Kopperud & Co.

Speaking & Events

I’ve been speaking in front of people since I was 19, first through poetry and music, later through marketing and hemp advocacy. I speak about the work I’ve actually done and the things I’m still trying to understand.

Ryan Kopperud on stage with a microphone

Topics I speak on

  1. What Poetry Taught Me About Brand Strategy

    At a poetry slam you have a few minutes to make a stranger care. Years on stage shaped how I write, lead teams, and help companies explain what they do.

  2. Finding a Position a Startup Can Own

    How to define your category, explain your difference, and get specific when you cannot outspend everyone else.

  3. Leading Creative Marketing Teams

    Hiring, giving direction, and making space for good work, drawing on years leading teams through growth and ownership changes.

  4. Hemp & THC Beverages: What Happens Next

    What building a THC beverage brand has taught me about the market, the policy choices ahead, and the businesses and people affected by them.

Notable appearances

Dec 2025

Press Conference with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar

I spoke about federal hemp policy at Wild State Cider in Duluth alongside U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. See the coverage.

At the podiumDuluth — Dec 2025
“What’s at stake here is not just one business. Not just one taproom. It’s manufacturers, distributors, retailers, farmers, labs — the entire system behind these hemp products people already trust.”
— Ryan Kopperud, at a Duluth press conference with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Dec 2024

Ongoing