We caught up with the brilliant and insightful De Horton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

De, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

So, the funny thing is that I am technically in my “starting over” bag. I was working full time with a popular Atlanta brand for the last four years and I decided to take chance on myself December of 2023. The shift was crazy! lol

One minute, i’m in meetings feeling like this was my “end all be all” and the next minute I had a very “uneasy” feeling. As if, there was more for me to explore and another side of me that I needed to bet on. I’d been working with them for four years so imagine how invested my life had been. I put my all into it.

I woke up one morning just wanting a shift and that scared me to death. “Am I good enough to run my business full time again?” “Who am I without this company?” “What will everyone think?” “Who’s going to “replace” me?” “What am I actually going to do?”

It took me months to make my decision and after a lot of hard talks, prayer and this constant gut feeling…I resigned. Since then, I’ve done some amazing work with brands that actually hired MY company. I flew to LA to film a Soundcloud event, got a chance to cover a launch party for a new liquor hosted by Belvedere vodka, and I’m also now an editor for an amazing black owned agency based out of LA, Worthi. Ive always wanted to work with a liquor brand, I’ve used Souncloud damn near my entire life AND I’ve wanted to work with a creative agency for a long while now.

Needless to say, starting over still scares me but I’m constantly reminded that it was the best decision I’ve ever made. 10/10 highly recommend.

My only regret is not doing it sooner. I think people that take chances on themselves and believe in their craft excel quicker. Being afraid slows you down. Just do it scared.

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.

Hey fam.

My name is HD but many know me as “De” or “ICONO.” For the most unknown reason..folks have been calling me by my first name now (De’Aira). I don’t know how or why but its my name so I’m not mad. lol I’m a filmmaker based in Atlanta and I’ve been doing my thug thizzle for 13 years now.

At the age of 15, I stepped foot in the film world and haven’t looked back since. I got my brand name “Icono Film” years ago while trying to create a twitter account handle. I typed in so many different ideas and everything was already taken. I had to think “what do I want to be when I grow up?” After minutes of sitting in front of the computer “ICON” came to mind…but that was taken too. I looked up the Spanish word for Icon and boom. It’s stuck with me since.

Some of my work has been featured in publications such as Black Enterprise, CNN, Fox5, Forbes and I’ve worked with multiple magazines such as Kontrol and Rolling Out.

After 13 years, I still make it a point to learn as much as I can about the industry and I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty during my discoveries. I do it all from editing, producing, directing, filming and even talent scouting! People call me a “one stop shop.”

My passion for storytelling and making people’s vision come to life comes from my dad while my persistence/ care comes from my mother.

My biggest dream is for “Icono Film” to become a full production agency and to be a home for young creatives who love the art of filmmaking. I want to create an iconic brand that inspires and helps black creators around the world.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Give your current customers a top tier experience! Listen, educate, communicate and go over and beyond for them. Word of mouth is how I grew my clientele and one of my main “marketing strategies.” When people love the product their given, they want to spread the word.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

So! Back in middle school I had a friend group. One of my friends was a aspiring rapper, one was fashion stylist, one was a writer, one a hairstylist…and then you had me. I had talents but I didn’t actually have a “mission.”

My friends joined this nonprofit organization called “LIFTO” where young teens (14-18) could go and intern with different business owners. I was NOT apart of the group for months and I was so pissed because they were learning all of these news things, meeting new people and interning/getting paid. I did not want to be left out! They told me I had to have a skill and that the CEO would then bring me on after the interview process. Well, I didn’t know what I wanted to do until one day, I was searching through YouTube and found one of Vashtie’s vlogs. Vashtie is a dj, a cinematographer, a shoe creator..an icon!

I loved watching her Youtube vlogs from her day to days, to her cat and then I learned that she shot videos and I thought “oh that’s so cool. I’ll just tell the people at LIFTO that I’m a videographer. lol

I’d always been a fan of playing with my dads camera so it wasn’t super far fetched. I asked my mom for a camera one Christmas and she called all of my aunts, uncles and my mentor (which ended up being the CEO of LIFTO) for advice. My mom is a single parent so purchasing a camera she didn’t think I would actually use was a big deal. One black Friday she went out to get the Canon T3i and lucky for me..she got the very last camera they had in stock. That’s when she knew it was meant to be.

Fast forward 13 years and here I am.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IiQE8Pqr-sEfaLQdWbSQYLhSx_QtWjQw?usp=drive_link
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iconofilm/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deairahorton/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/iconoish

Image Credits
@LolaScottArt