Deborah Graham - On Risk

Deborah Graham

Risk! Looking back, I realize my life has been full of risks. Sometimes people would tell me how "brave" I was. My 19-year career as a flight attendant started with moving across the country with absolutely no idea exactly where I was going to live. Later, I decided to change careers to graphic design, so I went back to school, while working full time and raising young children. It took 10 years to successfully transition from being a flight attendant to finally landing a great job as a graphic designer with AstraZeneca. During those horrible years, where I worked at a variety of low-paying jobs, people would sidle up to me after church and say, "Have you thought of perhaps trying something else besides graphic design?" The only answer I could come up with was, "Not really because this is what I really want to do." The 6 years I spent at AstraZeneca was well worth the wait, and I never would have guessed at the time that I would one day live in NJ, and the best gift I could have been given was experience in the pharmaceutical industry! All I can say is my life experience has been that risks can be such good things, and you can never know what great experiences and opportunities may come from taking them unless you...well, take the risk!