“At the Table” is a series of interviews and spotlight conversations with people I admire from within and outside of the wedding industry. These conversations focus on topics related to building an intentional, relationship-first business alongside a present, connected, values-driven personal life.
Introduction:
I’ve known Ryan’s wife Jess for years through the DC wedding community. What started as a beautifully creative local event design+build firm has grown into a nationally-recognized production company. I’m constantly in awe of their creativity! I reached out to Ryan for an interview after they announced their new project, Supplyhouse, and was thrilled when he agreed.
Follow Social Supply via their website & IG, and follow along with Supplyhouse here and here.
THE INTERVIEW
→ First of all, tell me in your own words what you do for work, and why you do it?
My wife Jessica and I own Social Supply, an event design and production firm. We design and build temporary environments for events, but also longer-term activations and pop-ups. We’ve been doing this since 2016. What started as just the two of us in my parents’ garage has grown into a team of 75 people in a 54,000 square-foot facility.
But why we do it is the more important part. We do it to create moments of genuine presence and connection. In a world that’s so distracted, we want to build spaces so captivating that people forget about their phones, even for a second, and just connect with the moment and the people around them. That’s our contribution. We know we aren’t curing a terminal illness, but in a world struggling with mindfulness, this is how we help.
https://www.supplyhousedc.com/
→ What does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day for me these days can be one of three things: a tour for a prospective client at Supplyhouse, our new venue opening in DC’s Navy Yard in the summer of 2026, filming content for marketing at Supplyhouse, or working on either developing Supplyhouse or the business backend of Social Supply. Jess runs the day-to-day of Social Supply. She is there every day collaborating with our design, production, and operations teams. For large, high-profile jobs, she’s the one on-site, sometimes flying across the country and always ensuring we deliver for our clients.
→ In her book Dare to Lead, Brené Brown says that every person has just two core values that shape everything else that they do or believe. Do you agree with that idea? If you could boil your values down to just two, what would they be? How do those influence how you do your work & live your life?
I’m going to cheat and say we have three, and I can’t take credit, they come from Jess. She identified honesty, hunger, and humility as the characteristics we look for in new team members, but they also translate to us.
Without being honest, we aren’t rooted in reality and can’t really build. Without being hungry for more, we aren’t showing up for our team. They need opportunities, so what we’re chasing has to be big enough to fit all their dreams inside as well. And being humble keeps us curious, progressing, and frankly, kinder versions of ourselves.
These values influence everything. Our design philosophy is rooted in honesty—we don’t chase trends or try to fake virality. We create spaces that are genuinely moving. Our hunger drives us to take big risks, like the Supplyhouse project, which is ten times our original budget but positions us for the future we’re building. And humility keeps us grounded, always learning, always open to input from our team and our clients.
→ The British author Alain de Botton has this famous quote: “There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” I tend to agree with this idea, that work-life balance is an unhelpful goal, and we should instead think about aligned values and healthy rhythms in all spheres of life. What do you think about the phrase “work-life balance?” How do keep healthy rhythms & momentum going in both work and personal spheres?
I completely agree with that quote. ‘Work-life balance’ has always felt like an unhelpful and unrealistic goal for us. When you’re building something from the ground up, it’s all-consuming; it naturally unbalances your life.
Jess and I have lived with both sets of our parents at different times over the first seven years of the business. We quit our jobs and lived off credit cards. Our son and the business came first, and our own relationship as a couple often had to come second. It wasn’t a balance; it was a series of choices based on our priorities. We also had to lean heavily on our family for childcare and even on-site help with installations.
Instead of balance, we focus on finding healthy rhythms. For me, that came from learning how to manage the constant stress and uncertainty that comes with entrepreneurship. A book called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle was a game-changer. It’s not a business book, but it taught me how to quiet the noise and anxiety in my own head. That ability to find mental stillness, even in the middle of chaos, is my version of a healthy rhythm. It allows me to handle the imbalance without burning out.
→ Some people argue that a focus on people and a focus on profit are competing priorities, but I love talking about the ways that running a relationship-first business aids in building more profitable, sustainable businesses. What do you think about this idea? Are they competing ideas? Why or why not?
For us, focusing on people has been the driver of our profit and sustainability. We made a conscious decision to make key hires early on, probably sooner than was financially comfortable. But we knew we couldn’t grow without bringing in expertise. By investing in our team, we elevated the quality of our work and the efficiency of our operations. That led to bigger projects, a stronger reputation, and ultimately, more profitability.
Our project manager for the Supplyhouse venue is a perfect example. We couldn’t do this massive project without him. Investing in the right person didn’t take away from our profit; it made the entire project viable. When you empower great people, they create more value than they cost, every single time.
→ What are some ways that running a people-first business has benefited you? How has it benefited others?
For me personally, it’s taken the weight of the world off my shoulders. You realize you can’t be an expert in everything. Hiring people who are better than you at certain things and trusting them is liberating. It allows me to focus on the bigger vision.
