We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan Inda a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Everyone learns craft in their own way. But as a writer and advertising creative, there are a few universal truths: find mentors who share in your curiosity, make mistakes, try again, and stow your ego. That last one can slow your success. It slowed me, for sure.

I was fortunate enough to land my first job at Carmichael Lynch, an ad agency that prides itself on craft. They sweat every detail over and over. From strategy to production. It wasn’t unusual to write 150 headlines to find the perfect one. Or for an art director to kern type until they went cross-eyed. Craft requires repetition.

It helps to surround yourself with great craftspeople too. Carmichael Lynch was filled with immensely curious creatures. Most were patient, well-intentioned mentors. Not all, but most. The good ones know you’re just a hungry young’un eager to learn. They don’t mistake passion for petulance.

To speed that learning, be humble and vulnerable. Willing to be shown a better way. And willing to admit you don’t know what you don’t know. Settle in like a sponge and experience compounds.

Craft requires constant tuning. So be willing to learn until the day you retire. If you think you’ve got it all figured out today, you’re dead in the water.

Ryan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a creative director/writer with a background in advertising. I partner with ad agencies, strategists, art directors, designers, production companies and film directors to help solve challenges for clients big and small.

I’ve had the pleasure and pressure of collaborating with some of the brightest minds in advertising—coast to coast. I’ve soaked up bits of their process, tricks and skill along the way.

I enjoy projects and partners who want to deliver disruptive ideas in sleepy or stale categories.

I’ve put a human guinea pig in a box for thirty days for a national health insurance company.

I’ve marched models down a runway holding rolls of toilet paper and bags of potato chips.

I’ve also helped deliver ideas that need to carry a lot of freight.

One project I’m most proud of is my work for Belize Tourism. I helped guide a team of incredibly smart people, creating a campaign that not only brought visitors to the beautiful country of Belize, but made a serious economic impact, adding 3.3% to the young nation’s GDP.

I’m most attracted to challenges that require unusual solutions and brave clients who want big ideas without the fees of big, usual companies.

But my creative endeavors don’t stop at solving problems for clients. I’ve penned and collaborated on music videos, film scripts and short stories. Chasing down these ideas give me the greatest buzz.

If you want to chat about a project, collaboration, or the impact of rule changes in Major League Baseball, find me at ryaninda.com.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding part of being a creative is using my sense of wonder to solve problems for people, organizations or even countries. That’s amazing. I’m incredibly fortunate to use what makes me tick, my life experiences and observations for my work. One wrong turn as a 19-year-old and I could be inputting numbers in a spreadsheet for Mega Global World-Wide and crying myself to sleep. And Mega Global World -Wide would wonder why the hell a creative person is running their spreadsheets.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think some non-creatives misunderstand how creatives arrive at a solution. Creativity isn’t linear. It’s a daydreaming, mind-bending, mistake-riddled journey of experimentation. That can be hard for non-creatives to understand, especially in bigger legacy corporations where efficient, A-to-B institutional process is familiar and is therefore right. Creatives don’t just flip a switch or input data to find an answer. You gotta wander a bit. At some point during that wander, a big and bright idea appears.

Contact Info:

• Website: ryaninda.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-inda-90a3342/