Drew Ryan

Drew Ryan was born in Rochelle, Illinois on July 29th, 1986 as Andrew Ryan. Best known as the creator of the #ColdHardDrewth Productions multimedia entertainment company and producer of the Reel Geek Girls (2015) interview show. He directs, produces, edits, writes, and acts in all of his productions. In the early 90's Drew discovered his love for visual art in the forms of cartoons like Darkwing Duck, comics like Sonic the Hedgehog, and various video games for Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Playstation. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship although, like many friendships, this one led to some awkwardness and bullying. Up until age 14 Drew and his family lived in a small Illinois town with three McDonalds. In 2001 his family relocated to Wisconsin. After attending Lawrence University (Bachelor of Arts, English,) where, among other things, he developed his general love for visual art into a specific obsession with film and spent 2 years as an RA, he set his sights on his first Master's degree. After earning an MS in Student Personnel Administration from Concordia University-Wisconsin, Drew returned to his alma mater as a Residence Hall Director and Office of Multicultural Affairs Programs Coordinator. During his 3-year stint on Lawrence University's staff, Drew's geekiness exploded. After a few years there during which he developed a growing interest in social media, he grew disenchanted with the job and sought a path that would allow more freedom and expression of his personal beliefs. Simultaneously, his health declined, sending him into a downward spiral. Then, weeks later the loss of his beloved grandmother ignited a force inside him spurring him once more along the path towards self-knowledge. He sought to further his life and enrolled in the Library and Information Science program at UW-Milwaukee. While working on his second Master's, Drew's love for social media grew and he began to explore New Media platforms focusing mainly on YouTube. Finding a passion known, but never realized, he finished his second Master's degree only to opt for focusing his attention on building a career through freelancing (social media marketing) and producing videos for his various YouTube channels. In 2015 he started the "awkwardMEOW" YouTube channel which is now known as "Drew's Corner." His core project, is the Reel Geek Girls (2015) interview series aimed at lessening the stigma of being a geek and fighting the prejudice still faced by female geeks today. Originally a one-off interview with Kaitlyn Dias, star of Inside Out, it soon morphed into regular interview series retroactively christened "Real Geek Girls." In his former flagship show, "The #ColdHardDrewth" (2016), Drew devoted himself to nerdy news, geeky reviews, and more. He now continues that on his channel without a show name. Additionally Drew created the "Storytime w/ Drew Ryan" (2016), Drew's Clues (2016), and "Bad ASSMR" (2015) series to add more comedy to his main channel. All of his series contribute to his goal of "better content" (#CreateGreat movement) on YouTube. The intention of this is not to put more value on one type of video over another, but to encourage creators to outdo themselves and make content that is better than ordinary. In 2017 Drew rebranded his novelty Twitter account, DangItDisney, into SoDangDisney and launched an eponymous Disney fan show on YouTube. He continues to work tirelessly to increase his credibility and respect in hopes that his works reach a wider audience to achievement maximum impact and transform the world. In 2019 Drew ended the Reel Geek Girls series and started a new monologue service. Later that year he took a break from creating content and instead refocused his life on pursuing his dream of working for Disney. In mid 2020, his YouTube channel was deleted due to copyrighted music and so he launched a new channel, and brand, Drewmor Has It.... No longer interested in achieving fame as it took a considerable toll on his mental health, Drew now hopes to find happiness offline.