A New Yorker’s Story: Ryan Coby Lopez
Of Dominican parents. Born and raised in the US.
Ryan shares how hard work and a positive attitude are the best tools to succeed.
“I did professional Color Guard for about 9 years. (…) I pretty much had no weekends. My whole young adult life I was trying to be the best in the world. I got two World Championships. I now have tendonitis through my whole arm. That’s why I moved to New York because I’m a painter, I went to school and got my degree in painting. And I knew I would go either to Paris, New York, California…one of the major art hubs. So, I figured, the body’s kind of falling apart. It’s time to focus more on modeling and painting. I came to New York and here we are a year later.”
“My parents are extremely hard workers. (…) They came to this country and just believed [that] if you work really hard you are going to get something.
So I moved to Atlanta with no money after getting a degree in painting to do competitive dance. I got my award championships and I moved here [to New York] with no money.
I’ve just taken a lot of leaps of faith. If I work through it, it’s gonna have to pan out if you put in the work, something’s gonna come of it.
Realistically, I think, at least here in America you have that opportunity, if you really do put in the time, even if you have no money for it, once you put in time for things someone’s going to see it, you are going to have that connection and it’s just going to explode. And, the day that happens is when everything changes, just trust that if you have zero dollars it doesn’t mean it is the end of the world. Somehow you are gonna figure how to pay rent, you are going to keep doing the thing you love and then things are going to work out in the future. Ride things out with less stress.”
“ride things out with less stress”
“Now (…) I work with a really great company, [New York Life] . I sell lots of paintings, I get to model. So life is good.
My goal is to be a manager by the age of 27 with the [New York Life] company. So that’s more of a professional goal. In terms of painting and photography, it’s nice to be able to know [that when] someone sees [my] painting[s], they are always interested now. [It] is nice to see that my paintings have leveled up so much.
Next up (…) would be, after Corona starts slowing down, to get more gallery showings.”
“if you put in the work, something’s gonna come of it”
Who are you?
“Who am I? Alright! I’m a really happy guy that likes people. I’m someone that does way too much for one person but I love every second of it and I love other people, so however I can bring value to other people’s life, that’s what I do.”
-as told by Ryan Coby Lopez-