Meet Rondo Estrello in Oak Cliff (West Dallas)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rondo Estrello.

Rondo, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After high school, I had no clue what profession I wanted to pursue. Not only that, I was a horrible student, who got horrible grades. In fact, I honestly don’t remember much about high school, only the compliments I received from teachers on creative tasks – mainly writing.

It was a strange concept to me that some of my classmates, who were headed to University, seemed to already have so much of their lives planned out. I haven’t seen or heard from most of these people since then.

Like a lot of other students, I decided to give community college a shot for about a year still without a clue as to what field, if any I was interested in pursuing. I can assure you, I didn’t make the most of it. It’s almost as if, subconsciously, I felt like there was nothing a teacher could teach me that I couldn’t learn on my own. Needless to say, I felt like it was a waste of time, so I quit.

Since I was no longer (technically) going to school, it was time to figure out a way to make money for rent, etc.

During this time, I had developed an affinity for computers and a very young Internet. I taught myself how to use them, troubleshoot/fix them and even build them from scratch with parts you could buy from places like Fry’s and Micro Center, etc. I wasn’t on a mission to find a career, at this point. However, through a hobby, I had developed a highly in-demand skill set. For a short time, I was building and selling computers (freelance) to make a living.

Along with the hardware side of computers, I was also amazed at all you could do on the software side of things – mainly design. At this point, I had mastered several software applications, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and various web design applications.

My twin brother and I decided to start our own promotion company, Digital187, where we produced events with mainstream (mainly west coast underground) headliners and local openers. Our company even had a website (the first of many I went on to design), that served as an “online magazine” and even had an e-commerce component – WAY before online shopping was mainstream – where we sold local and mainstream music. While it was our hopes that this would become something huge, the business didn’t last a long time, but I believe it left a positive impression and remains an unforgettable part of the Dallas music scene. In fact, this is where I made most of the connections that lead me to where I am today. Plus, the things I learned in this venture were invaluable.

With this skillset and experience, I’d developed. I did some research and found that I could possibly get a decent job in the IT field. There were a couple certificates I’d need to study for and complete first, then I decided to write a resume and landed my first job at MCI Worldcom as a Hardware Support Technician – I basically fixed employee’s broken computers.

As I had grown up in a society that taught me to believe that without a college degree, it would virtually be impossible to find a decent career, I was somewhat in shock.

While working in IT, I was also very involved in the Dallas music scene and culture. You could often find me at local music weekly events, festivals and art shows. I was fascinated with the HUGE EDM fliers that Jeremy Word and other designers were creating and distributing throughout Deep Ellum.

At this point, digital cameras were becoming very popular. I believe I may have owned one of the first available with an (AWFUL) LCD screen on the back – the Casio QV-10 which shot photos at 460×280 pixels and cost $1,000.

Don’t’ worry, I’ve upgraded since then. From this moment on, I can’t remember a time where a camera wasn’t close by and part of my life/career. Sidenote: I’ve ever shot film. I started in digital.

Eventually, MCI Worldcom imploded and I was let go, along with everyone else. I quickly found a new job doing IT support at Texas Instruments, where I worked for 5 years. I started working in IT support and eventually found myself quickly promoted to 3rd level Remote Connectivity support, where I supported employees, contractors etc. who needed to securely connect into the Texas Instruments network – a lot being through a mobile device.

During my tenure here. I had become our resident designer who was in charge of designing the team’s promotional materials and Intranet site. We would often go on “road shows” to other Texas Instruments campuses promoting our services. The calculator/educational campus was my absolute favorite site to visit, as it was very different from the other very stale, corporate feeling campuses. I befriended several employees from the branding/design department there and made it clear that I was interested in transitioning to their department.

As fate would have it, about two years into my tenure there, I was asked to interview for a position on their team and was selected to be their new “webmaster”. This is where my official career in the creative field began.

However, I had taught myself studio photography and was still doing design and photography work on the side. I’ve always believed it important to have a “side hustle”, or to, at least, be constantly learning more and getting better about what you know or even something completely new.

Needless to say, my passions had become very evident – technology and design., both of which have somewhat merged very closely into one in the same. I was somewhat lucky to be in the right place at the right time,

Eventually, I was let go from Texas Instruments. It was a horrible feeling but ended up (as it usually does) being one of the best things to happen. I took it in stride, rewrote my resume targeting Art Director jobs, hand-built a website portfolio, and used my self-branding and networking skills to get my resume into as many hands as possible.

