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Meet Ryan Propoggio (GIO) of Gio SHOP, GIO Cymbals, Gio DRUMSTICKS in Pasadena

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Propoggio (GIO).

Ryan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My story starts like a lot of musicians who move to Los Angeles to find work and who want to meet other like-minded musicians. I moved to L.A. in 2009 after graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in Business Marketing. I moved here to pursue my drumming career full time. It was something I always wanted to do and I had been drumming my entire life at that point. Once I moved from AZ to CA, I started getting hired for session work and gaining endorsements with companies in the music industry. After several years, I had quite a few companies I was working with. In 2017, I got my Seller’s Permit with the state of California, so I could actually sell some of the products I was endorsing. That’s when I opened my retail website GioShopROCKS.com and could have sales accountability for all the promoting I was already doing for my endorsements. Earlier this year, I started producing my own cymbals and drumsticks and formed GIO Cymbals and Gio DRUMSTICKS. That’s where we are today, continuing to grow as I still do “hired gun” drumming work.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Los Angeles is one heck of a crazy place to live and work! There have been many challenges along the way and I’ve done my best to navigate through them. Dealing with the egos and personality types in the music industry is always interesting. Even challenges with landlords and roommates in L.A. can be rough at times. Staying positive is the way to go. Getting involved in so many different things at once requires a lot of time management and organization skills or you’ll feel overwhelmed. Feeling overwhelmed at times is a struggle many entrepreneurs including myself can experience so having a great attitude helps with that as well. You must love the work you do or you’ll burn out! Working with business partners in Istanbul, Turkey has been difficult at times because of the language barrier and time difference. Integrating all the technical aspects of website design, transaction processing, etc.. is very time consuming but required. Luckily, the Internet is a great resource to learn anything and has been very helpful along the way.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Gio SHOP, GIO Cymbals, Gio DRUMSTICKS – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I started out in L.A. strictly as a professional drummer for hire. I specialize in Rock and Metal drumming but can do any genre very well. My slogan is “Definitive Drumming Authority” and I’m known for being an extremely hard hitting professional drummer. After several years of successfully session drumming, I realized that the cost of living in Los Angeles took most of my earnings and I was never really going to get ahead, trading my time and services for money. This is partly why I started Gio SHOP, to own a business that could potentially provide well for my family and also give back to the music community that’s so important to me. Gio SHOP is all about helping musicians get the best stuff for the best price! What sets us apart is that we don’t sell EVERYTHING possible on our website because it’s confusing for customers to have to decide between so many different products and which one to get. We sell “the best stuff for the best price” plain and simple without huge product descriptions or forced customer account creations.

What I’m most proud of is our pledge to give back. If you visit GioShopROCKS.com/about you will see our plan to help our world. We look forward to donating large portions of our future profits to help benefit everyone. Our sustainable model for this still allows us to grow while helping too. GIO Cymbals and Gio DRUMSTICKS are known for their excellent sound and extra strength. This is what sets these apart from other brands. Our cymbals and sticks will last much longer than what was previously available in the marketplace and I’m very proud to bring them to my fellow drummers out there. We will also follow the same model for giving back with GIO Cymbals and Gio DRUMSTICKS as we do with Gio SHOP.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I have so many gigantic plans for the future it’s kind of funny. I dream REALLY big and work hard towards these goals. Some of these future plans I cannot talk about but I will share some of them with you. As the GIO brand grows we plan to have a lot of community involvement. We will be setting up a yearly music festival and have a yearly “drum-off” type drumming contest that will help unknown drummers get more exposure. Eventually, we would like to open more retail stores to serve the other major music cities worldwide too. We have several new series of cymbals coming out in the next few years with some very special cymbal models being released that no one has ever made before. We’ll also be coming out with some other really cool new products for the drumming and music community in the next coming years. I’m really excited about these new products currently in development and hope to get them out as soon as possible. We plan to hire and employ more people as we grow as well. I want to thank VoyageLA and the readers for all your support and interest, ROCK ON!

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Image Credit:
Jake Hagopian, Jimmy Alioto

Getting in touch: VoyageLA 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.

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