Ryan Wines, from volunteer radio gig to music industry

Sound Design: SOU alum’s journey from college radio to global music agency

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Ryan Wines remembers the first time he stepped into the student-run KSOC radio station in 1999. He was a junior studying marketing and political science, and KSOC was just a year old. “It was a two-room closet, tucked out of sight in the basement of the student union,” he recalls.

Wines never would have imagined how a volunteer gig, playing hip hop and garage rock on a campus radio station, could be a catalyst for a career.

Wines in 2010 co-founded Marmoset Music – a Portland-based global music agency that provides music for brands, ads, television and film projects. What began as just an idea kicked around by two friends at a Portland coffee shop has turned into a rocketing creative industry powerhouse. Marmoset is one of the fastest-rising companies of its kind – meticulously curating rare, vintage and emerging artists, bands and record labels for music licensing opportunities, while also forging an award-winning original music studio that crafts original scores and sound design for virtually any creative need imaginable.

Marmoset, for Wines, is the culmination of his early work as a college radio DJ, a band manager and a self-described “marketing nerd.” He held down a variety of marketing and creative agency roles after graduating from SOU in 2001, steadily building his “side hustle” of working with record labels and bands such as The Dandy Warhols, Dolorean, The Dimes and indie filmmaker Margaret Brown.

Marmoset collaborates with clients ranging from filmmakers to creative execs at Apple, Wieden and Kennedy, Nike and Vice TV, helping them find that perfect song to help shape the stories they’re trying to tell. Scouring through Marmoset’s roster of rare, vintage and emerging artists can be both fulfilling and time-consuming. Its catalog holds thousands of songs – including music by The Jackson 5, Duran Duran, Shuggie Otis, Typhoon and Y La Bamba – and finding just the right song can take hours or even days. But the final result is always worth the wait, as projects have been featured in the Academy Awards, Super Bowl commercials, the Cannes Film Festival and award-winning films.

Marmoset had just four employees in 2012, and by 2014 the “Marmogang” had quickly reached 15 people. “Today, we’re a crew of more than 60 full-time family members and collaborators, many of whom make art, release records and tour with their bands,” said Wines, whose title is Fearless Leader in addition to CEO and co-founder.

The company has picked up numerous awards, including a Webby and an SXSW Interactive award, and it is regularly recognized as one of the state’s fastest growing and best places to work.

Wines is a vinyl record junkie who says his experience at SOU helped him find his true self and gave him the confidence to start his own company.

“SOU’s business program definitely planted the seeds for my entrepreneurial aspirations,” Wines said. “But it’s also where I learned to be active in my community, to stand up for what’s right and pursue things I believe in. All of that has helped shape and form the way I think about and lead my business today.”

Wines is especially thrilled about the opportunity to become a Certified B Corporation, which recognizes companies that balance both profit and purpose. B Corps consider their impact on customers, employees, communities and the environment.

“We’re super excited about the B-Corp certification,” he said. “We’ll be the first company in our industry with that honor and distinction. And it aligns so naturally with our approach to business, always working to be fully transparent, sustainable and focused on the greater good.”

The B-Corp label seems appropriate for a company that has defined its core purpose as “community.” The Marmoset website boldly declares community as its highest calling. “It’s the thing that everything we do and everything we are is informed by and filtered through … what really drives us is supporting, educating, advocating for and serving our community: the people, artists, musicians and creatives we work with on a daily basis.”

Wines is justifiably proud of what he has accomplished and the clarity of Marmoset’s values. He credits much of his vision and success to his time at KSOC radio – which closed in 2013 – and his experiences at SOU.

Shared from the Fall 2018 issue of The Raider, SOU’s alumni magazine

Cherstin Lyon, SOU Honors College director

SOU Honors College director leads the Democracy Project and more

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Cherstin Lyon is the director of Southern Oregon University’s Honors College, organizes the Democracy Project with Philosophy Department chair Prakash Chenjeri and mentors students. And she has been at SOU for just a year.

“Coming to SOU I was immediately impressed by how welcoming the campus is, and by all of the people who reached out to introduce themselves, invite me to coffee, and extend a helping hand,” Lyon said. “That made it very easy to reach out when I had questions or needed help. I’m delighted to be working at a university that works so well as a team, where there is such a strong sense of community and where students come first in everything we do.”

Lyon is new to SOU, but by no means new to academia – or to Oregon. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Oregon before earning her doctorate at the University of Arizona.

She taught history, first at Utah Valley University and then at California State University, San Bernardino, where she earned tenure. She coordinated CSUSB’s Public and Oral History program and master’s degree program in Social Science and Globalization, and co-directed the summer study abroad program in London. She also co-directed the Center for Faculty Excellence as the faculty associate for the Office of Community Engagement.

