Ron Dawson

Ron is the lead content strategist and founder of Blade Ronner Media, a brand and content marketing agency that services the media and tech industries. He combines an eclectic mix of skills from over 25 years of branding, marketing, business development, finance, and media production experience. As a recognized speaker, podcaster, and industry blogger, he has particular expertise in marketing to and understanding the visual arts and high tech industries. Whether your audience is comprised of filmmakers & photographers, or designers & developers, Ron helps his clients create connections that matter, which produce campaigns that drive results.

Ron has spoken at numerous international conventions in the video and photography industries on topics such as filmmaking, branding, marketing, and being a creative. He’s also taught on these topics at universities, high schools, and as a guest on various podcasts. He usually opens with an obscure movie history joke you’d only get if you’re a Gen Xer or older.

As a film geek and podcaster, he currently hosts “Crossing the 180” on the “Art of the Frame” podcast network. It’s an in-depth interview show of filmmaking creatives in the style of “Fresh Air” (which sorta makes him the black, and male, “Terry Gross”). Ron was also creator and host of “Radio Film School” (think This American Life, but for filmmakers, which also makes him the black “Ira Glass.”) For a shining moment it was the #1 visual arts podcast on iTunes. 

As a prolific writer on Medium, he’s had dozens of articles curated on the platform to topics like Marketing, Design, Race, Equality, Satire, Spirituality, Family, and Parenting. He’s a published writer in some of Medium’s largest and most read publications, including Better Marketing, The Startup, P.S. I Love You, An Injustice!, Equality Includes You, Illumination, and The Writing Cooperative. He serves as the managing editor for the popular DIY filmmaking YouTube channel “Film Riot” by Ryan Connolly (with over 1.6 million subscribers).

His satirical memoir “Dungeons ‘n’ Durags: One Black Nerd’s Epic Quest of Self-Discovery, Racial Identity, and Crisis of Faith in Trump’s America,” is due out next spring in major bookstores everywhere. (His previous book, “ReFocus: Cutting Edge Strategies to Evolve Your Video Business,” was a popular business book in the video industry, but not nearly as funny or important.)

He was once a semi-professional Lindy Hopper during the swing dance resurgence of the late 90s where his signature move was leap-frogging over his partner’s shoulders and landing in the splits. (Despite doing that move dozens of times, he was still able to bear a son).

His favorite Spotify playlist is an eclectic mix of songs that includes Barry Manilow’s “I Can’t Smile Without You,” Neil Diamond’s “Song Song Blue,” Blue Suede’s “Hooked on a Feeling”, Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Tupac’s “Only God Can Judge Me,” and many more songs that in no other universe belong on the same f-ing playlist. (That right there probably tells you all you need to know.)

His pronouns are he/him/his (but he’ll also answer to “Hey, you!”)