While a Laguna student, Ryan Emmons ‘08 was a Future Business Leaders of America club president. As president, he combined his passion for business and his commitment to community service to create Santa Barbaraopoly, a game with the same format as Monopoly, but with Santa Barbara businesses in place of the traditional properties. Proceeds from sales of the games went to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Today, Ryan is the Founder and President of Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water.
An entrepreneur at heart, Emmons began to express interest in the business industry in sixth grade when he invested in the stock market.
Around the same time Emmons began attending the University of Southern California, his parents invested in a well in Hawaii.
As a freshman at USC, Emmons began to brainstorm ideas for launching a premium sustainable bottled water company. With the help of fellow freshman and USC football player Matthew Meyer, the two set out to design and launch Waiakea.
Eager to turn his dream into a reality, Emmons decided to apply early to the Lloyd Greif Entrepreneur Program.
“After a year of my own feasibility and analysis, I realized I was ready to get into the program. I wrote one of my most sincere letters ever to the Deans of the Business School and the Lloyd Greif Center pleading for early acceptance. It worked!”
Following his admission, Emmons drew from the classes as sources of inspiration in building his business.
For the next three years, CEO Emmons and COO Meyer collaborated to develop the “most eco-friendly and ethically conscious premium bottled water” in the hopes of “chang[ing] the entire bottled water, and food and beverage industry for the better.”

After a year of my own feasibility and analysis, I realized I was ready to get into the program. I wrote one of my most sincere letters ever to the Deans of the Business School and the Lloyd Greif Center pleading for early acceptance. It worked!

In addition, the two aim to stimulate the economy in Hawaii, draw “attention to the world’s water crisis,” and establish a “live healthy, live sustainably, and live ethically model . . . that has already begun to develop a fiercely loyal following because of what it represents.” The company boasts a donation of “650 liters of clean water to those in need through PumpAid.org.”
“It was a lot of work, but at the end of the day my entrepreneur classes . . . prepared me and helped me to develop and design a truly unique, scalable, and market-proven product, and one I myself truly believed could make a difference.”