Cruise Convos | Ryan Stana, RWS Global

Claudine Pohl: 00:00:02

What is currently happening in our cruise industry today? Join me for Cruise Comvos as we discover and learn from cruise industry leaders across the globe, all within 28 minutes. Cruise community Welcome back to Cruise Convos. This is Claudine with Lemoneight and today I have a very, very epic person with me. Ryan Stana Hello. Hi.

Ryan Stana: 00:00:33

Hi, everybody. I'm honored to be here. And Epic is quite a word to live up to, but I'm ready for it.

Claudine Pohl: 00:00:40

Ryan Stana is such an amazing person. It's an honor to have you I met you a few years back at Seatrade Cruise Global, we hit it off, and I think the world of you. I am honored to have you here on Cruise Convos. And you are the CEO of our RWS Global, right?

Ryan Stana: 00:01:01

Yes, I am. And also the founder.

Claudine Pohl: 00:01:04

I know and founder How can I forget that part? Yeah. How about you, Ryan? Tell everybody a little bit of how you started this company? When did you start it? And how did you get into it? And then tell us what are ws does or do it backwards.

Ryan Stana: 00:01:22

So I grew up in a very small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was an only child and I mean only child by son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, everything was focused on Ryan's dad growing up. So also, my parents were both entrepreneurs. And with my parents, both being entrepreneurs, and also being the only child, I learned to really have this no fear mentality in my

Ryan Stana: 00:04:07

And I said, I don't want to do this anymore. I do not like working for this company. And my dad said to me, Ryan, why don't you start your own business. So literally, that was like, two in the afternoon. I walked into my office that I was working in New York City and said I'm resigning today. And then before I went home to my apartment, I went to Staples and I think anyone that's listening

Claudine Pohl: 00:05:22

That is an amazing story, Ryan, I can't believe that. I have not heard the full story. This is the first!

Ryan Stana: 00:05:30

Oh, yeah, that's the full story. And to this day, I have one roommate that as a full time employee, and another roommate that will probably write a book on working for our RWS Global out of the corner of our apartment.

Claudine Pohl: 00:05:44

Oh, my goodness, I love it. I have my own business, too. And it's not easy to go for it right?

Ryan Stana: 00:05:51

No, it's not easy. But if you have that drive within you, you have to follow that. Yes,

Claudine Pohl: 00:05:58

I love your story. And you were 22 years old. I did not know this about you that your parents were both entrepreneurs. So you saw them just kind of going for their goals your entire life.

Ryan Stana: 00:06:11

Yeah. And I actually know nothing other than being in a family with entrepreneurs. So it was funny when I married my husband, his parents both had nine to five jobs. So it was interesting to hear like, they're not done with work till five, because my family was always with me all the time. Listen, as an entrepreneur, you work all the time. But you also have the luxury of deciding when

Claudine Pohl: 00:06:55

I love it. Ryan, I have a question for you. Yeah, this is really interesting. I didn't not know you were an only child. I have two half sisters. But I grew up as an only child, like my two half sisters really? Were never around. Well, I grew up as an only child. Do you think that you're an entrepreneur? Yes, your parents were involved in entrepreneurship. But do you feel that like

Ryan Stana: 00:07:22

Yes, I think being an only child tends to make you an old soul very quickly. And allows you to communicate in a more sophisticated way earlier in life. I would have conversations with adults all the time. You know, my favorite thing to do during recess was hanging out with the teachers not hanging out with students. So I think it does sort of give you this elevated approach in life

Claudine Pohl: 00:07:55

Yeah, I think for me, I think it was like anything was possible because I didn't have a sibling telling me, oh, you can't do that. I'm like, Oh, I can push the boundaries. Like I can pretty much do anything. And then I felt like my parents were very supportive. Oh, my mom and everything like, oh, you can do it like so encouraged and and I think that kind of as an entrepreneur kind

Ryan Stana: 00:08:16

tell you one more story being an only child and it sort of falls in line because I I also believe being a business leader, you're also a teacher. So I grew up first and foremost wanting to be a teacher, because my aunt was a teacher, so I loved it. So my parents and grandparents being an only child, took our guesthouse and turned it into the learning center Homeroom 101. I had pulled

Claudine Pohl: 00:09:26

Great story. And I can't believe you made your grandmother the janitor and the lunch lady. Like, come on, right.

