Sheena Vaught
Sheena Vaught is an independent filmmaker, writer, director, and arts advocate whose work is rooted in storytelling, community engagement, and creative empowerment. Since 2009, she has built her career outside the traditional studio system, independently writing and directing her own films while balancing a full-time job to self-fund her creative projects and pursue grant opportunities. As Chair of the CineBay Film Festival and owner of Tower 5 Media, Sheena has become a driving force in Brunswick County’s growing film and arts community, using her platform to champion independent artists, meaningful storytelling, and creative collaboration. Known for her approachable leadership style and commitment to leading by example, she believes filmmaking is about far more than capturing images—it is about intention, emotion, and creating experiences that connect people through story.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies, Sheena credits much of her true education to the experience she gained working on professional film sets after college. Those experiences shaped her understanding of leadership, communication, and the collaborative nature of filmmaking, ultimately giving her the confidence to create and lead productions of her own. She considers her greatest achievement not a single award or project, but the courage to overcome self-doubt, trust her calling, and pursue the vision God placed on her heart. Throughout her career, she has remained committed to continual growth as both an artist and a leader, embracing new technologies while staying grounded in values of honesty, integrity, respect, and grace.
Beyond her own filmmaking, Sheena is deeply passionate about arts education and creating opportunities for others to tell their stories. Recognizing that film remains an underserved art form in her community, she developed hands-on filmmaking workshops for teens, giving young people direct experience working on set and learning the craft of production. She is now expanding these programs to include veterans and others seeking creative outlets for healing and self-expression through film. Whether she is directing a project, mentoring aspiring filmmakers, organizing community arts initiatives, or simply enjoying her passions for cooking, singing, dancing, and writing, Sheena continues to use storytelling as a way to inspire connection, creativity, and courage in others.
• University of North Carolina Wilmington
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Film Studies
• Brunswick Community College
Associate of Arts (A.A.)
• National Honor Society
• Graduated with Honors
• Southport Oak Island Chamber of Commerce
• North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce
• Brunswick Chamber of Commerce
• Cine Bay Film Festival (Film Education)
• Filmmaking Workshops for Teens
• Local Arts Council Support
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to God and just having faith. I have a family that's also artists. My mom's an artist, my dad's an artist, my sister also sings and she's a creative as well, so we're pretty much like the avant-garde people in our community. Especially with my mom, she just believed that, hey, you can do it. It was never the mentality of, like, oh, no, you can't do that. Having that faith in Christ that I could do all things through Him really gives me the strength to keep going, even though sometimes it can be very hard, and sometimes unbearable, where you just want to give up. But I have to remember, I can't give up because I have gifts for a reason. God didn't give me a gift just to waste it. He gave me a gift to use it, and it would be a shame not to do that.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I ever received came from my sister. I had this gift someone gave me, and I kept it for years even though I didn't like it because I thought it was thoughtful. My sister came to my place one day and was helping me organize, and I was telling her about the gift. She said, Shayna, you don't have to keep what people give you. That struck with me, because people will do a lot in life. They'll give you bad advice, they will intimidate you, they will do all kinds of things to you, they'll make you feel like you're not worth anything, that you have no value. For me, it had nothing to do with the gift, but it had everything to do with people will load you with stuff and they will give you negative things, and you don't have to keep it. You don't have to carry it around. You don't have to hang it up wherever you go. If I look at something and what someone tried to give me in a situation, like intimidation, people try to intimidate me a lot to not do and be who God has called me to be, I have to push off that intimidation, throw it away, and be like, I'm not going to keep this. I am not going to feel less than, I am not going to feel devalued, because you can't see my value. I will not keep what you have given me.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell them to make sure that they have a firm faith foundation, because what I've learned is that life can look different in a second. And that's not even being like, oh, someone's passed away. It's like, no, people walk away. People choose not to be in your life, and you thought that those were some strong connections. There are things that are built to really tear you down. So, having a strong faith foundation and having strong mental health is another thing, because we women, with our bodies and stuff like that, our hormones, we go through a lot. There's a lot of care for women, but there's not enough care for women. We're going through some things internally, and the world seems like we're losing our minds. It's like, no, we're not losing our minds. This is something that's really going on inside of us, and there's really no help for it, just to medicate you. So, I would just say, have a strong circle, have a strong faith foundation, and really stay on top of your health and your mental awareness.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is AI, because it's both a threat and an opportunity at the same time. AI has been helpful for me. There's a new project I want to start working on and start filming hopefully next year, and it's helped me do some promotional things that I wouldn't have been able to do financially. However, I'm also not a big proponent of using AI because art is expression, and it's very much so something that's needed for people to do. They have to tangibly do it in order to really experience it, and for people to really experience it as well. It has to be worked through, and there's something therapeutic about it. Like, I did a short film called My Life that was inspired by real-life experience, and it was cathartic for me to write. I wrote that film in like two and a half hours. Writing is supposed to be an outlet for us to use the gift, and if AI is doing that and doing the work, then we can't fully experience art like we're supposed to. There's a duality to it, because it's so expensive at the same time, and AI helps relieve some of that. It's good and bad.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
One is to try to keep God first in everything. And I don't say that as someone who's just this religious person. I say that as someone who really, truly likes to walk and commune with God. I just found in my life that doing things his way is so much better. Being honest, having integrity, being trustworthy, respecting people, loving people, honoring people. It's so much better, even when others don't do it to you. It's just better to do things this way, because at the end of the day, he's the one who sees what's going on, and he'll take care of it. And respecting people is so important to me.