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.

Tatyanna Barr | Personal Trainer

Taking risks i’ve learned is what life is all about. When we were young we would get so excited and intrigued at the idea of trying something new and somewhere along the way we loose that, at least I know I did. When I was younger I was always someone who took risks and actually wore that on my chest pretty boldly. Going against the grain seemed normal to me and I didn’t care because intrinsically I felt whole. (Well maybe elementary school Tatyanna wasn’t thinking of intrinsic and extrinsic values but – in other words she did not care what others thought of her!) Read more>>

Bogdan Matuszynski | International Educator, Innovator, Connector, and Founder of iSERVE

That’s a fantastic question because even though I consider myself not really a risk taker if I’m honest I think that most of the opportunities that I received was because I was ready or open to take a chance/risk without being certain that things would work out. Well not every opportunity was necessarily fruitful. It was a valuable learning opportunity that I believe in order to be successful in life people do have to take risks that are calculated. I remember learning a famous quote that sometimes the best things are on the other side of fear. Something I learned a while back was that it’s impossible to be perfect in everything and all of our choices instead being of the mindset that things happen for a reason and making the most of opportunities has allowed me to be successful and more importantly when I have used the perspective of how do I add value to projects or the lives of others instead of thinking how do I make something benefit me I’ve seen so much positivity and growth of my own and that of others because I’m not trying to just gain for my own self. Instead, I’m looking for ways to improve situations for the collective community and those who have Ambitions because there are so many gifted and wonderful Talent people out there who just need that one introduction, that one opportunity, that encouragement to try something different is important for people to improve their lives and also become more courageous. Something a lot of people don’t know about me is that I actually unfortunately dropped out of college at one point due to various life circumstances. However, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me because it allowed me to review my life situation, improve as a person and made me more resilient. From that moment on I learned a lot about myself and I truly felt that nothing could stop me except myself. I am so blessed and fortunate to be a lifelong learner and in a position now where I can help others and that’s why iSERVE it’s so important to me because it’s truly about a life value system to find ways to be a servant leader and solve problems by finding unique ways that serves others. One of my mentors Dr. Cheryl O’Brien encouraged me to start my own initiative instead of just following, which led to the initial projects related to iSERVE. Read more>>

Nimran Kang | Graphic Designer, Creative

Through many phases of my life, I find that I have always viewed risk taking through the lens of opportunity rather than danger. This has played out in many ways, the result not always being as desired, but with the collateral always being resilience and learning. For me, taking risks always came from a place of curiosity, mildly fueled by impulse. A question that often crossed my mind was ‘but what if I tried?’ and that has driven me to make decisions that I never thought I would. Read more>>

Jen Berry | Photographer

I believe that risk is an important part of life, without it many people may not have challenged themselves to reaching their own personal goals whether in business or personal obstacles. Without risk would we always be making our best effort? I doubt it. The possibility of failure pushes us to try our best, My Dad would always say to me whenever I was struggling with something, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”. It reminded me to do my best and if I did that, I wouldn’t have any regrets with the outcome of my effort. Read more>>

Stacey Carreira | Event planner

Taking risks for me, has always been a fear. Not because I don’t believe in myself, my potential, or what I’m capable of accomplishing, It’s the fear of failing.

My friends and family encouraged me to start my own business, but I was always afraid to take the leap. Read more>>

Simone Bonser | Mother and Film Producer

I love this question. I think that risk is a huge part of business, especially small business and when you are just starting out. You have to first take that leap of faith to start your business that you have dreamed of for so long. I left a full-time job to start working for myself as a graphic designer, I enjoyed having my own clients and working my own hours. It’ s risky because you have to gain clients, it takes a lot of hard work. Now as a film producer, we take risks on scripts that we feel would be successful and on employing people to make the film, you hope that the director has a the right creative vision for the film. Making choices on the right people to work with can be detrimental to a project or it can make the project flourish. Read more>>