Meet Ruddy Harootian | Experience Leader & Culture Carrier

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ruddy Harootian and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruddy, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
The most important lesson I’m learning is consistency and to always be able to provide what I have to offer. It’s a hard lesson and I don’t think I’m all the way there yet. I’ve come to see that the more people feel that they know what to expect from your brand the easier it is for them to fall into it and support it. As an artistic person I’m always wanting to change and tweak and reflect my current inspirations onto my company, but on a business level that is usually a bad idea. It confuses people and being self indulgent that way can come across to a consumer that there’s an “all over the place” feeling. You have to be strategic and consistent.

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Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
After crafting art tours and getting people to see how I view NYC I started to want to take it further and incorporate my video/tv background into my company. It has all evolved into a video series where I show off art in various New York City subway stations. I am so proud of it! It takes a lot to produce, host, research, and bring it all together. I don’t think many people see it as a talent because the first thing they ask is “oh, so you do street art?” and it’s like, no. My artistry comes in the storytelling. Packaging all of what the city has to offer via my lens and sharing it with the world. It’s part concierge, part tour guide, part cool hunter. I like to see myself as the Dominican Anthony Bourdain!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The first thing I would point out is how much art you can find in the different train stations of NYC. Some of my favorites include the following:

Memories of 23rd street by Keith Goddard
Life Underground by Tom Otterness
Masstransiscope by Bill Brand

Another great thing is to explore neighborhoods that are not the normal tourist haunts. Chinatown has so much to offer! The dim sum scene is some of the best in the world. Golden Unicorn and Nom Wah are some of my personal favorite places to eat on the weekends.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My cousin Diana Casthart has a lot to do with the beginning stages of Ruddy Was Here. She had taken a trip to Argentina and fell in love with the street art in Buenos Aires. I decided to take a trip as well and she was very adamant that I take her recommendations, specifically a street art tour with a company called Graffitimundo. I was fascinated! A short time after that I moved back to NYC and really saw the city through fresh eyes. I saw street art everywhere. I started a photo project which then became my first ever art crawl.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruddy_was_here/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruddy-harootian-7259781b9/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8eBUfG_ExzDoAsZxmhgsg