Six years ago, Shawn Ryan wasn’t trying to build a media empire. He was trying to reach people who might be struggling in silence.
After finding an audience through survival and training content on YouTube, the former Navy SEAL began thinking about the veterans he had served alongside and the challenges many faced after returning home.
“I thought, what if I bring guys on who’ve been through the same kind of stuff I’ve been through, guys who found some kind of redemption and turned their lives around?” Ryan says. “Maybe somebody out there sitting in a dark place hears that and thinks, ‘If he made it, I can make it.’”
That idea became the Shawn Ryan Show.
Veterans were at the heart of the show from the beginning, in part because Ryan understood how difficult the transition out of military service could be.
“When you get out, you lose your tribe, your purpose, your identity, all at once,” he says. “I wanted to give them a place where they could tell their story in full, with no clock running and no one cutting them off.”
As the audience grew, so did the conversations. The show expanded beyond military experiences to explore mental health, faith, global issues, government, child protection and other subjects Ryan believes deserve deeper discussion.
“If it scares people to talk about it, that’s usually a sign it needs to be talked about,” Ryan says.
His own experiences have shaped the way he approaches those conversations. Ryan has spoken publicly about struggling with alcohol, reaching an intensely difficult point in his life and ultimately committing to years of therapy. Along the way, he says, he also rediscovered his faith.
“So when somebody sits across from me and tells me about their darkest moment, I’m not judging them,” he says. “I’ve been there.”
Today, faith plays a central role in both his personal life and work.
“It’s everything. It has transformed my life in every way,” Ryan says. “I’m not perfect. I still mess up. But I know who I’m working for now.”
Fatherhood has also influenced the issues he chooses to amplify, particularly conversations surrounding child trafficking, abuse and online safety. Protecting families extends into his work beyond the show, including his involvement with Glacier, a privacy and security app.
“As a father, everything I do is to make a better world for my kids,” Ryan says. “Privacy isn’t paranoia. It’s protection.”
Despite the show’s reach, Ryan says his wife, children and faith remain at the center.
“I try to remember that this platform isn’t really mine,” he says. “I believe God put it in my hands for a reason.”
For Ryan, gratitude begins there: with another day and the people beside him.
“That I’m still here,” he says of what he is most thankful for. “There was a time I didn’t think I would be. So every day I get to wake up next to my wife and see my kids is a gift I don’t take for granted.”
And after billions of views, it is still the individual messages that matter most.
“Every person who has watched, shared an episode, or sent a message saying the show helped them through a hard time,” Ryan says. “Those messages mean more to me than any number ever could.”
“I believe God put this platform in my hands for a reason, and I don’t take that responsibility for granted.”