Jessica Ryan is a changemaker, creator, and founder at the intersection of the arts and entrepreneurship. She has written for some of the biggest companies in the world including Amazon and GE, directed digital content with Tituss Burgess (Kimmy Schmidt) and Kirstin Maldonado (Pentatonix), voiced spots for Starbucks and Old Navy, performed at Goodspeed & Berkshire Theatre Festival and once sang a jingle for an adult superstore in North Dakota (true story, Annabelle’s if you want to look it up).
Jess is also the founder of Broadway Unlocked, a startup pushing the boundaries of theatre beyond the footlights, creating innovation for any stage. Set at the intersection of the theatrical skillset and entrepreneurship, its portfolio includes The Giveback Concert, Take Me To Coffee, Full STEAM, Storytelling for Leaders and The Salon, among others. The company is at the forefront of innovation in the arts and delivers powerful collaborations, content, products and partnerships across business, cause and culture.
In case you’re not exhausted yet, she’s an ambassador for the Summit community, member of the Zuckerberg Institute and Creator of the #Giveback Concert, as well as this here podcast. @JessicaRyanNYLA
Jess Ryan has hosted 40 Episodes.
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Covid Conversations: Actor's Equity with Brian Myers Cooper
Episode | April 28th, 2020 | 1 hr 9 mins
actors equity association, covid, fair wage on council, theatre
As a result of Covid-19, the theatre industry is experiencing a mind blowing 100% unemployment rate, with no real understanding of when or how that's going to start to change. In the midst of this, Actor's Equity, the union that governs and protects professional actors and stage managers is about to hold an election that will define the next decade of live theatre. Whether you are a theatre maker or a patron who loves to watch plays and musicals, we rang up our friend Brian Myers Cooper to come talk about what challenges face modern working class actors and what his vision for the future is as he prepares to run for AEA council again and lead our industry into a vibrant, flourishing future.
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Covid Conversations: Finding Your Purpose with Rick Cowley
Episode | April 21st, 2020 | 1 hr 28 mins
bali, cancer, purpose, retreats, surfing
Rick and Jess met four years ago, at an event in Australia put on by an entrepreneur they both knew. Turns out, that entrepreneur had met Rick when he attended his retreat VysionQuest in Bali. His time with Rick gave him the space to open up, ask himself what his purpose was, and it led to the idea for what has become a 100 Million dollar business that is driven by that purpose and passion. Since then, Jess has watched Rick help friends, colleagues and collaborators completely change their lives and discover their purpose. With the massive disruption Covid has brought on all of us, Andrew and Jess knew they wanted to bring on Rick, ask him to share his story and give our listeners some simple exercises to help turn this crisis into a huge opportunity. Be sure to listen toward the end, when Rick starts grilling Jess & Andrew!
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Covid Conversations: Classical Music & TikTok with Nathan Chan
Episode | April 15th, 2020 | 1 hr 8 mins
artists, cello, covid, symphony, tiktok
We've been chomping at the bit to talk to Nathan Chan, after hearing about him from our guests Drew Forde and Ken Kubota - and it did not disappoint. This conversation about how live performers navigate the loss of our space rollercoasts from hilarious conversations about bananas and nervous poop (don't ask, just listen) to trying to figure out what role the giving economy will play in the arts, to what a world looks like if artists have no income, to how TikTok gives us permission to not be perfect. You won't want to miss this!
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Covid Conversations: The Artist + Activist Relief Fund with Michael Skolnik
Episode | April 7th, 2020 | 1 hr 13 mins
activism, corona virus, relief funds, theatre
This episode is a valentine, lighthouse (and primal scream tbh) for all of our listeners who have been changing the world through the arts and activism and are facing the reality that we have been left with very little in this crisis. Our guest, Michael Skolnik, has been at the center of the major civil and gender rights fights of our lifetime - the racial police shootings, #metoo - and now, he and his agency The Soze Agency along with Task Force and Invisible Hand are the first to recognize the enormity of the crisis facing artists and activists and putting money where their mouths are. Links to apply and donate in the show notes.
