Ryan Trahan

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Ryan Trahan
Trahan in 2018
Personal information
Born (1998-10-07) October 7, 1998 (age 25)
Sugar Land, Texas, U.S.
Spouse
Haley Pham
​
(m. 2020)​
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
Subscribers15.4 million[1]
(19 April 2024)
Total views3.09 billion[1]
(19 April 2024)
100,000 subscribers2018
1,000,000 subscribers2019
10,000,000 subscribers2022

Ryan Michael[2] Trahan (born October 7, 1998) is an American YouTuber, vlogger, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his "penny series”, which he has done several times since 2017. Trahan has founded multiple businesses, including Neptune Bottle, clothing line Howdy Howdy and Joyride.

Personal life[edit]

Trahan was born on October 7, 1998, in Sugar Land, Texas,[3] later attending Rice High School in the town of Altair.[4] While in high school and later attending Texas A&M University, Trahan was a cross country runner, placing third in the Aggieland Open competition in 2017.[5]

Trahan started a water bottle brand in 2016 with his friend Caden Wiese, named Neptune Bottle. Trahan eventually left A&M after the National Collegiate Athletic Association ruled him ineligible due to using his channel to share running videos while advertising his company as a student athlete.[6][7][a] Although Trahan sought a waiver with the association allowing him to continue running his business while remaining an athlete,[9] he dropped out of university to continue working on the business[10][11] and his YouTube channel.[12] According to Trahan, in the first year of its existence, Neptune Bottle had earned over $50,000 in revenue.[13]

Trahan married YouTuber Haley Pham in 2020.[P 1]In 2023, he started a clothing line, Howdy Howdy.[P 2]In 2024, he joined a candy company, Joyride Sweets as Co-Owner and Chief Creative Officer.[14]

YouTube career[edit]

Trahan started his YouTube channel on January 21, 2012. Originally producing content on running, Trahan now creates eclectic content, ranging from Tesla races to outdoor camping.[15][16] Trahan reached 1,000,000 subscribers on January 29, 2019, 10,000,000 on July 4, 2022, and as of February 13, 2024, Trahan's YouTube channel reached 14.9 million subscribers and gained a total of over 2.92 billion video views. Trahan has compiled over 15.2 million subscribers throughout all Youtube channels he manages.

Trahan was the winner of the "First Person" category at the 2023 13th Streamy Awards; he also participated in a "creator roundtable" before the ceremony, and presented a portion of the event.[17]

Penny challenges[edit]

Originally inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk,[18] Trahan started a month long series, dubbed the "Penny Challenge", in June 2022. The premise of the challenge was, starting in California with a single penny, to travel to MrBeast in North Carolina and deliver the original penny, using only funds derived from said penny. Trahan originally set a target to fundraise $100,000 for the nonprofit Feeding America, which he was able to fulfill, raising $1.38 million by the end of the month.[19]

Trahan financed the challenge through completing online surveys, mowing lawns, dog walking and selling items such as soft drinks, bottled water, and golf balls, among other methods.[20] To help garner funds for Feeding America, Trahan created incentives for donations, in particular "THE GREAT RESET", where a $50,000 donation to the fundraiser would reset his earned funds to a penny.[21] In addition to this, for $100,000 donations (of which he received three), Trahan had donator-chosen designs tattooed on himself.[22] The series was largely sponsored by PayPal Honey.[23]

Premiering on July 1, 2023, the Penny Challenge returned with a new route from Paris to New York City. The challenge retained its original rules, aiming to raise $250,000 for the nonprofit organization Water.org.[24][25] With the support of the public, Trahan raised over $400,000 for Water.org.[26]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 12th Streamy Awards Creator For Social Good Nominated [27]
Breakout Creator Won
2023 13th Streamy Awards Creator of the Year Nominated [28]
First Person Won

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ At the time, the National Collegiate Athletic Association had restrictions on student athletes taking sponsorships from brands; these rules were altered in June 2021.[8]

References[edit]

Primary sources[edit]

  1. ^ I Proposed. Ryan Trahan. May 23, 2020. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ Ryan Trahan [@RyanTrahan] (September 26, 2022). "NEW MERCH LIVE 🤠" (Tweet). Retrieved August 7, 2022 – via Twitter.

