Ryan is a music teacher at a public school in Queens where he incorporates guitar, ukulele, and modern band in the 5th through 8th grade curriculum. Currently Ryan is taking a sabbatical from teaching to study classical guitar performance at Hunter College.

Ryan started playing guitar at 13 and played in some bands and orchestras through the years. In 2014, Ryan met his life and songwriting partner, Teresa, at a ukulele meetup. Ryan and Teresa now have two children and a family YouTube channel called Paper Bagg Band where they share their music for kids.