We were lucky to catch up with Ryan “The Son” Thomas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ryan, so excited to talk about all sorts of important topics with you today. The first one we want to jump into is about being the only one in the room – for some that’s being the only person of color or the only non-native English speaker or the only non-MBA, etc Can you talk to us about how you have managed to be successful even when you were the only one in the room that looked like you?
I think the leaned success has come from moment by moment experiences where I took a leap of faith. Instead of saying what is typical to present in a given situation, I would lean into what I would naturally present or propose. It’s often too fatiguing trying to think from a place of “what would most people do” rather than, “Here’s what I would do. Let’s see what they think.” and being totally okay with the response. Time after time, I would find that my cultural lens isn’t a detriment but rather highly contributory in a unique way.
In the most polite way, I’ve found that White Americans in the corporate and creative world just genuinely don’t know that Black thought is contributory until it’s proven, so I get excited to be an agent of innovation in rooms where I’m the only one there with my background.
It’s that poise thats allowed me to see success and culture shaped as a result of my unique way of attaining it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I do a lot to the point to where it almost feels like too much at times, but we’re working on that, haha. I’m an ex-athlete turned artist who studied business in college (Sic’em Bears). Put all those things together and you get an interdisciplinary artist and entrepreneur. I write songs, spoken poetry, rap and form community around these mediums like Growing Pens, Good Work Lives Here, and more. I also Creatively Direct events and creative projects like my Graphic Novel and soon to be game “Rhema: Between Two Realms” along with other interactive stories. I also have picked up acting recently.
The undertone of this all is I like to tap into the artists ability to use their gifting to create something tangible and serve other people. When I met a 17 year-old who could illustrate like a seasoned pro, I taped into our collective genius and we made a book that sells out at almost every con. Now she has her own story thats going crazy on the internet. When I ran into a brilliant haiku poet that loves group writing, we locked in and created an budding group of writers who’ve release books, and performed with artist like Rupi Kaur. When I find a musician thats talented and doesnt see it yet, I work with them to create good music and release it. Here I am, 3 Albums later.
I’ve done similar work with Fortune 500 Companies and small business and the list goes on. The main thing that I’m passionate about doing is circling back to the part of my story that I connects to so many other young people. I’m an ex-athlete. There are kids and young adults out there that are gonna say that one day and not know their potential, or forget about it when they lose motiavation. I want to create sounds, and space for those people to get perspective, skills, and mental strength to move on sooner than I did. My new single “ROTATE” is beginning of this and it’s streaming on all platforms now. Book me to speak to your students by shooting me an email or DM. Stay tuned for YouTube content around helping ex-athletes rotate their life. You can follow me at @ryantheson to stay updated.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Humility, Courage, and Availability are the secret ingredients to any creative trying to make a career out of being one. It’s a fluid journey that thrives off how many doors you knock on courageously, how many rejections you navigate humbly, and how many changes in yourself and others you make yourself available to along the way.
With that my advice is don’t be afraid to pivot! You’re capable of rotating the right things in and out of your life to move forward. I’m big on that right now. In fact I just released a song about it called “ROTATE” under the artist name Ryan The Son. Perfect theme song for this concept… or a gym workout, haha. Take your pick.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
A good one that’s been catapulting me into to so much growth and healing is a book called “The Big Leap”. It’s about learning why you recoil from positive experiences into negativity because of whats called an Upper Limit Barrier. It’s been teaching me to shift my limiting beliefs and expand in positivity and success after a couple of dark years of the soul.
A nugget of wisdom form the book is to take mental note of the times you may deflect a compliment or reward with comments like “Aaah I just got lucky”, ask yourself who you were doing it for, and then ask yourself why you didn’t just say “thank you”.
Simple, but it will start flip your world upside down. I’m making a whole album because of this.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ryantheson.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryantheson
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanthesonn
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanthomas3414/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ryantheson
Image Credits
Camryn Freiberg (Basketball Photoshoot)
