Ryan Solsten got their start in politics in high school as the Vice President of their High School Democrats Club in Fall of 2008. In the years after high school, Ryan spent a decade in Cleveland, Ohio, working low wage retail jobs while attending nursing school. They opened a recording studio with friends and honed their graphic design and social media marketing skills in the local Cleveland music scene, collaborating with local, to Grammy-nominated artists.
After nursing school became unaffordable, Ryan decided to make the jump back into politics during Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, driven by a deep desire to bring big structural changes to a system that is actively harming Cleveland and other places like it.
Since then, Ryan has worked for progressive firebrands like former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner and former Congresswoman Cori Bush, with the aim of tackling poverty and anti-Black policies that hurt us all, utilizing social media as vehicle for community engagement and advocacy.