We were lucky to catch up with Dria Baum recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
The House of A.C.E.S. came from a few different areas of my life that I wanted my business to stand on. Even though we are a bi-coastal creative production agency/hospitality group, we were founded in Las Vegas which is not only an entertainment and gambling capitol, but home to new professional sports teams including the Las Vegas ACES. I wanted to pay homage to the city that initially launched my career, and we also took a play on pocket Aces in poker, one of the most powerful hands you can have…meaning you should always bet on them and us for your business.
Once I had that initial meaning of the business name, I wanted it to dig deeper based on the clients and campaigns we were working on. That’s what led me to the A.C.E.S. acronym which stands for Artistry (our music vertical), Cultura (our hospitality/community vertical), Entertainment (our creative content vertical) and Sports (with an emphasis on female athletes). Whether it’s through the lens of our content series, events, brand campaigns, talent branding and beyond, we have a passion for bringing our community’s stories to life one hand at a time.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
With a unique flare for bringing stories to life and naturally a social butterfly, I began my career as PR veteran notably working across entertainment, hospitality and sports. Through my tenure I oversaw campaigns for MTV, Cirque du Soleil, NBA, BBC, iHeart Radio, Tao Group, SLS, Mayweather Promotions, Stan Lee/POW! Entertainment, Bravo TV and Color for Change. After making a stamp in the entertainment and music space, I honed in on my passion for bringing my community together by creating meaningful content and experiences that highlight Black/Brown stories. With that, The House of A.C.E.S. [HOA] was created, a creative production house and hospitality group specializing in artistry, cultura, entertainment and sports. Since opening HOA, I’ve taken on the role as executive producer/co-creator of The Debut Live, a live show series highlighting top music artists and their debut albums which has featured the likes of Offset, DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Ashanti, Ari Lennox, The Game and Jeezy to name a few. I’ve also co-created a sports show called BALLTLKS which launched at the end of 2023, with the pilot episode featuring WNBA Champions Syd Colson and Theresa Plaisance. With a slate and client roster continuing to grow, I’m also focused on my travel/leisure platform called 2 A City Near You where my team and I highlight cities around the world from an entrepreneur’s perspective. As I continue to create with my amazing team across all industries, my hustle shows no plans of slowing down any time soon.
For more information and latest news visit www.thehouseofaces.com and follow her at www.instagram.com/
Have you ever had to pivot?
As a full-time entrepreneur, it is almost a daily occurrence that we pivot based off trends, clients needs/goals and to stay relevant within the market. I started my career as a public relations professional, but due to the booming social media/digital wave, and now AI, it’s created a scarcity mindset within this field. I also lost my passion behind it due to numerous professionals in the space focusing on their personal agendas instead of what they were hired to do, which diluted the integrity of PR overall.
I still had a major passion for telling not only my story, but the stories of my community. As a bi-racial Latina, I felt there was still a void in mainstream entertainment, brand campaigns and events to bring meaningful Black/Brown stories to the forefront. We are so consumed with gossip media, cancel culture and negativity that I wanted to help change that narrative through content and community. So I took my background in music, public relations, marketing and social media, and pivoted my business into a creative production agency and hospitality group…and The House of A.C.E.S. was born. This company and my team have allowed me to live in my passion which is producing all aspects of our culture in a unique way.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I’ve built my audience using social media by being authentically who I am. Anything I post across my social media pages are things that I either standby or news/issues I have an opinion on, which allows my audience to be able to rely on me as a thought-leader and ‘go-to’ source for specific content.
My biggest advice to talent/brands building their social media presence is to be consistent, authentic and concise about what they’re posting. I see a lot of talent/creators that are afraid to post due to imposter syndrome or allow their egos to control them, so they feel they don’t have to post. This will cause your audience not to engage or check for your posts, and ultimately you will loose their attention and business.
I treat my pages as one big focus group that allows me to pivot my brand based on what my audience interacts and engages with. It’s important to know what kind of content your audience wants to see from you and when, then you lean into that when you’re creating it. But if you rarely post it’s hard to get a good gauge analytically on who your audience is, and how the content does across a digital landscape.
That said, especially as a busy entreprenuer, it can be hard to remember to post all the time. I find it very useful to batch content for the month, so essentially I create a calendar for myself or clients and we take a day to shoot all the content for the month. It can require a bit of work the day of, but is saves you so much time the rest of the month. You can then use tools like Hootsuite to setup scheduled posts from the content shoot, and let the analytics and data roll in.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thehouseofaces.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialdriab
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandriabaum/
- Other: www.tiktok.com/officialdriab
Image Credits
Main Photo – Darryl Simms Dria x Offset – Ofthesaint Jeezy Debut Live – Ofthesaint All other photos – House of ACES