After years building startups and being named to Forbes 30 Under 30, Ryan has returned to the creative roots that first earned him a spot in university, portrait street photography. Though he spent much of his career building technology & still does, these visual talents remained quietly tucked away. In 2019, he took a break from tech & packed a backpack and his camera, and began a three-year journey through more than 60 countries, from Laos to the Congo & Uruguay to Serbia — with a mission to reveal the common humanity in people and places often misrepresented. That journey led to the documentary The River That Led Us All Home, spotlighting the Tayuka tribe of the Amazon, which recently won Best U.S. Documentary at the Austin International Art Festival. It also inspired his book. "Fall Inward", a reflection on human connection, culture, and the beauty found when we look past assumptions and truly see each other for what we are — not categories or threats, but good-hearted humans, more alike than different.