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Covid Conversations: Travel & Content with Sarah Dandashy
Episode | March 31st, 2020 | 1 hr 1 min
concierge, content, instagram, travel
Here at #TM2C, we love when a guest is willing to really dig in and road map how they built their career, even if the beginnings were humble. Sarah Dandashy, aka AskAConcierge, built her Instagram following to 100k brick by brick, video by video, and she has so many great tips for all of us building our own followings and marrying our passions. We also end the episode with our #CoronoaQuestion: What does Sarah see next for the Travel Industry?
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Covid Conversations - Broadway with The Broadway Husbands
Episode | March 24th, 2020 | 1 hr 9 mins
broadway, coronavirus, influencers, social media
Coronavirus can't stop our coffee dates! This is one is for all our artists friends and listeners grappling with what comes next as our livelihoods have been moved online. The Broadway Husbands, Bret Shuford and Stephen Hanna, join Jess and Andrew to work through their feelings, debate about the urge to create vs just be still, talk about parent-panic and dig into the best and worst of how live performance translates in the digital realm.
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The Daily Server: Rob Darwell
Episode | March 17th, 2020 | 1 hr 6 mins
bartenders, dj, food and beverage, instagram, lawyer
UPDATE: If you have the means and enjoy the episode, please go to the show links and donate to the US Bartender's Guild Emergency Relief Fund. All of the beautiful servers and bartenders Rob features are out of work for at least 4 weeks and need our help. We can hardly believe entertainment lawyer Rob Darwell agreed to come on and have coffee with us, and let us tell you - this conversation didn't disappoint. He's run legal on some of the biggest film and television deals of our lifetime, he's a DJ for fun and he runs our favorite Instagram account, The Daily Server, where he features the stories of food and beverage workers around the world who provide him with excellent service.
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BONUS EPISODE #5: Big Changes: Sommvivant Returns
Episode | March 10th, 2020 | 38 mins 59 secs
content creator, quit your job, social media, sommelier, wine
If you've been with us since the beginning, you know Amanda McCrossin, aka @Sommvivant, has been working as a sommelier at one of the best restaurants in the world. And now she's not. Say WHAT. After 10 years of working to build her reputation as a digital content creator in the wine industry, she's taking that terrifying step and going out on her own. Since this is a mentorship podcast, we all thought it would be pretty damn cool (and useful) to keep building on our original episode with Amanda and document the entire process, ups, downs and everything in between. Listen up for tips on lilypadding a career, why this transition feels like a breakup and a big win on the @sommvivant front.
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#GayCountry: Brian Falduto
Episode | March 3rd, 2020 | 54 mins 23 secs
#gaycountry, country music, life coaching, school of rock
Remember the movie School of Rock, with Jack Black? The cutie-patootie kid (who also happened to be gay) in that movie is all grown up now, and has used his talent and fame to stand up for a whole new generation of kids who need to hear that they are loved and seen. He's a life coach and a gay country music star who has a new song hitting the charts this spring. It is accurate to say that Brian "life coached" the shit out of Jess and Andrew on this coffee date, and it's also a great chat about why stories can be the most effective form of advocacy, how Brian owns the label "that gay kid" from School of Rock, and what words make Brian lose 50% of his coaching clients before they even start - and why he likes it that way.
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Haus Urban: Hassan Sayyed
Episode | February 25th, 2020 | 55 mins 34 secs
broadway, entrepreneurship, founders, performing arts, skincare
How do you go from theatre actor to laid-off performer with a major injury and then end up as a skincare entrepreneur with a cult following of broadway stars, high profile makeup artists, pro athletes, and multiplatinum recording artists? If we learned anything on our coffee date with Haus Urban founder Hassan Sayyed, you do it with grace, humor, a whole lot of grit and the all-important science and technology library in Los Angeles. Special thanks to #tm2c listener Avery for introducing us!