Secondary sources[edit]

  1. ^ a b "About Ryan Trahan". YouTube.
  2. ^ I Melted Every Candy Into One Piece (ft. Ryan Trahan). Archived from the original on April 7, 2024. Retrieved April 7, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ I Tested 1-Star Drive Thrus. Retrieved April 21, 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  4. ^ Hale, James (February 7, 2023). "YouTube Millionaires: Ryan Trahan, Who's Gaining More Than 10K Subscribers Every Single Day, Is Ready To Make 2020 His Best Year Ever". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  5. ^ Price, Shawn (August 10, 2017). "Texas A&M's Ryan Trahan earns SEC Freshman Runner of the Week honor". KBTX. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  6. ^ Chavez, Chris (September 21, 2017). "Texas A&M Runner Ryan Trahan Says He Was Ruled Ineligible For Popular YouTube Page". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  7. ^ Nathan, Alec (September 21, 2017). "NCAA Rules Runner Ryan Trahan Can't Use Athletics to Promote His Company". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  8. ^ Salvador, Joseph (June 30, 2021). "NCAA Approves Interim NIL Policy, Change Will Take Effect Thursday". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  9. ^ Huebsch, Tim (September 22, 2017). "Cross-country runner in hot water with NCAA for popular YouTube page". Canadian Running Magazine. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  10. ^ "Ryan Trahan's Journey From College Dropout to 6.8 Million YouTube Subscribers". Shopify. March 24, 2022. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Gruenling, Jessica (November 7, 2017). "Texas A&M cross country runner leaving school to grow his business". KBTX. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  12. ^ Weiss, Geoff (September 22, 2017). "Another Student Athlete Facing Scrutiny From NCAA For Budding YouTube Presence". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  13. ^ Payne, Marissa (September 22, 2017). "Texas A&M runner's water bottle company causes NCAA kerfuffle". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  14. ^ My last video, archived from the original on February 17, 2024, retrieved February 17, 2024
  15. ^ Rosales, Lara (February 7, 2023). "How Ryan Trahan Really Became So Famous On YouTube". Nicki Swift. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  16. ^ "Revenge is usually served hot. For Ryan Trahan, it's ice cold -- and sponsored by Google". Tubefilter. March 31, 2023. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  17. ^ Hale, James (August 28, 2023). "Here are your 2023 Streamy Award winners". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  18. ^ "What's Ryan Trahan's secret to going viral?". blog.youtube. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  19. ^ Gutelle, Sam (June 30, 2022). "Ryan Trahan's 30-day journey to MrBeast got more than 190 million views and raised $1.38 million for charity". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  20. ^ Rose Jr., Paul (July 15, 2022). "Every Business Ryan Trahan Used To Survive on One Penny for 30 Days | Wealth of Geeks". wealthofgeeks.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  21. ^ Green, Jonathan (June 24, 2022). "Ryan Trahan Is Flying Across America With Just A Penny - Travel Radar". Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  22. ^ Newman, Vicki (June 10, 2022). "YouTuber Ryan Trahan has to let $100k donor Paul Dodds pick his tattoo". HITC. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  23. ^ Gutelle, Sam (October 10, 2022). "Ryan Trahan has turned his "penny challenge" into a speedrun". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  24. ^ "Ryan Trahan's latest penny challenge raised $400,000 for Water.org". Tubefilter. July 7, 2023. Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  25. ^ Hale, James (June 23, 2023). "Ryan Trahan's penny series is back...and going international?". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  26. ^ "1 Penny. Safe water for all". give.Water.org. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  27. ^ Chan, J. Clara (December 5, 2022). "YouTube Streamy Awards: MrBeast Takes Top Creator; Full List of Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  28. ^ Lewis, Hilary (August 28, 2023). "Streamy Awards: MrBeast Wins Creator of the Year". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.


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