How do you think about risk? What role has taking risks played in your life/career? Check out responses from hidden gems from our community below.

Gabriel Amzallag | Art Director & A&R

I think that being an artist is a risk in itself because it makes you vulnerable. To make good art you need to be truthful and that takes introspection. After you’ve succeeded in making something authentic you need to confront that art to the rest of the world. It’s a big risk because you never know how good you are as an artist and how much potential you have. I think as an artist I’ve taken quite a bit of risks, working as a freelancer can be tricky but I’m quite satisfied about how it turned out. It gave me the opportunity to work with amazing artists and put me in a place where I wouldn’t be if I followed a more traditional path. Now that I’ve made more than 150 covers and organized two art shows I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable and feel confident in fully betting on myself. Read more>>

Kimberli Davino-Wilson | Community Builder & Motivator

If I was answering this question as Kimberli years ago, I would have said, taking risks is not worth it or something I would ever do. But fast forward to today, sitting here being interviewed and my entire thoughts and feelings on risks has changed. Honestly, these last few years, have been based on me taking huge risks. And while it hasn’t been an easy journey, and some of the risks I took I am STILL kicking myself in the butt for, I wouldn’t change a thing. Because those risks I took, have led me to where I am right at this very moment. They have shaped and changed me and made me grow in so many beautiful ways I never knew I could grow. I think at some point in our lives, we all need to take a risk. Risks mean taking a chance on something new. Maybe you will fail at it or maybe it will turn out to be the best thing you could have done. Read more>>

Monique Louis | Mental Health Therapist & Podcaster

There are two quotes that come to mind when I think about risk. “If it excites you and makes you nervous you probably should do it” and “The best things in life are on the other side of fear.” These quotes best describe how I think about risk. Some of the risks that I’ve taken consist of investing financially into my passion and purpose which encompasses my career and podcast. I’ve reached out to well known people in the media to be special guests on my show, one of them being Amanda Seales. I reached out to her back in 2020 with faith as tiny as a mustard seed & to my pleasant surprise, she and her team responded back saying that she was accepting the invitation to be on my show. This was a risk that turned out to a game changer for my reach and the building of my audience. Read more>>

Mitch McLeod | Director/Writer/Producer

It’s important to me to take risks. As a filmmaker, playing things safe has never been something that interested me. If you look back on some of the greatest films and filmmakers throughout the history of cinema you’ll find that very few of them played it safe. Whether it was through their storytelling, casting, or what have you, some of the greatest achievements in cinema have come from filmmakers doing something that they were told they shouldn’t do and, even if they failed in their risk, taking the risk in the first place cemented their ability to succeed or fail on their own terms, and that’s important to me. If I find that I’ve succeeded in something then obviously that’s a very good thing for me, but if I fail I get to do so knowing that I did things the way that I wanted to do them, which is the most significant thing to me because it means that what I do is coming from a place of authenticity. Read more>>

Cari Smith | Musician with Late to the Station

I think one of the primary things that I have learned is that you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you are trying to create something new, you have to accept that the first draft is not going to be very good, There is a risk in facing your own imperfections, but if you don’t allow yourself that crappy first draft, you’ll never progress past the idea phase into actual creating. Read more>>