Few of my personal acquaintances have the kind of star-power that puts me in awe. In a lot of ways Ryan Omega is one of those people, though given his sweet disposition he would probably do what he can to dissuade me from getting tongue-tied and star-struck around him. Since I met him, I’ve gotten the opportunity to learn about his career from a distance, and it’s been as enthralling as watching time lapsed flower blossoms! We never had the opportunity to get as close as I’d have liked, given just how busy that career keeps him. He’s been involved in casting, design, and I believe is currently a producer for Sypher Arts Studios in addition to working with BangZoom! Entertainment.
The thing about Ryan that just blows me away is his personal combination of confidence, passion, and humility. It is so easy to go too far off the deep end of self confidence or alternatively become so humble as to doom yourself to obscurity. Never has Ryan let his passion and expertise at what he does lead him to talk down to me, nor have I ever seen him be cowed when someone disregarded what he brings to the table. To be able to balance those two dispositions is impressive in and of itself. It takes awareness not only of one’s own limits and strengths, but of how one’s actions affect others; a level of introspection that most simply do not have the time for.
Combining self-conroll, and passion, and thoughtfulness, don’t just make Ryan an awesome guy to be around, they are clearly tools that he has learned how to use in his career. I often forget how important those qualities are to a job and career, because I get caught up in the struggle to obtain and show off the more concrete skills that employers are looking for. But across the short vastness of the internet I’ve watched Ryan come to the realization that it takes everything he is to excel at what he does. By sharing his insights into his own struggle he has helped me with my own. And if I ever need evidence that passion, persistence, and a dedication to coordinating can in fact pay off in very concrete ways, all I need to do is look to one of Ryan’s favorite projects, The Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade.
As a key coordinator for the event, I watch him drum up tremendous support every year, and his passion for the project is positively infectious! This very year the event grew beyond the bounds of it’s old venue, and had enough support to expand into The Millennium Biltmore Hotel. Everything I’ve seen from the people who are a part of that project show the same hallmarks: passion, persistence, and a dedication to the fact that it takes the whole group to make it happen. So thank you Ryan, and all you folks at Sypher Arts Studios, for reminding me to not give up on my drives. I’ll find my niche someday, and to excel when I do I’ll need all the little “unimportant” things that make me who I am.