Risk is the most common topic that comes up in our conversations with entrepreneurs and so each week we ask entrepreneurs to talk to us on the record about how they think about risk.

Bea Pernia | Interior Designer & Furniture Designer

Since a young age, my life has been defined by taking risks at a personal and professional level. These have made me evolve and transform, and experience situations that I would have never achieved otherwise. They have made it easier for me to come up with ideas and innovations that I was too scared to try and test before, and they have definitely made me who I am today. Professionally, I began my first interior design project, but felt that I was not completely ready. I needed experience; however, I took the opportunity and this, in return, developed into a chain of projects coming one after the other. When I decided to take my first studio space and hire employees back in 2010, I was not at a level to afford it, but I always thought if I had this motivation, I would do anything to be able to cover my expenses, and so I did. Read more>>

Solee | Rapper, Entrepreneur

Taking risks is a necessary component in any entrepreneurs, or even artist’s success. The first step is often the scariest, and then from there, you just have to keep going. You will fail, that’s a part of the journey. The question is, do you get up, do you keep going? That will be the difference between success and failure. Read more>>

Katie Murphy | Director of Development & Communications for The Alliance for Florida’s National Parks

I welcome risk into my life like it’s a long-lost friend. For so many years, I tried to live my life by a standard that I didn’t subscribe to and that, if I’m being totally honest, I barely understood. Conventional. Stable. Safe. Not in adolescence, not as a teen, not as an adult, not in any iteration of my life would I have ever used those words to describe myself or what I envisioned my most fulfilling life to be. But I found myself seeking those qualities because that’s what I was made to believe “success” was. Read more>>

Jacqueline Loor | Singer/Songwriter

I was running my family’s export business for years, and not only was I successful, but I was really good at it. It was a risk walking away from it to pursue my passion of making music, but I followed my gut and decided to take the risk carefully. I continued working at my family’s business while actively trying to make music my career. It was a crazy amount of work, but I was so pumped following my dream that I never stopped. Read more>>

Ronny Carny | Artist

Risk taking is quite literal in my case. I go up and down ladders and scaffolds till the point of exhaustion. That’s when I find the most sublime insights. My works are usually born on site, so the risk is double. It’s the risk of producing a bad work (not an option!) and the risk of falling down. From a very early stage in my evolutions as an artist, the gain of this kind of work was clear. Read more>>

Xik Art | Artist

Risk taking is everything, I love it and need it in my line of work. Like new ideas, concepts, and mostly decisions. There is always two turn outs, it worked or didn’t worked, but you will never know until you take it. For example, in a decision making situation, if the risk didn’t turned out as you imagined I think that is ok, from mistakes you learn and know what to do next time that a similar situation is presented. Because of risk is where I am today. Read more>>

Gabe Costta | Commercial

I was 30 years old when I decided to change my professional life. I lived in a comfort zone that brought me no benefit. I wanted to meet people and I just wanted to record what my eyes saw. accepting risks and challenges is what moves me. accepting to live without a fixed amount per month, made me want to understand that I could earn as much as I wanted. every risk is worth it as long as you understand what you can and cannot do. By taking the risks of my new profession, I found I could record stories of amazing people, and through that risk, I met my second role model who became my wife. Read more>>