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.
Rhea Khan
How I Developed My Ability to Take Risks
By Rhea Khan, Founder of Aaizaa
I didn’t grow up thinking of myself as a risk-taker. I’ve always leaned toward the intentional, the rooted, the steady. But building Aaizaa — a slow fashion label grounded in heritage and heirloom craftsmanship — meant learning how to live with risk every single day. Read More>>
Jennifer Pulley
I took a risk going back to school for graphic design after my son was born. I was in my late 30s, and it was scary taking on debt at that age and starting over. But I wanted to change careers, not just to support my family but to be happier in my work. I’ve always been creative and love problem-solving, and I wanted to do something that actually felt like me. Read More>>
Jesse Baxter
The first and last lesson of every higher education program in the arts is this: Take Risks. When I heard these words upon graduating Acting Conservatory in 2019, I never fully grasped that they applied to more than just acting. It would take four years of growth as I finished my degree—years filled with acting, creating, and learning—before I realized that risk-taking would be essential in every aspect of my life. Read More>>
Carla Kissane
I trained as an actor at an elite performing arts college in Australia with talent-based entry and a policy of culling students who didn’t perform well. At the end of my first year, I was told I was at risk of failing, and had six weeks to prove myself. The staff told me that there was nothing ‘wrong’ but that they had been ‘waiting for me to fly’ and encouraged me to ‘take more risks, and make more mistakes’. I couldn’t believe I was going to fail because I wasn’t making enough mistakes! Read More>>
Alejandra Alarcon Pozos
In my experience I think taking decisions was a risk that I had to take. I was worried and scared about whether my decision would be the right thing to do or not. But I did not have any other option than risk it and accepted whatever happened afterwards. After that I think the good and the bad things helped me to develop the ability to take risks. Read More>>
Christy Bolingbroke
When do we first start seeing risk as a challenge instead of an opportunity? I look at my 7 year old niece and 9 year old nephew navigating the world as they know it so far. It’s not a fearlessness that they possess, per se, but rather the fact that risk is not in the foreground as they excitedly bounce around and through their young lives. So, I wonder – when do we become so risk-averse and stop playing? Read More>>
Amelia Cohen-Smith
Definitely by trying, failing, and trying again. A piece of advice that has really stuck with me is, “It’s going to work out, because when hasn’t it?”
The more I recognize in hindsight the good that has come from taking risks, even the ones that did not turn out as I had hoped, the less risk-averse I become. Read More>>
Angelo Garrido
For us, risk has always felt less like a choice and more like a necessity. Casa AnKan was created with the intention of doing things differently, of creating a space that doesn’t quite fit into traditional definitions of either gallery or showroom. From the beginning, we’ve been drawn to pieces that challenge expectations, designers who are still carving their own path, and stories that aren’t always easy to tell. Read More>>
Rogue Schmidt
As a comedian, risk is something that comes up in everyone’s story.
From stepping out on stage for the first time in an improv scene, to pretending to be a student at a Big 10 University just so I could join their sketch comedy team, to taking my shirt off for the first time on stage doing burlesque, or producing and starring in a solo show across the ocean in Scotland, risk is a through line in my career. Read More>>
Enkeshi El-Amin
Starting any business is a risk—but if there’s one person I’m going to take a chance on, it’s myself. That said, I don’t take wild or uninformed risks. I’m a trained researcher with a PhD in sociology, so studying, analyzing, and understanding the world is what I do. Before I take a step, I study everything I can—markets, trends, communities—but I also know not to let research turn into paralysis. Once I’ve gathered what I need and understand the context, I calculate the risks and move forward with intention. Read More>>
Gabriel Lajoie
I realized when I was 14 years old that my dreams were so far away from me that if I wanted to achieve them, I had to take substantial measures in order to even have a chance, a possibility of achieving those things I would call my dreams. I started pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone, Consciously and unconsciously as I was making these decisions, they were very painful, but a lot of good would come out on the other side after making the sacrifice of feeling good to potentially, possibly living my dream. Read More>>
