Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Moser.
Hi Ryan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in an affluent suburb of Philadelphia in a large, loving family with all of the opportunity in the world, but I was rebellious kid with a very independent streak. After years of being in the youth system of Pennsylvania.- foster homes, group homes, detention, youth prison- I turned my life around 23 years old when my son was born. I was working as an engineer, owned my own home, I was very happy, but my demons didn’t stay away for long. After a brief period of addiction, I found myself in prison at 27 for the first time for a property crime. I committed to support my habit. This is in Florida where they have very strict laws. I made the fools decision to live in Florida while my family was all up in Pennsylvania and stayed there for years, living as a functional addict and working jobs like bartending and construction just to make end meet.
When I was 36 my fiancé and I committed a property crime and I’m sentenced to eight years in state prison. Right away I knew that I had to change my life and I was seeking on purpose while inside. That came in the form of writing. Actually writing saved my life. With the help of some small writing classes inside prison, I started to submit essays to literary journals and get published. After about my 10th publication, I was contacted by Empowerment Avenue and the Prison Journalism Project, two programs that I still work with today. They were eager to have me trained as a journalist, and put me through a 10 month Northwest university journalism school correspondence courses. My first journalistic piece was a solutions journalism article that I wrote about making prisons green. From there I’m going onto accumulate 250 publications before I left prison in 2022 – I was told I was one of the most prolific incarcerated writers at the time, and I won many awards while inside. The pushcart prize was my greatest honor and also I won two PEN America awards. I turned something very negative and terrible into a purpose for myself, and was able to get through a hellish experience with something positive and new in my life. Since coming home four years ago, I’ve started my own business, a multimedia, communications company, I’ve since won four other journalism awards from Travel magazine, Huff post, etc.. and have completed three reporting fellowships. Well, I was inside. I did a lot of reporting on education systems in prison, specifically higher education, and I still cover this beat today. I’ve been to about 12 conferences for journalism since I’ve been home and continue to learn my craft more and more every day. My biggest accomplishment to date is that I’m a contributing writer to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a lead Freelance Journalist for Metro Philly. I’ve had six front page articles published in the past four years and at this time, I am now currently enrolled in Columbia university’s business school for AI and journalism.
My life has been up and down positive and negative hell in heaven since the beginning, but as I sit here in my new home with my fiancé sleeping in the other room, I can probably say that I have a connection with my 27-year-old son and love what I do every day. I’m thankful to the team that’s got me where I am and I’d be happy to talk further about my failures and my successes anytime.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I put out many of the struggles in my previous bio, but I would say the biggest struggles I’ve had. I’ve been addiction, relationships, and prison.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My company name is Moser multimedia, a communications, media, and digital marketing consultancy. As an independent journalist, I regularly contribute to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Metro Philly, Next City, and many other publications, and I continue to write essays that are published in literary journals. Most most of my income right now comes from Freelance Journalist while I build my clientele. I’m also a Columbia university business school so I can learn more about AI integration in business and journalism. I’ve been featured on the news as a guest expert seven times, I’m currently partnered with Amanda Knox to create meditation videos for digital tablets inside prison, I recently won first place in the travel journalist association for an article. I wrote about my first day out of prison in Miami before I came home to Philadelphia. I believe that my big accomplishment has been as a guest on all things considered, the most widely listened to radio show in the world at that time. Recently, I’ve incorporated, drone, photography, public relations, and concert videography into my business. As of this week, I have been a concert photographer or videographer for 18 major concerts since coming home. Music has always been my passion and this is the labor of love.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
As a journalist, the industry is changing and very negative ways. 50% of the public get their news from social media, from people that aren’t trained in journalism and are biased and typically misinformed. Newsrooms are dying as newspapers that have been around for hundreds of years are closing doors and laying off employees. Even the online News industry is taking hits as people with 2030 years experience and major outlets in the Wall Street Journal are doing Substack and fighting for freelance opportunities.
Since I’ve changed gears and pivoted into the AI world, I am finding more and more that although journalism and writing itself is my passion, and I will always be doing it, the way that I will earn money in the future and be successful as through integration of AI in business and journalism. This is why I open my company. Moser multimedia and why I’m in Columbia business school now to study AI. In 10 years anybody that hasn’t learned AI will be left in the dust. I don’t think anyone needs to worry about AI taking the jobs, they need to worry about people who understand AI taking their jobs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.muckrack.com/ryan-moser
- Instagram: @ryanmoser99
- Facebook: Ryan Moser
- Youtube: @mosermultimedia
- Other: https://Www.mosermultimedia.com
