Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ryne Thunderhawk. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Ryne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I guess you could say my mission has always been rooted in community. I exist to connect and uplift the voices around me that need just a little nudge to make it over the hill. Even at my marketing agency, Thunderhawk Creative, I consider my work with my clients less as a transactional experiences, but more about building relationships. Most of the businesses I partner with are in design, art, tech, or wellness fields, and each of them is building a future that’s more beautiful, inclusive, and equitable.

As an Indigenous and LGBTQ+ creative professional, I’ve experienced both what it means to be underestimated and what it means to be empowered by my community. That’s why I only take on clients whose work aligns with my own values of community, equity, and creativity. Every project I take on is another opportunity to help someone not only grow their business, but also strengthen the community around us.

I take a human-centered approach to everything I do. Before I design a single asset, I make sure I understand my client, their audience, and the story they’re trying to tell. But beyond branding and strategy, I also make space for impact. I try to integrate local nonprofits and community organizations into every campaign I can, whether that’s adding a fundraising component to an event, donating media services to amplify causes I believe in, or connecting businesses with the communities they serve.

One of my proudest initiatives is the Skybound Initiative, a pro-bono program I founded to sponsor underfunded small businesses and nonprofits led by BIPOC, female, or LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. Through Skybound, I offer brand development, web design, and marketing services at no cost to those who qualify, ensuring that visionary founders aren’t held back by a lack of resources. It’s my way of making sure good ideas don’t get lost in the noise, and that the people making real change are given every tool to succeed. We are all just trying to make space for our ideas, and I just want to help.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I think the first thing I want people to know about me is that at my core, I’m a storyteller. Whether through design, strategy, film, or fiction, I work to thread together the different elements of an idea into something meaningful, layered, and resonant. What I do goes far beyond making things look “pretty,” it’s about making the complex feel accessible and the simple feel captivating. I believe design should invite curiosity, not confusion. My goal is to create experiences that not only look beautiful, but also feel honest, intuitive, and impactful.

That goal actually all started when a little boy on a ranch just outside of Houston would make up stories about the world around him to fill the void between himself and his closest neighbors, farms away. People often laugh and ask, “Do all Texans really ride horses?” and in my case, the answer is yes. I grew up riding under open skies, forming rivers and dams in the mud, and spending time in a community where everyone felt like extended family. Those early lessons weren’t taught in classrooms; they were shaped by nature, hard work, empathy, and the quiet creativity that comes from solving real problems with your hands. That upbringing grounded me in resilience and intention, and it continues to guide how I show up in every project, every collaboration, and every story I help bring to life.

I first entered the professional world through architecture and interior design, captivated by how people interact with the designed environment. It was about more than making things look good; it was about crafting experiences that shape how people live, work, and connect. That human-first perspective led me into branding, marketing, and creative direction, where I found my calling in helping businesses and individuals tell their stories in powerful, strategic ways.

Today, Thunderhawk Creative is a marketing and design agency that champions purpose-driven clients, often female, queer, or BIPOC entrepreneurs. My clients are change-makers building beautiful, functional, and community-rooted futures. In parallel to my agency work, I’ve also launched Hawkeye Strategy Group, a consulting and business development firm that helps small businesses and mission-driven organizations scale with clarity. We offer creative, strategic, and streamlined solutions, with storytelling at the center of it all. Whether we’re designing a brand, automating a CRM system, or leading a marketing campaign, I approach every project through the lens of human connection.

Outside of my client work, I’m also a creator at heart. I am writing a series of fictional novels inspired by my own lived experiences as an Indigenous and queer person in rural Texas. I’m passionate about representing stories that don’t often make it to the page, and showing young readers that their identities are powerful, magical, and worthy of the spotlight. I am also working on a documentary for the Houston Furniture Bank, highlighting their “No Kids on the Floor” campaign. The project, A Place to Dream, focuses on the life-changing impact of giving beds, dignity, and a place to dream to the over 300,000 children in Houston who do not have a bed of their own to sleep in each night. So, whether I’m working on any one of these dozens of endeavors, my mission is the same: to uplift others, create beauty and meaning, and move humanity forward.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My side hustle turned into my full-time career pretty naturally. I’ve always been the person people came to for creative help; logos, websites, messaging, social media, so I leaned into that. I didn’t really set out to start a business at first. I just liked helping people and was always curious about how things worked behind the scenes. That curiosity and willingness to pitch in wherever I could ended up being the biggest key to my success.

I built everything through my network. Friends would refer me to their friends, past clients would come back with new projects, and word started to spread. I’ve always believed that if you take care of people, they’ll take care of you. That’s really how things grew. People want to do business with someone they like and trust. I focus on being that person; someone who listens, gets excited about their ideas, and helps bring their vision to life in a thoughtful way.

The start of this whole mess was just helping a few companies execute on their full rebrands and watching their businesses grow as a result. That success gave me the confidence to officially launch Thunderhawk Creative as an agency. From there, I started partnering with local artists and creatives in Houston, building a collaborative network that continues to expand. Lately, I’ve been connecting with even more inspiring people doing bold, innovative work, and each new relationship opens doors to meaningful, purpose-driven projects. At every step, it was never about chasing opportunity; it was about recognizing real needs and finding creative ways to meet them. That good-old country boy mindset of showing up, being helpful, and staying curious is still the foundation of how I run my business today.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots in my life came most recently when I was laid off after just getting back into a post-pandemic routine. At the time, I had been freelancing on the side, and had various levels of involvement with that, but suddenly I was faced with the reality of making it my full-time career path. It was terrifying not having a steady paycheck, not having the safety net, and knowing that if I failed, there was no backup plan. But what scared me even more was realizing that other people were starting to rely on me, too. Clients were trusting me with their businesses, their brands, and their budgets. I had to learn quickly how to manage not just the creative work, but also the finances, the operations, the big picture strategy. That leap from part-time freelancer to full-blown agency owner changed everything.

Looking back, I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. It was hard, but it forced me to grow in ways I never would have if I had stayed in my comfort zone. I realize now, though, I could never go back to not calling the shots. In traditional roles, I often felt like an imposter, like I had to shrink myself or ask for permission to lead. But now, I get to advocate for more than myself; I advocate for my clients, for their ideas, for their futures. That sense of purpose makes me feel unstoppable. Taking that leap gave me the freedom to build something meaningful and mission-driven, and that’s a feeling I’ll never let go of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thunderhawkcreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rynethunderhawk/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryne-thunderhawk/

Image Credits

Andy Phan