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Sex Work Affirming Therapy: Janis Luna
Episode | February 18th, 2020 | 53 mins 27 secs
capitalism, sex work, strippers, therapy
Well, this is one of the coolest conversations we've ever had. Janis is a stripper, writer, and sex work affirming therapist living and practicing in NYC and get ready because we are going to learn all the things together today, not the least of which is: what those of us not in the sex industry can take into our lives after listening. Other interesting topics of note: Why it's necessary to talk our financial realities when we talk relationships and what Janis is interested in learning more about and why it has to do with what was in her brother’s sock drawer.
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Sideways the Experience: Mary Giuliana & Vanessa Conlin
Episode | February 11th, 2020 | 52 mins 40 secs
chef, immersive theatre, merlot, sideways, wine
On February 20th, Napa Valley takes over NYC with Sideways the Experience at the Pecadillo Theatre Company - yes, that Sideways of Paul Giamatti hates Merlot fame. Why's it an experience, you ask? If you're a VIP, your evening includes delicious food from celebrity caterer Mary Giuliani and fabulous wine pairings from Vanessa Conlin, Head of Wine at Wine Access. In honor of their opening, we're sitting down to coffee (maybe vodka?) to talk all things Sideways, what Mary, a graveyard and a Ferris Wheel have in common, how Vanessa went from Broadway performer to wine expert and what the heck BLICCA means, and why it might help you.
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Ring of Keys: Andrea Prestinario
Episode | February 4th, 2020 | 1 hr 7 mins
activism, actor, fun home, non-profit, queer
On February 16th at Joe's Pub in NYC, Ring of Keys is celebrating its 2nd Birthday with QUEERING THE CANON, a cabaret concert that flips the songs you thought you knew, and introduces new tunes to our book that tell stories we don't usually hear in musical theatre. We sat down with the co-founder of Ring of Keys, Andrea Prestinario, to talk all things art, activism, building a non-profit as your side gig and why just nearly everything should be BANISH'ED we say!!!!
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JHM Jams: Ken Kubota
Episode | January 28th, 2020 | 1 hr 12 mins
cello, classical music, digital media, influencer, social media
Classical Cellist Ken Kubota has hundreds of thousands of people tuning into his JHM Jams every week and brand collaborations every which way you look - but like most stories, the way it all got started is much less glamorous and involved hunting people down in practice rooms, trying to avoid being sued by Julliard and thinking that Instagram was a photo editor. Also on tap: we challenge all the social media creators we know to take the one week "Do Nothing" story challenge.
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How To Save The World: Meghan Offtermatt
Episode | January 21st, 2020 | 1 hr 24 mins
composting, podcast, sustainability, zero waste
This was Andrew's last coffee date with coffee pods, thanks to actress and sustainability superhero Meghan Oftermatt- it's all fresh ground and pourover from here! She's like an unstoppable bundle of zero waste wonderwoman who left our heads spinning as she dished out all the advice and made us realize how easy it actually is to reduce your waste and do a little bit to save the planet. Listen up to learn why food waste is so problematic if it isn't composted, why our purchasing power is the strongest way of voting and find out what is better than bees, bats and worms when it comes to sustainability (spoiler alert: NOTHING!)
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Take A Ten: Andy Roninson
Episode | January 14th, 2020 | 49 mins 57 secs
composers, musicals, new work, podcast
Ever been curious how musicals get written or what a composer loves in their actors? Get. Into. This. Coffee. Date. Because, oh god, we got nerdy AF with Larson Award-Winning Composer Andy Roninson, trying to figure out what parts of song structure affect why we do or don't like a song, whether a perfect rhyme actually matters (and also wtf is a perfect rhyme anyway), and what we're supposed to do when malaise hits and we'd rather play video games than make something.