RYOT

RYOT
Founded 2012
Founder Bryn Mooser, David Darg
Location
Origins Los Angeles
Key people
 Bryn Mooser, David Darg, Molly Swenson, Stacey Leasca
Subsidiaries RYOT Creative, RYOT Films, RYOT Foundation
Employees
 12
Slogan Every Story Lets You Take Action, Become The News
Mission RYOT News is the first breaking news site that links every story to an action, empowering you to become the news. It's what is going on in the world AND what you can do about it.[1]
Website http://www.ryot.org

RYOT is an American media company founded in 2012. The company is most known for its eponymous website, a revolutionary news source that connects each story to a related, cause-based action (donating to a related non-profit, signing a petition, registering to vote, etc). RYOT.org also gives a portion of all the site's ad revenue to non-profits.[2] In addition to its popular news site, the media group also contains multiple subcategories, including RYOT Creative, RYOT Films, and RYOT Foundation.

Background

Bryn Mooser and David Darg, the two co-founders of RYOT, met in Haiti during the weeks after the earthquake of January 2010. Both were in the country doing humanitarian work, Mooser with Artists for Peace and Justice, to build a school, and Darg with Operation Blessing, to build water and sanitation systems. After working alongside each other and becoming friends, Mooser and Darg had the idea to create a baseball league for the young boys of the Tabarre neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.[3]

Soon after, Mooser and Darg returned home to America and launched RYOT News.

“Our work in Haiti over the last three years has been really important to us and our hearts will always be there,” Mooser said. “We return often and plan to in the future, but now we’re ready to use the power of the news to affect change all over the world.”[3]

Celebrity activists Olivia Wilde, Ian Somerhalder and Sophia Bush are all supporters of RYOT and endorse their efforts worldwide. Founding investors include Canadian Gareth Seltzer. [4]

Subcategories

RYOT Creative is an in-house agency, dedicated to creating media campaigns. RYOT Creative produces short films, organizes events, and creates large-scale social movements for nonprofits and brands.

RYOT Films creates documentaries, web content, and narrative feature films about important world issues.

RYOT Foundation works in post-disaster zones all over the world, running youth sports programs in Haiti and Senegal, rebuilding fishing villages in the Philippines and fostering music education in the Arctic.

The Rubin Report a current events panel show hosted by Dave Rubin, produced by RYOT.

Filmography

Mooser and Darg documented their work with the young boys in Haiti in their Tribeca award winning film, “Baseball in the Time of Cholera,” which follows the rise of the Tabarre Tigers and the concurrent outbreak of Cholera in Haiti. The film played at film festivals around the world and finished with a special Congressional screening in Washington, D.C.[5]

A year later, Mooser and Darg, debuted their third film at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, a documentary short titled, "The Rider and The Storm," which chronicles a New York surfer who lost everything in the Breezy Point fires during Hurricane Sandy.[6]

References