Meet Johnny La | Actor & Creator Johnny La is the Founder of Ryxa

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

Hi Johnny, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I remember the first time someone paid me directly for something I made. It wasn’t a brand deal or an ad revenue check, it was a stranger sending me $100 for a digital product I’d put online. The funny part was, the platform I used to build that product on cost me over $2,000 a year. I remember sitting there doing the math, realizing I’d need to sell nineteen more before I even broke even.

That moment changed how I thought about my work. The hundred dollars was small, but the feeling was huge. It wasn’t an algorithm rewarding me, it was a person. Most creators never get to that moment because the path to monetizing your own audience is intentionally expensive and confusing. Platforms take massive cuts. Tools that should be free cost monthly subscriptions. The math punishes you for trying.

I built Ryxa because I wanted more creators to feel what I felt the day that hundred dollars hit my account, and I wanted them to keep more of it. Ryxa takes 0% transaction fees on what creators earn, bundles the tools they need into one free starting point, and gets out of the way. The creator community has given me twenty years of meaning. Ryxa is how I’m trying to make sure that’s possible for the next generation too.

What should our readers know about your business?
What sets us apart isn’t really a feature. It’s that I built this as a creator, for creators, after twenty years on the other side of these platforms. I know exactly how it feels to look at a $2,000+ annual platform fee and wonder if you can keep going. Every decision in Ryxa traces back to that feeling.

It wasn’t easy. I’m a solo developer building a SaaS company while also still running my creative career, my digital marketing agency, and a content presence with hundreds of thousands of followers. There were weeks where I’d work twelve hours on Ryxa, film content at night, and answer client emails in between. The hardest part wasn’t the technical work, it was learning to be patient with myself. Building something good takes longer than you think it will, and the temptation to ship it half-finished just to feel done is constant.

The lesson I keep coming back to is that you can’t shortcut the foundation. I’ve watched a lot of creator platforms launch loud and disappear quiet because they prioritized growth over substance. I’d rather build something that genuinely works for the creators who use it, even if that means launching smaller and growing slower.

What I want the world to know is that Ryxa isn’t trying to be another platform that takes a percentage of your dreams. It’s a tool built by someone who actually wants you to succeed.

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?
Funny enough, I can answer this from real experience. Last year, five of my friends from across the country flew into Los Angeles just to meet up in person. Most of us had only ever hung out through gaming and group chats, so this was the first time we’d ever been in the same room. Here’s how we spent the weekend:

We started with the beach in Santa Monica. The ocean is non-negotiable when you have out-of-towners, especially ones from landlocked states. From there we drove to Beverly Hills. Even if no one’s actually buying anything, walking Rodeo Drive is part of the LA experience. The architecture, the people-watching, the absurd cars parked in front of the absurd stores. It’s a vibe.

Then we played pickleball. It’s the great equalizer for a mixed-skill group, and it gets people laughing within five minutes of picking up a paddle. None of us were good. It didn’t matter.

Dinner that night was Park’s BBQ in Koreatown. If you ask any LA local what the best Korean BBQ in the city is, this is on the shortlist. The galbi is the best I’ve had anywhere. The table-grill format means you’re sitting together for two hours, eating slowly, talking, and that’s what made it the centerpiece of the whole weekend.

The rest of the trip was the kind of stuff you can’t really put in an itinerary. Late-night convenience store runs. Hours of conversation that wouldn’t have happened in a group chat. A lot of “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this in person.”
What made the weekend work wasn’t any specific location. It was that none of us had ever been in the same room before. The places were the backdrop. The people were the point.

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?
I’d give my shoutout to the film Better Luck Tomorrow, directed by Justin Lin in 2002. I watched it when I was young, and it was the first time I’d seen Asian American characters who weren’t sidekicks, stereotypes, or background. They were leads. They were complicated. They were the whole story. Up until that point, I think I’d quietly assumed Hollywood wasn’t a place that had room for someone who looked like me.

That film made me realize the door wasn’t closed, it just hadn’t been opened by enough people yet. It’s a big part of why I pursued acting. Justin Lin and that entire cast probably have no idea how much that movie meant to a kid watching it for the first time, but it’s the reason I started chasing this career in the first place. Shoutout to them, and to every Asian American filmmaker and actor who kept the door open after that.

Website: https://www.ryxa.io

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