my life. My wife will hear me singing and ask, “what song is that” and Ill tell her I a making it up which she is still in shock about haha. Basically 90% of what comes out is improvised. Its been my coping mechanism through so much in life. I am adopted and in my early years I lived in multiple different places, starting with Florida, then Arizona, then My mother moved my brother and I to Van Buren, Maine (the very top of Maine – I went from a classroom of 28 kids to a graduating class of 28 people) where I first dealt with racism but also found my love of music, acting and creating. I went to college at the University of Southern Maine, where I started freestyling consistently with friends. With most things the beginning stages of my freestyling was not great but as I said it helped me cope and was a way of making friends. My junior year of college I started to deal with chronic pain because of hernia surgeries in my past which led to me leaving college my senior year and a long 5 year battle with chronic pain and depression. Throughout this time my saving grace was writing, freestyling, and performing conscious hip hop. I really started to own my freestyling skills through a hip hop showcase in Maine called Monday Of the minds where I liked to mix hip hop with singing. Through the years and with consistency I started to get better and better. Many wild things happened during this time. Different relationships, jobs, places, and then Covid. Covid is when my freestyling really grew and the fear of doing it in front of people really dissipated. I reached out to a lovely human who goes by DJ Matt Perry when I saw him doing twitch live streams where he would DJ and artist would come on and perform written music. I hit him up and said I would love to join you but instead of written music, I would like to freestyle my whole set. He was into it and our first time live together we went a whole hour and a half improvising and freestyling over various beats. It was a huge growth period for my skills. Eventually when things settled down and through teaching hip hop to younger kids I got the opportunity of a lifetime to get back into one of my first passions which was theater and I was cast in a play at the Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine which ended up leading to a fulltime position. This is the place where I learned to completely lose the fear of improvising in front of people and going into a show with nothing planned but making it a beautiful adventure for anyone involved. At the museum I create and perform free short form programs for families to see in the theater. Through the creation and testing phases I’ve learned that nothing can be perfect and growth and change is a beautiful part of life. I created a group called Unique Unknown and friends which I describe as Reggie Watts or Marc Rebillet meets whose line is it anyways. It is me beatboxing and freestyling with a loop pedal, a drummer, who goes by Bagels, and a live artist named Nolan. We work off of each other and suggestions from the crowd to create whole songs. The shows are anywhere from half an hour to two and a half hours long. I also do solo shows as well completely improvised. I would not be where I am at with this skill without going through years of self growth and learning self love, confidence, and trusting myself. Thank you for your time and treat each other with love and respect and remember, we are all Unique Unknown Read more>>
