Alumni Spotlight: Chris Ryan '95
As we look forward to Alumni Weekend, we are proud to highlight Friends Select alumni!
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This spotlight was written by Grace '27 and Maya '26. Read their full article in The Falcon. |
Chris Ryan '95, the editorial director of The Ringer, connects his career in media back to his experiences at Friends Select School. Ryan contributed to both The Falcon and our yearbook, The Record, opportunities that helped him find his voice.
After graduating from Emerson College, Ryan began writing about music, eventually taking on roles at The FADER and MTV. He later joined Grantland before going to The Ringer. Reflecting on his early career, Ryan said, “The thing with writing about movies or music or television or any of the arts is it might be something that you're really passionate about. It's probably the thing that you love the most in the world, but it's also a job, and you have to kind of go where the job is.”
Ryan credits much of what he learned to his teachers and the Friends Select community. “I don't think I can even separate what I learned at Friends Select from who I am or who I became,” he said. “Everything that I love now, I feel like I got the spark for that in school.”
For students interested in media, Ryan emphasizes practice and persistence: “Don't worry about publishing and don't worry about numbers … just practice because I'm so much better now than I was when I started, and I'm better now than I was last year, because it's just the amount of reps and the amount of time you spend where you get comfortable.”
From being a student at Friends Select to overseeing editorial strategy and hosting podcasts, Ryan’s journey shows how dedication and a love for storytelling can create a lifelong career in media.
