Build Together
I look forward to the opportunity to listen, learn, and build something better for EP together.
About Ruarri
Ruarri was born in Wilmington Delaware in 1982 to Mary and Jerry Miller. He’s the oldest of four children. His mom worked as a pattern maker in the fashion industry who transitioned to carpentry and spent many years building for Habitat for Humanity. His father Jerry started his career as a car salesman at a Honda dealership. He remained in the automotive industry for the duration of his career and just recently retired.
In 2010, Ruarri married Ashley Lakin at Zion National Park in Utah. They moved to Providence that same summer so Ashley could complete her physician training at the Brown Family Medicine Residency. In 2013, Ruarri graduated from The Northeastern University MBA program with an emphasis in corporate finance.
In 2015, Ruarri’s growing family moved from Providence to Riverside. That same year The Apiary fully transitioned from talking about change to being the change in communities. Ruarri had spent nearly two years working alone honing his skills and gaining experience as a carpenter, like his mother had. By 2016, as a result of the work completed by The Apiary, Ruarri had saved enough money to make his first true community investment. He purchased 332 Bullocks Pt. Ave in Riverside; a blighted mixed-use building in Riverside Square. In 2018, Ruarri opened Proud Mary’s Donuts to continue community revitalization efforts in Riverside. The donut shop would eventually become Union Burrito. In 2020, Ruarri purchased another long derelict building in Riverside Square, locally known as “The Buckett’s Building”. Previously condemned by the city, today the building houses seven apartments and three businesses. There is also the expansion of Union Burrito to look forward to this summer.
Ruarri attended Catholic schools through his high school years. In 2005, he graduated from The George Washington University in Washington, DC with a degree in political science. After college Ruarri moved to Philadelphia and worked in the family automotive business where he learned many of the business fundamentals from his father that he still applies to this day.
Shortly after graduation, Ruarri founded The Apiary; a general contracting company and practitioner of Incremental Development strategies. The Apiary started with ambitions to revitalize historic Main St. in Woonsocket. Unfortunately, market obstacles and the sheer size of the project proved to be insurmountable. However, that setback taught Ruarri invaluable lessons about the challenges obstructing the revitalization of bereft communities. Ruarri pivoted from spending his time creating financial models to swinging a hammer 8 hours a day.
Ruarri and Ashley live in Riverside’s Narragansett Terrace neighborhood with their three boys: Thaddeus, August and Eamonn, aged 9, 6 and 4. The older boys attend Waddington Elementary and Eamonn will be a Tiny Townie come the fall. Ashley (Dr. Lakin) is looking forward to the opening of her family medicine practice, Flora Family Health, on Bullocks Pt. Ave late this summer.