Ryan Trahan

Ryan Michael Trahan ( ; born October 7, 1998) is an American YouTuber and entrepreneur. He is best known for his videos exploring various establishments and fundraising for numerous charities, including more than $11 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Early life and education Ryan Michael Trahan was born on October 7, 1998, in Sugar Land, Texas. He attended Rice High School, where he ran cross country and graduated as a valedictorian in 2017. Trahan attended Texas A&M University as a student athlete in cross country, placing third in the Aggieland Open Competition in 2017. Later that year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ruled Trahan ineligible because he used his YouTube channel to share running videos and advertise his company, Neptune Bottle. NCAA rules stated that, student athletes "may establish his or her own business, provided the student-athlete’s name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation are not used to promote the business.” Trahan eventually dropped out of university to pursue his YouTube career full-time.

Career Trahan established his YouTube channel on October 27, 2013. Originally producing content on running, Trahan now creates a variety of content focused on exploring various establishments, including restaurants, hotels, tourist destinations.

Penny challenges Beginning in 2017, Trahan began a series in which he attempted to travel from California to North Carolina to deliver MrBeast a single penny, using only funds from the original penny. Inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk, he had previously completed similar challenges, in which he had tried to convert a penny into a thousand dollars and convert a penny into funds to buy a house. Trahan announced that the 2022 "Penny Challenge" would also serve as a fundraiser for Feeding America, and set a $100,000 goal. By the end of the challenge, he had raised $1.38 million. He has since repeated this series four times, most recently in 2022.

Trahan financed the challenge through online surveys, mowing lawns, dog walking, DoorDash deliveries, and selling items such as soft drinks, bottled water, and golf balls. To incentivize donations, Trahan would reset his funds to an original penny for a $50,000 donation and pledged to get a tattoo of the donor's design if someone donated $100,000. The series was largely sponsored by PayPal Honey.

The following year, Trahan announced he would be doing the challenge again, aiming to get from Paris to New York City in one week while raising $250,000 for Water.org. With the support of the public, Trahan raised over $400,000.

"50 States in 50 Days" In June 2025, Trahan announced that he and his wife, Haley Pham, would visit all 50 U.S. states in 50 days, staying in a unique Airbnb in each one, with a goal of raising $1,000,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The project attracted the attention of several celebrities, YouTubers, and brands, including T-Mobile, Airbnb, Kia, Hobby Lobby, Lectric eBikes, Staple Games, MrBeast, Starbucks, Paramount, and Mark Rober. To encourage donations, Trahan created a series of incentives, including a series of penalties from a mechanical device called the Wheel of Doom, which he had to spin every time a donor donated $50,000 or more. As of January 2026, the fundraiser has raised over $11.65 million.

Trahan was the winner of the "First Person" category at the 2023 13th Streamy Awards; he also participated in a "creator roundtable" before the ceremony and presented a portion of the event.

Business ventures In 2016, Trahan founded a water bottle brand named Neptune Bottle with his friend Caden Wiese. This brand was one of the several reasons Trahan eventually left Texas A&M University; he was a student athlete using his name on YouTube to share running videos and sell the bottles, and NCAA ruled him ineligible. he dropped out of university to continue working on the business and his YouTube channel. According to Trahan, in the first year of its existence, Neptune Bottle had earned over $50,000 in revenue. In 2023, he started a clothing line, Howdy Howdy.

In 2024, Trahan announced that he had become co-owner (with Tyler Merrick) and chief creative officer for Joyride Sweets, which produces non-GMO, vegan, and low-carbohydrate candy products. On the day of the initial product's release, it sold out at Target. Trahan established Joyride Jerry, a mascot to represent Joyride Sweets. On June 14, 2025, Joyride broke the Guinness World Record for "Most photos of people holding candy uploaded to Instagram in one hour" when fans uploaded 1,733 photos of themselves holding the product.

Personal life Trahan lives in Austin, Texas. In 2020, he married fellow YouTuber Haley Pham.

He is a Christian. Trahan came to the faith after initially trying to challenge his wife's beliefs while they were dating. He described himself as a "cynical atheist”. In July 2020, he started to feel unfulfilled with life despite his earnings from his YouTube career. That led him to take "a lot less cynical approach towards asking questions." Trahan has stated that around that time he "did land on Jesus. I started developing a relationship with God...Now it's my source of joy. It is my source of love. It is my source of everything."

Awards and nominations