Ryan Stana: 00:09:33

Oh, we had the full intercom system. I would literally like hit and be like today we're ordering. Lunch, she would bring it. I mean, it was nice.

Claudine Pohl: 00:09:43

That's awesome. I love it. I love it. You know what that makes me think of leadership to that really from a young age. Got your leadership skills built. You started building those leadership skills. Love it. Now I love your story. It's wonderful. Oh, so tell us a little bit our RWS Global, you know, you've acquired new companies under your umbrella. You're touching new areas,

Ryan Stana: 00:10:19

Thank you. So yes, our RWS has grown a lot in we were thrilled to add JRA to our team in 2021. And that company brought with it some of the most talented designers and project managers in the business that helped really round out our client trajectory. So for example, JRA designs, the resorts, designs, the theme parks designs, the interior of cruise ships, where our experiences get

Claudine Pohl: 00:12:42

What is that?

Ryan Stana: 00:12:43

the robotron is a ride that takes people on a music journey through media visuals and a robo Tron attraction. So it's really a cool immersive ride. Also, on MSC we designed the fitness program on the ship, and we designed the entertainment. So we're really all these companies under RWS Global are providing the full guest experience and the full guest journey. So it's a really proud

Claudine Pohl: 00:13:17

Congratulations Ryan in it isn't vision, because you're not only touching one area, you're really touching different areas, where in all you're impacting the guests experience, you're bringing that experience alive

Ryan Stana: 00:13:30

100%. And it's allowing also the cruise lines to have respect for experienced production. So they're seeing it in different ways. And when they see this in different ways, and how it impacts the guests journey, then they're putting more funds towards it.

Claudine Pohl: 00:13:47

I love this. Because I think that we need to start looking at the entire experience on board a ship, not just you know, you get on you go here you do this. But every single step that a gas takes onboard a ship could be an experience or should be an experience. 100% Correct.

Ryan Stana: 00:14:08

Everything needs to tell a story. And you need to have the guests leaving their vacation their holiday with an emotional souvenir, what touch them in a specific way that they'll always remember. And that is the most important to me. Yes.

Claudine Pohl: 00:14:27

We did a little think tank with some of your team members. And we were talking about this. It's interesting, what you just mentioned about that emotional connection. And as well building those emotional connections with the staff. Like sometimes it's those moments that you have that one conversation with a staff member working on board that you know for them, it might be like

Ryan Stana: 00:14:57

100%!

Claudine Pohl: 00:14:58

Yeah, I love that. So Tell us a little bit. How many team members do you guys have across the globe, you must have a lot.

Ryan Stana: 00:15:07

So our in house team, we have 300 employees throughout the globe, our seasonal team of talent and technicians, we have 8000 people that work for us throughout the world on a yearly basis. So it's a heavy lift, but it's also really exciting to see the brand grow, but also to see the talent trajectory grow, and where they're able to go and work after working for us are continuing

Claudine Pohl: 00:15:38

Yeah, I love what you're doing something new, you're doing, I chat. I love following all your social media. And you just had a little video pop up, and you're starting to dispel some of the stories of your your team members who have they started working with RWS and what they're doing. And I saw one a little sore. And it was a young guy who just saw it, a little flyer pop up on

Ryan Stana: 00:16:24

yeah, we need to provide our talent, and I mean, onstage and off stage talent, a trajectory for success. If they do not see that trajectory, they're not interested anymore. And we're very lucky because we are not a cruise ship, we are not a resort. We are not a theme park, but we can bring our service to the cruise ship, the resort or the theme park that allows them to have top notch

Claudine Pohl: 00:17:35

I love that. So Ryan, tell me a little bit about some of the new things that you're working on any new projects or any projects that you have worked on that you really want to share with our audience for them to be like, Oh, wow, maybe I didn't know that they were involved in this.

Ryan Stana: 00:17:50

The cruise lines we service as a Mara fleet, which is a beautiful, wonderful fleet that I highly suggest you sail on if you can. We handle the production shows and guest entertainers on as Amara, we hire Holland America's fleet as well, which we handle large array of entertainment on there from stage shows to musical performances with musicians. Holland America was our first cruise line

Ryan Stana: 00:20:18

sensory technology. So we provided all the master planning and fabrication of view Boston. So if you're in Boston, which cruise ships do go to Boston, go and visit view Boston.

Claudine Pohl: 00:20:30

That's awesome.

