Instagram story viewer> @ryankopperud> Posts

Ryan Kopperud

@ryankopperud

1.6K

followers

7712

following

Marketer, Podcaster, Musician, Writer. VP of Growth at Wild State Cider & Birdie

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Last week, Minnesota showed what real leadership looks like.

Elected officials, business owners, and workers from across the hemp and beverage communities came together to stand up for an industry that millions rely on and that Washington is trying to erase without a single public hearing.

I brought this group together because the stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines. And frankly I believe in it. I believe in the industry. I believe in what it does for small business, consumers, and the state I love so much. I believe in using your voice when injustice occurs.

And what happened in D.C. was an unjust, unprecedented move that threatens jobs, small businesses, and an entire emerging market, here and across the nation. Minnesota deserves better. The country deserves better.

These opening remarks from the press conference I assembled last week are my call to action. If this issue matters to you, please watch, share, and add your voice.

Very thankful to our elected officials for their voices with us on this issue: @amyklobuchar @senatortinasmith @repilhan @jacobfrey1 @lindseyportmn

Major kudos to the hemp and beverage industry speakers: @surlybrewing @fultonbeer @insightbrewing @mncraftbrewersguild @bobgalligan @utepilsbrewing @fortyacrecoop and more.

Thank you to every leader who showed up and to everyone fighting to protect this industry’s future and Minnesota's future.

Full remarks in the video. Thank you very much for your time.

#MNleg #hemp #HempIndustry #THCbeverages #hempbeverage #cbd #thc #Minnesota #mnhemp #SmallBusiness #SupportLocal #PressConference #PolicyMatters by @ryankopperud

184

33

10 months ago

“The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil.” - Mon Mothma #Minneapolis #Andor taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

307

46

9 months ago

Looped a @hozier sample and rapped about grief over it.

#reels #rap #hiphop #freestyle #hozier #grief by @ryankopperud

322

38

4 years ago

When my dad passed away six years ago this week, and 8 days after his birthday, August became an unbearably hard month for our whole family.

If you know grief, you know the heaviness of anniversaries, and how the demarcation of time passing can mess with your brain and drag you down. A physical weight in your mind and body, and it steals your time, your energy, your focus.

August doesn’t feel the same as it once did, those first few years. It’s certainly not easy, and it will never be the same as it once was or what we wish it was. It’s mostly just different. The corners aren’t as jagged, even if it’s still sharp. The weight is more inside of us now, rather than pushing down on us, like a layer over everything.

He was the best of us, and I miss him dearly. We all do. One of things we’ve done to spread his memory and continue to move his goodness through the world is raise money every year for a local cause he would’ve loved and supported.

With a few days left, this year we’ve raised nearly $6,000 for Kaitlyn’s Kloset, a local non-profit that serves families in need in myriad ways. In total since my dad’s passed, we’ve raised over $30,000 for local causes.

To everyone anyone who’s contributed this year or any year, thank you. You keep my dad’s memory alive with each passing year through this fundraiser, and bring help to others, and joy to his family. I’m so grateful to everyone for helping us on this mission, and supporting his memory and our family.

And if you want to contribute, there’s still time check it here or the link in my bio: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-6th-annual-unstoppable-good-drive

Thank you all. Love you all. Love you Dad. I really do. by @ryankopperud

75

5

2 months ago

It’s my dad’s birthday. His sixth we’ve had to endure without him here to celebrate with us. It’s so strange that even after six years, there are moments where I think to call him before I realize and remember. But I still talk to him sometimes anyhow. On bike rides. In the car while I drive. I tell him how things are going. How hard it’s been. How strange it’s been. I tell him about his granddaughter and all the milestones she’s hit. About badly I wish he was here to be a part of them. How wrong it is that he’s not.

They say our grief is commensurate to our love, and I know that we had so much love, which is why we still have so much hurt. Happiness still comes. Good things still happen. But there’s a hurt there that never quite goes away. Like a fire that grows and fades and grows and fades, but the coals are always there smoldering.

Ever since he passed we started a tradition where we rally friends and family and do a drive to raise money for a good cause in his name. It’s a place to put the hurt, honor his memory and his legacy, and do something good, because my dad always did good things for people. The link to contribute is in my bio if you want to.

Mostly though, I wish for you all great and big and deep love. I wish for you as much time as is humanly possible with all of your loved ones. I wish for you the blessing of good memories. I wish for you the patience to endure the hurt until it starts to change shape. I wish for you the strength to carry it, and the humility to ask for help or lay down and rest. I wish for you a long memory and a short horizon.

I wish for you to never stop telling stories about those you’ve loved and lost, and to never stop talking to them, wherever they are. You can still hear them, even if you can’t see them.

And I wish for you to keep making the world a little better place in their names.

Love you forever, and miss you always, Dad. by @ryankopperud

93

12

2 months ago

When Pete said, “The purpose of this is to just do it and not worry about perfection.” he was talking about making a song snippet together from a beat he chopped and asked me to rap on, and then to take these pictures to pair with it.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how worthy it is to apply that philosophy to more than just the art we make. Perfection is so frequently the enemy of good, and good is… good. Good for our hearts and our minds, good for the universe. The pursuit of perfection can stop good things from ever coming to life, and we get out of practice getting ideas out, because sometimes they just never seem good “enough.”

Sometimes we worry so much about doing this all perfect, that we end up not doing anything at all. So here’s to good enough, and hopefully better. To making things because it’s fun and feels good. To creativity for the sake of it.

Forever grateful for wildly talented, hungry, creative friends like Petey who made this beat and took these pictures and for keeping me looking and sounding far better than I deserve to.

Pete said, “You wanna record a verse this week and we go take a few pics at the studio?“

And I said, “In.” taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

143

26

4 months ago

Ayeopete. 👀 taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

149

26

4 months ago

6/18 #mitchmcconnell by @ryankopperud

46

3

4 months ago

My love for you is permanent. Happy, happy birthday, @jen.aron. 💜 taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

101

2

8 months ago

Come through. Say hi. #minneapolis #minnesota #twincities taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

182

31

8 months ago

Brutality masquerading as safety is just violence with more paperwork. Rest in peace and Minneapolis forever. taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

74

0

8 months ago

For Alex and Renée. taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by @ryankopperud

52

3

9 months ago