Ryan Trahan (born October 7, 1998) is an American YouTuber, vlogger, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his "penny series", which he has done several times since 2017. Trahan owns multiple businesses, including Neptune Bottle, clothing line Howdy Howdy, and candy company Joyride.
Trahan married YouTuber Haley Pham in 2020.[P 2] He is currently residing in Austin, Texas.
YouTube career
Trahan started his YouTube channel on January 21, 2012. Originally producing content on running, Trahan now creates eclectic content, ranging from Tesla races to outdoor camping.[4][5]
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.[6]
Penny challenges
Originally inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk,[7] Trahan started a month-long series, dubbed the "Penny Challenge", in June 2022. The premise of the challenge was, starting in California with a single penny, to travel to MrBeast in North Carolina and deliver the original penny, using only funds derived from said penny. Trahan originally set a target to fundraise $100,000 for the nonprofit Feeding America, which he was able to fulfill, raising $1.38 million by the end of the month.[8]
Trahan financed the challenge through completing online surveys, mowing lawns, dog walking and selling items such as soft drinks, bottled water, and golf balls, among other methods.[9] To help garner funds for Feeding America, Trahan created incentives for donations, in particular "THE GREAT RESET", where a $50,000 donation to the fundraiser would reset his earned funds to a penny.[10] In addition to this, for $100,000 donations (of which he received three), Trahan had donator-chosen designs tattooed on himself.[11] The series was largely sponsored by PayPal Honey.[12]
Premiering on July 1, 2023, the Penny Challenge returned with a new route from Paris to New York City. The challenge retained its original rules, aiming to raise $250,000 for the nonprofit organization Water.org.[13][14] With the support of the public, Trahan raised over $400,000 for Water.org.[15]
Business career
Trahan started a water bottle brand in 2016 with his friend Caden Wiese, named Neptune Bottle. Trahan eventually left Texas A&M University after the National Collegiate Athletic Association ruled him ineligible due to using his YouTube channel to share running videos while advertising his company as a student athlete.[16][17][a] Although Trahan sought a waiver with the association allowing him to continue running his business while remaining an athlete,[19] he dropped out of university to continue working on the business[20][21] and his YouTube channel.[22] According to Trahan, in the first year of its existence, Neptune Bottle had earned over $50,000 in revenue.[23] In 2023, he started a clothing line, Howdy Howdy.[P 3]
Joyride Sweets
In 2024, Trahan announced that he joined a candy company, named Joyride Sweets, and became co-owner[24] and CCO. Along with owner Tyler Merrick, Trahan aims for the creation of non-GMO, vegan, and low-carbohydrate products, the candy sold out at Target the day it released.[25]