Ryan Stana: 00:20:31

I'm gonna keep going with two more things that I think is very exciting to hear. Yeah, go for them is the Cincinnati black music walk Hall of Fame we just opened this past weekend, which is a walk of fame that celebrates recording artists from the Greater Cincinnati area. And we incorporated interactive elements on this walk of fame. That includes touch screen kiosks, media consoles,

Claudine Pohl: 00:21:37

amazing, Ryan, that's incredible. That's incredible. Like, there's so many different areas. It's not just one area that you're involved in, but they all impact the guests experience in one way or another or you create experiences, you connect people, right, and everything that you do as a company. That's amazing.

Ryan Stana: 00:21:57

100% Our goal is to raise the experience of our client and the guests and our talent every single day.

Claudine Pohl: 00:22:05

Excellent. Ryan, if somebody wants to, let's say, look into RWS, like you mentioned, you're working with theme parks, we could have somebody from a large theme park listening in, or it could be even a destination with the project that you did in Boston, like the Tourist Bureau, it could be a destination or anywhere in the world that might say, You know what? That sounds interesting?

Ryan Stana: 00:22:33

Sure. So you can follow us on all of our social channels, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. But the easiest way is to go to RWSglobal.com. And you click connect to us. And it will tell you how to send an email and someone from our business development team or our talent casting or recruiting team will get back to them right away.

Claudine Pohl: 00:22:57

Great. So you said RWSglobal.com. And we're almost coming to an end. But I want to say something. I've been looking at your socials and I you guys keep winning awards. You have been winning lots of awards tell us just like maybe two or three that you have won just in the past year.

Ryan Stana: 00:23:17

So yeah, we we've done a nice job with awards. But this past this past year, I personally won the IAPA Service Award, and I app as the International attractions for amusement parks. And I believe this is something the cruise line industry should really look at signing up for IAPA because it shows how amusement parks and cruise lines in our weave. And I won the award this past year for

Claudine Pohl: 00:24:34

Congratulations, Ryan and I knew about the big award that you just won, but I wanted to make sure that our listeners, you know, heard that because you you your company plays a big role and it contributes so much to our industry and for you to be rewarded in a different area altogether but involved in the cruises. industry, it's wonderful to see and well done well done to you and to

Ryan Stana: 00:25:25

Well, I appreciate Claudine. And the feeling is mutual for what you do to the cruise industry.

Claudine Pohl: 00:25:28

Aw, thank you. I'm gonna ask you. Is there anything about our Ws? We should also note or no? Did we go through everything?

Ryan Stana: 00:25:39

I think we covered everything. And we might have bored the audience.

Claudine Pohl: 00:25:43

No way. These are loyal fans, we have fans. Okay, last question. And this is a question I asked everybody. If you could look back at your younger self, what one piece of advice or what advice would you give your younger self?

Ryan Stana: 00:26:02

I'm going to tell you four things that okay. Oh, yes. What I would tell my younger self is one, you can't do everything by yourself. Without a great team. You're nothing. The second thing is always listen to your gut. Your gut always tells you what's right. The third thing is make sure you create time for yourself. For example, like mine is every morning going to the gym and organizing

Claudine Pohl: 00:26:59

Wow, Ryan, those are four big ones. And they're all on point.

Ryan Stana: 00:27:05

Well, the family one, if I could do anything differently, it would be to always remember the importance of family. Because we get caught up in our day to day life. But nothing is better than going home and being with your mom or being with your aunt or being with your husband. And we tend to overlook that. And I think it's very important.

Claudine Pohl: 00:27:30

Maybe I needed to hear that last one because I'm home for five weeks. But that's pretty tight schedule. And I keep thinking I'm like I need to do more with the family, you know, but sometimes

Ryan Stana: 00:27:39

Claudine just being there with them is enough. You don't have to run crazy just being next to one another sometimes takes care of a lot of that.

Claudine Pohl: 00:27:49

Great advice from the amazing Ryan Stana. Wow, thank you so much, Ryan. I think the world of you and what an honor to have you on cruise combos. Thank you so much for being part of today's show.

Ryan Stana: 00:28:05

Thank you for having me. Hopefully everyone enjoyed and was not too bored.

Claudine Pohl: 00:28:09

I'm sure people were not bored at all. And I heard your birthday is coming up. So happy birthday.

Ryan Stana: 00:28:16

Thank you so much. July 30. If you can also just send me gifts via the website too!