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.

Tra’von Eley | Owner/ CEO of Tra’s Gourmet Sandwiches

Growing up a huge Kobe Bryant fan the word risk has always been a powerful word for me. Once said by Kobe “if you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail”. I was 22 years old starting my own business so the probability of failing seemed to be high in peoples mind. As I grow as a young entrepreneur I encourage others to embrace failure as a part of the learning process of life, but to never give-up because the moment you give up is the moment you let someone win. Read more>>

GHOUL KING | Artist & Printmaker

I think that risks are some of the most important things that you can take in life and your career. Throughout my life I’ve always tried to not fall into a pattern or making things that feel too same-y, or overdone. When given projects and guidelines in college I would always try and think of ways to do something that wasn’t exactly what was being asked of me, purely because I wanted to see how far I could push certain boundaries while still presenting something technically “correct”. I remember a time in one of my critiques that a professor told me my art was “too aggressive” and I needed to be careful with what I design. It was one of the best comments I’ve gotten on a piece so far. Read more>>

Lindsay Sherman | Actor and Musician

To me, art (in whatever form you practice) is always about risk. Growing up as an actor and dancer, I was taught at a young age that my success was based on things I did not have much control over: body type, weight, height, skin tone, vocal tone. Was I pretty enough to play the part of an ingenue? Will my voice blend with others or is it too unique? I never looked or sounded like the people I saw in movies or on Broadway, and my casting often reflected that. I was deemed as a “character actor”, which when I was younger, felt like I was being put in a box. How I longed for a romantic lead, but I accepted my fate as is. Read more>>