Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with RAZA RY of DMV

We recently had the chance to connect with RAZA RY and have shared our conversation below.

Hi RAZA, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
My day looks normal on paper, but it’s really three identities learning how to cooperate.

I start in a structured, technical world where precision, systems, and accountability matter. That version of me keeps the builder sharp. Then I shift into my art and storytelling lane. Photography, writing, and designing experiences that help people confront the masks they wear and the power underneath. Somewhere in the middle I’m a husband, a friend, and a community builder, trying to show up with intention instead of just momentum.

For a long time these lanes felt separate. I’ve been living that way for over a decade. Lately I’m more deliberate about blending them, not in a forced way… more like a designer tightening the seams. Letting the engineer refine the craft, letting the artist humanize the strategy, and letting relationships keep the work honest. So a normal day isn’t really normal. It’s the build.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Raza Ry, a visual artist and creative producer who builds worlds with photography, writing, design, and strategy. I’m not the one-lane creative. I’ve directed, shot, and edited music videos, designed clothes, built brands from scratch, helped produce events and parties, and managed full creative and marketing ecosystems for entrepreneurs. I’m the guy who can go from concept to identity to website to systems to rollout… then pull a team together to execute the vision when it needs to scale.

That range is what makes my work feel different. I’m equally obsessed with emotion and execution. I make art you can feel, and I build frameworks that help creators move with clarity.

Publicly, I’m focused on my art and my collectible drops, zines, and experiences. Privately, I still support the right founders and creatives through my software and consulting… quietly, intentionally, and with a producer’s mindset.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part of me that’s served its purpose… is the version of me that proves my value before I let myself be seen.

That guy was necessary. He built the skills. The range. The receipts. He kept me safe in rooms where I didn’t want to be underestimated. He made sure I could walk into any space and handle business.

But he’s also heavy.

He turns everything into a performance. He over-explains. He tries to earn understanding instead of trusting resonance. He’s the part of me that can accidentally become a guru when I’m really here to be an artist.

So I’m releasing the compulsive translator.

I’m still a builder. Still a producer. Still a Swiss army knife creatively. But I don’t need to show every blade to prove it. I want my work to feel like a doorway… not a résumé.

The new era is simpler.

Less proving.
More presence.
More art that hits first and explains itself later.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me that identity is built, not discovered.
Success can make you look confident. Pain forces you to become honest. It showed me I’m not fragile, I’m forged. I learn best by ramming my head against the wall until the wall starts giving me answers. That’s not self-destruction for me… that’s data.

That mindset is a big reason I wrote Duality and started sharing my work more openly. I wanted to document the tension between who we are in the dark and who we’re trying to become in the light. The real transformation wasn’t about avoiding failure. It was realizing I’m built for it.

Now I don’t fear the messy stages. I trust them. Because every setback has a receipt, and every hard season has a lesson I can turn into art, strategy, and a deeper version of myself.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
I used to believe I had to be fully understood to be taken seriously.
That if I couldn’t explain the full scope of what I do, people wouldn’t respect it. I clung to clarity like protection, and I turned my range into a résumé.

Now I think that was naive.

The right people don’t need the full blueprint on day one… they feel the signal. I’ve learned that resonance beats explanation, and that mystery isn’t a weakness, it’s part of the craft. Especially as an artist.

So I’m letting the work lead again.
I still have the systems brain and the producer skill set, but I don’t need to show every tool to prove I’m real. The art can hit first. The meaning can unfold later.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
Yes… and it was one of the best wake-up calls I’ve ever had.

I remember achieving a version of the dream I had when I was around 17 and just laughing to myself. Not in a disrespectful way… more like, wow, that kid had heart, but he didn’t know how deep the game really was. I got what I wanted and realized it wasn’t supposed to complete me. It was supposed to confirm something.

What it confirmed was this. I can manifest. I can build. I can execute a vision and bring it into the real world.

That realization gave me peace, not disappointment. Because the satisfaction wasn’t in the finish line. It was in the proof of capability and the expansion of imagination.

So now I give myself space to celebrate the win… then design the next quantum jump with more intention and more truth.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Produced by Raza-Ry. Created Within The Syndicate.

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