For others, it creates an environment of ownership and growth. We’ve become known in the industry as the design force behind some of the biggest event planners you see on social media. They trust Jess and our design team with their vision, which lets them focus on the logistics and grow their own businesses. You can see them flourish. For our own team, it means they aren’t just cogs in a machine. They are shaping the company and their own careers. When I say I need to be hungry enough to fit all their dreams inside my vision, I mean it. A people-first approach means your success is their success.
→ Our culture and our industry is fast—trends come and go in the blink of an eye, and there’s just so much noise, especially on social media. It can be tempting to believe that the only way to stand out is to add to the noise, to follow trends, to make a bigger flash than our competitors. But what if you’re a quiet brand? I have written about the difference between Fireworks and Fireplace brands here. Would you say that your business is more of a fireworks display or a fireplace? How does that influence how you market?
We are definitely a fireplace brand. A fireworks display is a huge, loud, flashy moment that’s over in an instant. Our goal is the opposite. We want to create a lasting feeling of warmth, connection, and presence. The whole philosophy of getting people to put their phones away and just be in the moment is the essence of a fireplace. It’s about sustained warmth, not a momentary flash.
When clients come to us asking to “make this go viral,” we have a system for that, but it’s probably not what they expect. It has nothing to do with researching trends, tracking conversions, or calculating ROI. Instead, we approach every design with one goal: to create an environment so captivating that people forget about their phones and are fully present. If they’re so moved that they shed a tear, that’s the ultimate compliment. We’ve had plenty of people enter a space we’ve created and be overcome with emotion.
This fireplace approach influences our marketing because we don’t chase trends or try to be the loudest voice in the room. Our marketing is about showcasing the feeling and the quality of the environments we create. It’s about telling the story of the experience, not just showing a flashy picture. We let the work speak for itself, believing that the right clients—the ones who value depth and presence—will be drawn to that warmth.
→ How do you stay authentic when it often feels that “fake it ‘til you make it” energy is rewarded?
By being honest with ourselves and with others. We’ve never pretended it was a smooth road. We’ve been open about the sacrifices—living with our parents, the strain it put on our marriage as business partners, the credit card debt in the early days. Authenticity comes from acknowledging the struggle, not just showing the highlight reel.
When your core value is honesty, “faking it” isn’t an option. It’s also about knowing your ‘why.’ Our goal isn’t just to build pretty things; it’s to create a feeling of presence and help people disconnect from the noise. When your mission is that clear and rooted in something real, the temptation to fake it fades away because you’re focused on something genuine.
→ What is bringing you joy in your work right now?
Seeing the vision for Supplyhouse start to become a reality is a huge source of joy. It’s been our biggest struggle—the budget has grown to ten times what we originally planned because of tariffs and construction costs—but seeing the space transform and imagining the events we’re going to host there is incredibly motivating. It’s a 16,000 square-foot historic building in DC’s Navy Yard with 55-foot ceilings, three floors, and a massive 30-ton gantry crane. It also has 10,000 sq ft of outdoor space. It’s going to be unlike anything else.
Also, on the Social Supply side, seeing Jess and our team collaborate with planners she has admired over her 20 years in this industry is a joy I can’t overstate. This past year, we’ve started working with some of the top social planners in the nation. It’s a real ‘we made it’ feeling. It validates all the risk and sacrifice.
→ If we were to meet here a year from now, what do you hope we would be celebrating?
A year from now, I hope we’d be celebrating a successfully launched Supplyhouse, with a full calendar of incredible events. I hope we’d be talking about the buzz it’s creating in DC and how it’s already starting to elevate the event scene. We’re competing with iconic venues like the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium and the National Portrait Gallery, so the bar is high.
I also hope we’d be celebrating the growth of our team, with new opportunities for everyone that have come from this new venture. And beyond the private events, I hope we’d be one step closer to hosting our own public-facing events at the venue, where thousands of people can experience our installations firsthand. That’s a long-term dream, but owning a venue gets us a lot closer to making it happen.
Mostly, I hope we’d be celebrating the fact that we took our biggest risk yet, and it was already beginning to pay off.
→ Final question: what is the number one book you recommend to every creative entrepreneur?
I’ll give you two, the first and the last book that made a huge impact on me. The first is Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. It was the first book I ever read that made my entrepreneurial tendencies make sense. Before that, I had the desire but didn’t understand how important belief and perception were. I was fueled by a need to prove myself rather than striving for something bigger than myself.
The second is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. It’s not a business book, but it was the first thing that explained, in a practical way, how to shut off the noise and anxiety in my brain. Living with constant uncertainty and stress is normal for entrepreneurs, and this book helped me handle it in a healthy way, instead of just running on sheer determination at the expense of my own mental health. That shift in mindset has been as important to our success as any business strategy.