Academy senior Ryan Antenucci started his first business in third grade, and his entrepreneurial drive has never stopped. In this interview, Ryan reflects on his madcap admissions journey, and how he’s learned to spend that time at the Academy exploring his varying interests “A little bit at a time, all the time.” 

Tell me a little bit about your journey to the Academy? 

My journey to the Academy was mostly doing what I liked and chasing my interests. I have always had a huge variety of interests that have taken me in many different directions but the two that have consistently stayed with me throughout my life have been starting businesses and creating. 

When I was really little, (and even now) I was always picking up little parts off the street that I would try to put together and make something out of. From there, I started making things out of whatever I could get my  hands on: my parent’s old electronics, random pieces of metal and wood, and even hotel stir sticks. I took  apart everything I could find to figure out how it worked (only once did I actually put it back together) and then would use the pieces to make something new. 

This kicked off my first business in third grade where I turned mechanical pencils into eraser shooters and sold them to my friends. That quickly got shut down by the teachers, so I then moved on to my next business of selling soap to the teachers. Then I went into collecting feathers and decided to sell those in 5th grade for some reason, which worked out surprisingly well. Then in middle school, I started foraging for wild mushrooms and grew the business all the way through high school. By this point I had gotten a lot better at building things and when I saw the Academy championed hacking, entrepreneurship, and making, I knew it was the perfect fit. 

What piece of advice have you implemented in your day-to-day life? 

A little bit at a time, all the time. This piece of advice is from my freshman-year self and it has really helped me tackle all of my varying interests. If I find a topic or practice that I am interested in,  whether it's surfing or designing in VR, rather than devoting all my time to that one thing, I chase all of my interests simultaneously by always trying to get a little bit better at each one every day. It is a slower process to master a subject, but it allows me to learn multiple things simultaneously without blocking me off from any new interests.

Do you have a role model? Why do you look up to them? 

I look up to successful people who have been successful by following themselves, and not others. Right now, we are in an environment where there are a few high-profile examples of such people who lead some of the most innovative companies. However, the one that really resonates the most with me is my dad.  

Describe one thing most people don’t know about you? 

I found out about the Academy a day before the application was due (something I didn’t mention in my interview). I originally intended to apply solely to business programs when I applied to college, but then someone forwarded me the link to the Academy website. I couldn’t really believe how perfect it sounded for me. I realized the application was due at midnight the next day, so I skipped school, made a video and photographed all of my random projects that I had built over the years for my portfolio. I barely finished before midnight.

I was both shocked and so excited to find out I got an interview, and I think it actually may have been a blessing in disguise. With my cramped deadline, I only had the time to be as honest as I could and show the things I had genuinely done over the years, rather than cater to what I thought they might have been looking for.

Looking back, I can’t believe how lucky I was to have found out about the Academy when I did because I could not imagine myself anywhere else.  

What’s one thing your parents taught you that you’d like to share?

Say “I’m in.” Instead of looking for reasons to say no, say yes and make it work. It has opened me up to so many experiences and opportunities that I would have never thought I’d be doing. Killer advice. 

What is the biggest risk you have taken and was the result what you wished for? 

Honestly, joining the Academy. I was nervous it was going to be solely a design school and that I would have regretted not going to school for business, but I could not have been more wrong. I was hoping when I joined that my mindset would grow and that is exactly what happened. The lessons I have taken away would have been very difficult to encounter elsewhere and I couldn’t be happier that I took that risk.  

What would you say is your defining achievement thus far? 

Being able to stay interested in so many things and get others excited about them. 

What advice would you give to freshmen? 

I joined the Academy knowing how to make a PowerPoint and use Google Drive and that was pretty  much it in terms of my computer skills. Everyone around me was showing me how they used Illustrator to do this and built this in Fusion and I couldn’t do any of that, and it freaked me out. However, when it got to our first physical assignment, I knew how to use every tool in the shop and was helping my classmates with their projects for the first time instead of them helping me with mine. That was when I realized how useful of an environment I was in. My advice would be to understand your strengths and don’t get wrapped up in what you can’t do but instead focus on learning as much of what you don’t know from those around you.  

How have you evolved over the past four years? 

I was much more cynical overall, and it closed me off to a lot of areas that I am now really interested in. Now I feel like I can gain something from most experiences, and that makes me even more excited to say “I’m in” more often. 

What goals do you have post-graduation? 

Post-graduation I want to travel somewhere really cool. After that, I am hoping to work in design  or on a startup and then go to business school.  

Disruptive Innovation with Steve Barth. I have never been in a class where I’ve had more epiphanies and  learned lifelong lessons from just listening to someone speak. 

What is your favorite hidden gem of LA? 

If you had to get a tattoo what would you get and why? 

Well when I was in middle school, I wanted a tattoo of a ruler on my index finger so that I could  measure stuff but then that dream was shattered when someone told me the dimensions would be  wrong when my finger grew. So maybe that? Or maybe just the words “look around” on my  hand.

Iovine and Young Academy senior recounts his entrepreneurial journey and his relentless drive to learn new things.

Senior Spotlight: Ryan Antenucci

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