Meet Amber & Ryan

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amber & Ryan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amber & Ryan, what principle do you value most?
First and foremost, we value honoring the humanity in people. We’ve witnessed how story has a way of bridging gaps, healing division, and dissolving hate, so we craft story-centric experiences, with a special emphasis on amplifying voices that have been (and continue to be) systemically silenced and invalidated.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
To us, art is just as much what you do, as it is how and why you do it. People are the art. Their stories are the art. Our craft is the simple act of bringing that out and capturing it in a way that hits people in the feels.

It’s rare for companies to hire artists to just make art. It’s a lot more common for them to hire creative thinkers to artfully solve their business problems. We use our backgrounds in filmmaking, photography, graphic design, and communications to help businesses connect directly with their customers (and themselves) in meaningful and tangible ways – through story.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d have to check out the Bishop Arts district and Deep Ellum! Both of these places hold special significance to us in different ways. Plus, there’s always something to see/do! Places to eat, places to shop (and by shop we mean walk around looking at neat stuff and asking “but do I really neeeeeed this?”), and Amber wandering around with her Polaroid camera.

We’d most likely go to a different coffee shop every day – Arwa Yemini Coffee in Richardson is a definite fave! Any art festivals or outdoor markets we can find would be included as well.

AND we’d give them a tour of the backyard casita-slash-studio we run HappyBox out of!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Elizabeth MacDougall-Colis.

Before HappyBox was HappyBox, she hired us as freelancers to film a weekend workshop she was running (Essentials One). By the time we finished that gig, we were so pumped! We both get a rush out of sharing stories, connecting with people, and turning our experiences into art. So Amber asked, “Why don’t we just do this full time?” And the rest is history.

Website: https://hpybx.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/hpy.bx

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/happybox-productions

Twitter: no.

Facebook: https://facebook.com/hpybx

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@hpybx

Other: TikTok: tiktok.com/@hpy.bx