Meet Travis Ragsdale of Dyad Ventures in Deep Ellum

Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Ragsdale.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Travis. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My career started early on in my life when I was only 12 years old. I had started creating videos and 3D animations in my free time and trying to educate myself on the vast amount of knowledge available online. I had created a few simple animations and began posting them online. I was contacted by Collin Brooks, the Director of the Animation Department at Fellowship in Grapevine and he asked me if I would be interested in an internship in their department. Being only 14 years old, and very eager to learn, I accepted. I began going there for 4-5 hours every day after school. Collin was a teacher and a mentor during my time there. He began by telling me to turn my computer off and take pencil to paper and start drawing a flip-book animation of a ball bouncing up and down. He did this to teach me about the principles of animation and instill a thorough understanding of the reason i would be creating something, not just the method. I spent the next 4 months working there developing animated curriculum for their animation department, and in doing so, I expanded my knowledge of the trade in so many ways. When my internship was complete, I was hungry to continue learning and I would spend all of my free time trying to learn more and more.

At the time, I was attending a STEM academy in Lewisville, TX and I was approached by the principle. She told me that they had another academy opening up at the end of the semester which focused on animation, design, cinematography and photography. I was ecstatic and joined immediately. At the Media Arts Academy, we would work half of the day on core classes, and the other half of the day, we would study media arts. The Media teacher, Zach Worley, became a close mentor of mine and i ended up spending most of my days in the media room, working on projects. I was lucky to have the freedom to expand my knowledge in the areas of work that interested me the most. During my time there, i met my current business partners, Sam McVeigh, JD Waldron, and Cody Ballert. We worked together then and we all had different complimentary skillsets. Sam and I started a clothing company, Federal Clothing Co. in high school, while also working part-time at a print shop and going to school. About halfway through our Junior year, Sam, Cody and I were offered an internship in the marketing department at the corporate HQ for the school. We worked there and for about a year and a half doing all of the design, video and animation work for their 70+ schools.

Before I graduated, I ended up substituting and teaching a couple of the media classes for Adobe After Effects on my peers. After Sam and I graduated, we had the opportunity to become full-time employees in the marketing department, and we decided to turn it down to start our own company, which at the time was called Dyad Design House. We were a graphic design, video, and photo company along with Cody and JD. We began working with a number of clients around DFW and after about a year we moved to a small studio in Deep Ellum. We started working with larger clients and taking on more advanced projects, and everything grew from there. We changed our name to Dyad Ventures and began offering strategy and digital marketing. Now, we’ve been in business as Dyad Ventures for 4 years, and we’ve expanded our team to over 12 people in-house, and we’ve moved to a larger office at the end of Deep Ellum and Fair Park. Today, I work as VP and head of production at Dyad, as well as working on my own portfolio in the world of Animation. I use my Instagram as my digital online portfolio for my passion projects.

Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, we’ve definitely had to put our heads down and work hard to get to where we are today. Like I mentioned, in high school Sam and I worked 2 jobs, went to school, and worked as interns at the marketing department at Responsive Education. But we’ve always been serial entrepreneurs and been addicted to our work so it came naturally to put up with this type of 24/7 lifestyle.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Dyad Ventures – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Dyad Ventures is a Branding Strategy, Marketing, and Production company based in Deep Ellum. Before we begin working with a client, we always get to know them through a discovery phase where we determine if we are the right fit for them. We want clients that are willing to follow us down a pathway of customizing their own standard, instead of following the rules. We are not afraid to stand out and we want our clients to feel the same. Learn more at www.dyad.ventures

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Dallas is one of the greatest cities, and I am so lucky to have been born and raised here. Being a little, big city, there is so much opportunity for someone to create their own future and their own career. I love being a part of Dallas. There is so much development happening in this city and the creative culture is booming. There is still much work to be done, but I want to be a part of shaping the culture for the future of this city, and that’s really exciting.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3800 main st
  Suite C
• Website: www.dyad.ventures
• Phone: 817-371-5091
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @travisragsdale
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DyadVentures/
• Other: https://www.behance.net/travisragsdale

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.