John Paul Ray is a 25-year-old native of St. Louis, Missouri. He was born in Elmhurst, Illinois in May 1995 and moved with his family a year later to Chesterfield, Missouri where he grew up. He attended Ascension Catholic School, Rockwood Valley Middle School, and Lafayette High School before graduating from the University of Missouri in 2018 with a Bachelors degree in International Studies - European Studies.

John enjoys international travel and has had the privilege of visiting countries like Mexico, Belize, the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, and South Korea. He's also lived and worked in China (teaching English) and the United Arab Emirates, and he enjoys studying Russian, Mandarin-Chinese, Arabic, and French daily.