Within the next 36 hours, I was offered a contract Art Director position at a pretty large agency called Javelin, in Dallas. I took the job, ended up getting a full-time offer and left the company about 3 years later as Sr. Art Director on my own.

From that point, I worked at about 6 other agencies in town – as Art Director to Creative Director. My specialty, for the most part, was designing websites.

As time passed I started to grow tired of working at agencies, for a number of reasons: times and methods of advertising/marketing were changing faster than agencies could keep up with and websites were beginning to become commoditized.

I decided to go freelance, designing websites and other various creative tasks. There were good times, but mainly bad. Plus, I was essentially trying to do what I had grown tired of – yet, all on my own.

My father started to get very ill around 2014/2015 and this became to consume a lot of my time. Our family was struggling to figure out a way to take care of him. In September 2016 he passed, sadly.

It was at this moment that I decided that I needed to refocus on my career. After doing a lot of research and using the advice of a few mentors I’d been listening to for years, I made my decision to pick up a new camera and dedicate my business to micro-content, mainly 1-minute videos.

After familiarizing myself with my new arsenal of gear, which included a smaller camera, stabilizer, a good drone, and various other gadgets that would all fit in one bag, I quickly got to work doing a few projects for free to build some sample work.

Word quickly started spreading through the work on my Instagram page and I found myself thoroughly booked. As fate would have it, Dallas’ own Erykah Badu needed a videographer for some small projects. Of course, I obliged and we began to build a relationship.

Once I saw that her tour was announced, and never being afraid to take a shot at something I feel I can handle, I texted and pitched her to travel with the crew and document the tour. I simply asked her to “think about it”. She replied with a chuckle and said: “ok, I will.”

I continued to stay very busy and was booked to shoot a small project by Erykah one day, at the last minute. Ironically I had 2 shoots scheduled that day that ended up getting canceled So my schedule opened up and I was able to shoot for Erykah.

She happened to be at this shoot, which gave us a chance to really vibe and get to know each other better. She also had a chance to see the equipment I was working with (including my drone) and seemed impressed – especially that it ALL fit in one bag.

That day, she asked me to go on tour. Of course, I said yes and the rest is history.

This project filled most of the remainder of my 2017 calendar and took me and my equipment around the world! It was an amazing experience, no doubt. Erykah is an amazing person to work with and we created some great work together. Since the tour ended we’ve continued to work on various projects and momentum has picked up with other clients.

I still have a long way to go, but my business is off to a great start.

The most incredible lesson of my story is that less than two years ago, I didn’t know the first thing about editing a video. Two years later, I have a thriving video business.

We live in a day and age where: if you have Internet access, ambition and an idea – you can start a business, with or without a college degree.

Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road to get to where I am at today. Most of this is due to me being a spontaneous and indecisive and, sometimes, impatient person. As I grown older, I’ve learned that it’s important to meditate often, make lists, and most importantly, be decisive!

I’m also at an impasse as to whether or not the business/website is dead or not. The reason I mention this is because after spending over a decade working in advertising, I have not applied a SINGLE bit of traditional advertising to promote my business, yet I’ve done quite well so far.

My Instagram account has become my business card and portfolio.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business is primarily based on shooting short-form content – 1-minute or less – intended to scale across multiple platforms, to promote a person/influencer, business, product and countless other subjects

There is so much value in a 1-minute video:

1. People’s attention spans are shrinking more and more each day
2. Microcontent is scalable to just about every social platform, even email and SMS (text)
3. You’d be surprised how much content you can fit into a 1-minute video
4. I believe that every celebrity, influencer, brand ambassador, etc will eventually have someone following them around documenting their lives, as a major form of marketing, one day very soon
5. Everyone/Every brand with an Instagram or Youtube account is essentially their own media company

I’m obviously most well known for shooting Erykah’s tour, which also happens to be my proudest accomplishment so far. Thank you Erykah! <3

What sets me apart from others is that I am very well equipped, and own all of my equipment. I have the ability to work virtually anywhere. I can honestly claim that I have edited video on trains, planes and in automobiles. I also have a knack for being able to grab an audience and tell a pretty intricate story in 1-minute or less.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Our city is a great place for a business like mine. Then again, the Internet has made it possible to start a thriving business anywhere. Of course, it helps with inspiration to live in a congested, metropolitan area, where there are plenty of clients and businesses that you can literally just walk up to and pitch.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 972-741-4088
• Email: rondostar@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rondostar

Image Credit:
Rondo Estrello, Miche Wilk, Erykah Badu

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