Legend holds that Cornelius Vanderbilt had built a massive fortune in the steamboat shipping industry, but then realized the railroads were the way of the future and invested almost his entire net worth into railroads. The gamble paid off and made Vanderbilt one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs ever. But risks are inherently…risky. How do you think about risk and how has it affected your life and career? Some of our community favorites share their perspective below.

Jana Dennison | Brand Voice & Content Marketing Strategist

I am a small-town girl from Ohio with generations of family members who built lives in the Northeast. So, it was a huge risk to leave the home I had grown up in for my entire life to move to Missouri to attend a University in a ‘big city’ of 155,000 people. As it turned out, I would end up getting a job at a corporation there and become restless after 7 years. Something about the trajectory I was on just wasn’t for me. So, with not much of a plan at all, I decided to leave it all behind to come to San Diego in 2012. After visiting my family for a month, I made the drive alone from Ohio to San Diego. It took several days and many many hours in the car. I had $800 to my name and a place to stay for six months that my friend’s family generously provided. Read more>>

Khrissy Briscoe | Curator & Music Blogger

I think taking risk is the only way to grow. A lot of us fall into a comfort zone and get stuck. You have to fight through that fear and have faith that opportunity is on the other side. If you fail, at least you can learn from it, and make the necessary adjustments to make it better the next go round. My motto is like Nike “Just do it” you have absolutely nothing to lose. Read more>>

Sahmia Parks | Photographer & Writer

Risk is the thin line between your comfort zone and the infinite possibilities of the universe. Risk by definition means exposure to danger. However, I think of taking risks as opportunities to expand our human experience, to feel more, to be exposed to more than our comfort will allow. Personally, I’ve always taken risks just out of curiosity to where it would lead. As a photographer, taking risks has afforded me the opportunity to travel around the world to shoot yoga retreats as well as having work displayed at UCLA. Risk has opened my eyes to the power of manifestation and what it really means to have a vision come into fluorescent. Taking risks has taught me to see the lesson and the blessing in all of life’s situations. Read more>>