RAAD GHANTOUS EARNS 2026 INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR NOMINATION FOR BUILDING A NEW MODEL THAT CONNECTS MEDIA, HOSPITALITY AND EXPERIENCE
Orange County Business Journal nominee is expanding The Raad Life as a connective platform bringing together sports, media, hospitality and live experiences.
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA | September 2026 — For more than two decades, Raad Ghantous has designed hospitality environments. Today, he is applying the same thinking about people, connection and experience to a much larger canvas.
Ghantous has been named a nominee for the Orange County Business Journal’s 2026 Innovator of the Year Awards as he expands The Raad Life into a connective platform linking media, hospitality, sports, business and live experiences.
The innovation isn’t any one venture. It is the model connecting them.
The Raad Life has been named the Official Lifestyle Partner of Orange County Soccer Club, creating opportunities for lifestyle programming, storytelling and experiences around professional sports. Sip N’ Dink brought wine, pickleball and hospitality together in a live social experience, while Golden Seal Productions is expanding original programming and developing Second Canvas, a podcast focused on entrepreneurs and creative professionals building what comes next.
Each reaches a different audience. The Raad Life is the platform designed to connect them.
“What excites me isn’t simply having different businesses or partnerships,” says Ghantous. “It is what becomes possible when they begin working together. Media can introduce an experience. An experience can create a relationship. A relationship can lead to an entirely new partnership or audience.”
Ghantous founded Raad Ghantous & Associates in 2004, building a career designing hotels, restaurants, spas, residences and hospitality environments. More than a decade of work in media followed, eventually developing into The Raad Life, its magazine, podcasts, events and partnerships.
Rather than leaving those businesses in separate lanes, Ghantous is increasingly using The Raad Life to connect them.
That approach takes a traditional lifestyle media model beyond simply reporting on interesting people, places and experiences. The Raad Life can participate in creating the experience, connect brands and audiences, produce the content around it and extend those relationships through its media channels.
“Innovation doesn’t always mean inventing something from nothing,” Ghantous says. “Sometimes it is recognizing connections that already exist and creating a better way for them to work together.”
The Orange County Business Journal’s 12th annual Innovator of the Year Awards recognize Orange County innovators across industries. The 2026 program will culminate on October 7 at the Irvine Marriott, where this year’s honorees will be announced.
Ghantous plans to continue expanding The Raad Life and Golden Seal Productions through additional partnerships, original programming and live experiences throughout Southern California and beyond.
ABOUT RAAD GHANTOUS
Raad Ghantous is an Orange County hospitality designer, entrepreneur and media host. He founded Raad Ghantous & Associates in 2004 and is the creator of The Raad Life and Golden Seal Productions. His work spans hospitality design, media, publishing, original programming, live experiences and strategic partnerships.