Lyon came to SOU in July 2019 as director of the Honors College, which seeks to create a community of learners prepared for a lifetime of intellectual curiosity, inquiry, scholarship, and service. Students and professors work in partnership to create a challenging and practical liberal arts education centered on critical thinking, multidisciplinary undergraduate research, inclusive diversity, civic engagement and community service. The college tackles regional issues with global implications.

“The Honors College creates a sense of community and belonging among students,” Lyon said. “The curriculum is intentionally linked to co-curricular activities and experiences that help students develop their unique talents and cultivate their leadership skills.

“There are many opportunities in the Honors College to expand learning beyond the classroom, and to create distinctive projects that will set students apart from the pack when applying for graduate school, internships or jobs.”

Lyon organizes the Honors College Democracy Project with Chenjeri, one of the original founders of the project. It typically includes an annual trip for students to hubs of democracy at home and abroad. Participants write “dispatches” about their experiences and observations during the trips, which typically include visiting community groups and representatives of various levels of local, regional, national and international governments. Their research then becomes part of an annual workshop at which students share what they’ve learned about democracy with southern Oregon high school students and other residents.

The Democracy Project was initially scheduled to explore Edinburgh, Scotland, and London during the 2020 summer break, but the trip was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Students in the program have instead focused on democracy in the Rogue Valley, with a digital symposium held for Crater High School students.

The 2021 Democracy Project will consist of a series of lectures, discussions and presentations on topics relating to democracy in America. The title for this year’s Democracy Project, “The Fragility and Strength of American Democracy,” was discussed at the opening roundtable event on Jan. 21 and at a series of events that will be open to the public via Zoom and on Jefferson Public Radio.

Future versions of the Democracy Project are expected to return to a more global perspective.

“Going back to South Africa (and) visiting Ghana would be fascinating,” Lyon said. “We also have plans to visit Sweden. I’d also like to go places that open up our understanding of democracy in the U.S., including places like American Samoa or Detroit. We are also looking into the possibility of partnering with Oregon tribes to better understand what democracy looks like from the perspective of domestic dependent nations.

“I would very much like to partner with faculty at SOU who work on community and democracy-related issues in countries around the world as a way of including more faculty in the project.”

Lyon’s favorite role as Honors College director is advising and mentoring students. One common student issue with which she has personal experience is picking a major. She studied piano performance, environmental science and policy, social control, chemistry and statistics – and was passionate about each – before narrowing her focus to history.

“I tell students all the time that choosing a major or a focused career path now does not preclude exploring other interests later,” she said. “If we are lucky, we will have decades in which to explore the things that we love. Career paths often take serendipitous turns we cannot predict, but if they remain curious and engaged, they will be prepared for a lifetime of possibilities.

“Remembering your diverse interests might inspire you to take advantage of opportunities … that might otherwise be overlooked.”

Story by Blair Selph, SOU Marketing and Communications student writer

SOU's Dustin Walcher discusses insurrection and history

Notes on a day of insurrection: SOU’s Dustin Walcher

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“Yesterday the President of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explained on the afternoon of Jan. 7, calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office for sedition either through the 25th Amendment or by way of impeachment. On Jan. 6, the president had called on his supporters to “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” and “show strength” to the Congress, which was engaged in the task of counting electoral votes. Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, declared that the president’s spurious charges of election malfeasance should be settled through “trial by combat.” An insurrection ensued. The resulting images of a mob overrunning and ransacking the United States Capitol shocked the conscience, but should not have been a surprise.

Reflecting on the attack on the Capitol, historian Jill Lepore lamented that “we are off the grid of the trajectory of American history.” We are not. In the first place, though yesterday’s assault by a mob of U.S. citizens was unique, the Capitol has been attacked a number of times before. Most notably, in 1814 a British army occupied and then set the building on fire. In 1950, four Puerto Rican nationalists fired on the House Chamber from the visitors’ gallery, wounding five members of Congress.

More to the point, we have seen the tactics employed by Trump’s mob throughout our history. In an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election, the insurrectionists constructed a noose, raised a cross, marched with the battle flag of the Confederacy, destroyed property, terrorized bystanders and assaulted those who stood in their way, all while calling themselves “patriots.” These are the same tactics that were used in the massive resistance to civil rights launched by white nationalists of an earlier generation, and by all incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan. Such behavior, and the ideas that motivate it, are part of the fabric of the country. This is, at least in part, who we are.

As we move beyond the era of the Trump presidency, it is up to us to reckon collectively with the unsavory elements of our history. Historian Douglas Adair explained that “History is a conversation in the present with the past, about the future.” What happened yesterday was stoked by President Trump, but was so very much bigger than President Trump. To understand the mob’s rage requires coming to terms with the reality that the same country that produced John Lewis also produced Joe McCarthy and George Wallace. Although the events of Jan. 6 represent a significant part of who we are, they do not come close to comprising the entirety of who we are. But before we can defeat our national demons, we must first name them, face them and confront them head-on. That is the challenge of history, and that is the challenge of our time.