Beyond product development, Richelle and Jodie are prolific educators and advocates. They co‑teach the “Design for Regeneration” course at the University of California, Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and host a quarterly podcast, where they interview innovators ranging from Indigenous artisans to biotech entrepreneurs.
Years turned like pages. Richelle’s notebook filled and bent at the spine; Jodie’s photographs filled albums with light. They grew older in the ordinary way: slower hands, a few more hesitations, more reasons to cherish the quiet. On some afternoons they still sat under the plane tree and watched the river—its surface not always calm, its current not always kind—and they would smile because they had learned how to ferry what mattered across. richelle ryan and jodie johnson
Their friendship was not a single bright flare but the slow building of a lighthouse. They shared small conspiracies: Richelle taught Jodie the satisfaction of a list—how crossing a line could feel like a small, private victory. Jodie taught Richelle to let the light in without counting it first—how seeing a thing could sometimes be enough. They began to meet on the bench under the plane tree by the market, trading finds like children trade marbles. Richelle would hand over a precisely folded grocery receipt she’d discovered slipped under a park bench, and Jodie would give her a developed photograph with a word scratched on its back: “Brave.” Beyond product development, Richelle and Jodie are prolific