Don

05/20/25

Who are you?

My name is Donovan or everybody calls me Don & I’m a creative from the south side of Chicago.

What made you name your brand ‘Lost and Found’? What is the purpose of the brand?

Lost&Found was the first name that came to me when I was thinking of making a brand back in 2019. I relate the name to how we feel moving through life sometimes, we feel lost but you’ll end up finding yourself along the way.

via Instagram (@dontheplayboy)

What are some unexpected things and problems you ran into while owning a brand?

I’d say some unexpected things I ran into just starting maybe would be just the learning curve. When I first started there weren’t as many brands as there are now & I had to go out and learn everything myself. Consistency is key though, it shines harder than talent sometimes.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start a brand?

I’d say just make sure you really love this shit before you want to take it seriously. It can get really expensive at times & there’s a lot of hidden costs, but it’s a business at the end of the day. If you really love it you’ll make it happen either way.

How long did it take until you started seeing success with your brand?

After first starting it took me about 2 years to start seeing any real progress and results and incoming sales.

via Instagram (@dontheplayboy)

What strategies did you use to grow your brand to where it is?

When I first started to see progress it was after using TikTok consistently for 2 years posting daily promoting my brand & building a base I could transfer to instagram. After I felt like I had a steady base on instagram and TikTok started to seem inconsistent in its algorithms i started focusing solely on ad campaigns and finding the best ad strategies that worked for me.

What is ‘New Chicago’?

New Chicago was something I came up with early last year on a whim to kinda just describe the upcoming creative scene in Chicago as a whole [which is] something I felt like we haven’t really had, and shortly after it started to catch fire becoming something bigger than just me or a hashtag and becoming something a lot of people want to get behind.

How do you plan on growing this Chicago movement?

Right now I feel like it’s in a good space for continued growth, there’s more buzz on the Chicago scene right now then there’s ever been in a while as far as music & creatives in general. Me & the team have just been letting it naturally evolve into something.

What started your involvement in the underground rap scene?

It’s something I’ve always been a fan of and paid attention too but also just because a lot of my homies are rappers or were heavily involved with the scene and have been making crazy progress just this year so it been crazy to see the evolution of that scene here over the past 2-3 years because we haven’t really had a underground scene like this in a long time.

What advice would you give to someone looking to get involved in the scene?

Just network to be honest, find people you genuinely fuck with & form real bonds & just support each other and create. No ego shit just let it be genuine.

via Instagram (lostandfound.chi)

Why do you keep going?

The reason I keep going is because I truly don’t know any other way, I’ll always be creating in some shape or form however that looks like it the coming years but the people I keep around me really keep the motivation in me going it’s been a crazy year so far so I’m ready to keep going.