Ryan grew up in Aston, a culturally rich part of Birmingham where West Indian, South Asian, Pakistani, and British communities shaped the rhythm of daily life. After his parents separated, his mother raised him alone in a council flat, her resilience becoming the anchor of his early years.

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His late grandmother, Philomena “Pearl” Butler, left the deepest mark. Quietly defiant, loving, and wise, she had a gift for creating magic - especially at Christmas, when her beautifully curated trees looked as though they’d slipped straight out of Narnia. In those warm, glittering rooms, Ryan learned that ordinary spaces could become portals if you looked with enough imagination.

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Birmingham in the 80s only fed that sense of wonder: knee-deep snow, neighbourhood-wide blizzards, and the excitement of radio-announced school closures. While other children raced outside, Ryan built worlds in his mind-stranger, brighter, and rule-bending places where imagination felt like survival.

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He always knew he wanted to write. That conviction led him to the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, then to the BBC at Pebble Mill, where he learned how stories work from behind the scenes. After more than 15 years in education, he stepped fully into the creative path he’d always felt called to.

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Today, as Creative Director of The Brand Thinker, Ryan is known for transforming abstract ideas into vivid, human-centred brand identities. His mind moves intuitively -making unexpected connections and seeing the world each idea could grow into.

Through it all, the boy from snowy Birmingham remains: shaped by grit, wonder, culture, and a grandmother who taught him that magic often hides in the smallest details.

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Now, Ryan is pouring that lifelong imagination into writing fantasy worlds for young readers who might need escape, hope, or a reminder that wonder can grow in hard places. His ambition is clear: to become a New York Times bestselling author - not for the accolade, but to share his stories with the widest possible world.

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“I grew up surviving on imagination,” Ryan says. “Now I want to give that same escape to someone else.”