Ryan Ansin, 25, is helping to tell stories of those who may not have had a chance. His non-profit, Every Person has a Story, travels the developing world teaching photography and videography to youngsters to help document their realities. Ansin sat down to speak with us.
Elan: Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background?
Ryan Ansin: Beginning at a young age I had an affinity for the not-for-profit sector. I joined my first board of directors at 13 as a founding member of the Boys and Girls Club of North Central Massachusetts. At that point I began making promotional videos for various organizations domestically and internationally, taking me around the US, USVI, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa. My first successful movie was made in Cambodia and Vietnam and was called Every Person Has a Story–a title that has followed me all the way through.
Elan: You’re the founder of Every Person Has a Story (EPHAS). Tell us about it.
RA: Being the founder/executive director of a new organization that will hopefully continue on well into the future is a sleepless, educational, constantly changing, delight.
EPHAS is a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to giving a voice to those who don’t have one, exposure to places that are not seen or considered in their entirety, and an education to those who are willing to learn and act.
When I first started EPHAS I was instructed by many to laser focus our mission–worthy advice depending on the deeper meaning. What most meant by this was to start teaching photography in Cambodia, let’s say, focus there for a couple years and then branch out. While running a single location workshop would have been simpler, it is by no means what we wanted to do. We intend to give participants all over the world the opportunity to share their worlds, their lives, with the most expansive audience that we can bring together.
This is much bigger than just giving a couple kids the opportunity to take some pictures. We want them to present truths about their lives that otherwise would have gone unnoticed by the masses. Thus, we had to, and must continue to, constantly widen our perimeters.
Elan: What inspired you to launch this venture?
RA: While there is a time and place for professional photographers and videographers to use their skills for the benefit of a single person or for mankind, there are many situations that, in my opinion, need to be seen and shared over a long period of time in order to be understood. With more thorough understanding of certain problems (water purification, mistreatment of genders or groups, etc), outsiders are in a better position to help. Who better to show the affects of a new clean-water filtration system than the individuals who are consuming that water? Once someone has prosthetics and can comfortably walk, should they not be the ones, in conjunction with their loved ones, to display their newly discovered lives?
I was asked to document the construction of a water purification system in Rwanda and suggested we teach photography instead so the documentation could be consistent, ongoing. It makes sense.
Elan: What do you hope to accomplish with EPHAS?
RA: EPHAS is a solution to various needs, which is why it has taken off in a short period of time. Our accomplishments will be seen as those needs are resolved.
People and organizations all over the world need better exposure to activate a greater audience to help. As EPHAS participants show what their lives are actually like as opposed to the perspectives that are offered from various media outlets, which may be incomplete, people will be educated. With education comes action.
News media organizations’ budgets have declined steadily, leaving less and less money to pay onsite reporters. Our participants can take and deliver honest, authentic and content to those providing news to the world. The end result would be a flux of capitol going to the communities that need and deserve it. Essentially, we are giving them a tool to help themselves.
From the organizational perspective, we hope to realize a model of sustainability that few not-for-profits ever do. We are building a wide array of systems and revenue streams with the goal of running EPHAS off of the incoming revenue–as one would for a for-profit or a more traditional social enterprise. We will accomplish this though photo-sales for aesthetic purposes, licensing and distribution of content, and corporate partnerships (ie. implementing programs in an area where a socially/environmentally conscious corporation is affecting positive change so our participants create content on an ongoing basis for them). Of course we need capital to begin this journey, but it helps our donors feel more comfortable knowing that we are looking toward the future and we, too, look forward to the day that we can share images and stories without an ask (however big or small) being attached.
Elan: What has been your greatest challenge?
RA: There are two major challenges:
Starting this on a minuscule budget has been very hard. My family, friends, and colleagues have been incredibly generous with all of their resources, for which I am forever grateful. It drives me crazy being unable to return the favors immediately. The stepping-stones we need to climb, however, cost money. There’s no way around some of them. We have offers to be a part of major TV networks’ shows, but in order to do that we need a dynamite branding video. That costs money. In order to put our best foot forward, we need a new website and (even harder) someone to help manage it–not an easy task with 200,000 images and thousands more rolling in.
Second major challenge has been sharpening our pitch, which still is not great. We don’t cure cancer; we do not build houses for needy individuals. We are setting a structure that will help our participating communities affect their own change. Our method happens to be with a camera, but that does not mean that the work stops once the students have an education in the arts. Our programmatic latitude is incredibly wide, which we see as a positive, as do those who understand us. Quippy phrases like “EPHAS brings real life into focus,” are cute and true but do not begin to touch upon the impact that we have begun to have.
Elan: What can we expect in the upcoming months? Any new projects?
RA: The first two years of EPHAS’ existence, which culminates on June 30th, was dedicated to programmatic growth. The focus of this summer to solidify our processes, is to grow our board of directors, and to achieve a greater level financial security in order to move forward. Our scalability is one of our greatest factors and we intend to flex that this coming fall with the right funding behind us.
That said, programs in Brazil began at the beginning of June, our Peru programs kick off on July 9th, Uganda will start in August, and our local instructors on the ground in each country will continue teaching our ongoing curricula which expanding to new territories as well. Once we find a great instructor in a certain area or country, life becomes much easier. They’re an incredible group of people.
This fall we are looking to have a gallery in SOHO and hope to have fundraising events in Boston, Chicago and LA. All will feature a 200,000-image mosaic, all taken by our students, that with the right Internet connection we can project onto a large wall and have auto-populate as our instructors send in new photos in real time.
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