Meet Shelby Vaughn

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shelby Vaughn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shelby below.

Shelby , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I give a lot of credit for shaping my confidence and self-worth to my parents. They were always cheering so loudly that I never noticed if others weren’t cheering. As a young Black girl in suburban North Alabama, I learned to navigate microaggressions early. I’ll never forget in seventh grade, I got my first taste of intersectionality. We were in English class and my teacher, bless her heart, was trying to make an uncomfortably realistic historical fiction book about a Black family in the Jim Crow south palatable by drawing similarities between the civil rights movement and the women’s rights movement. I remember zoning out and refocusing as she made eye contact with me periodically and praised minorities for resilience. After her monologue she opened the conversation to the class, in which my classmates took turns observing how hard it must have been to be Black back then, or to be a woman before suffrage. Then one classmate seemingly broke the fourth wall by admitting it must have been double bad for black women. One by one every student and our teacher turned to face me, the sole black girl in the class, with a mix of sympathy and relief that we live in a post-racial America.

Admittedly puberty did shake my confidence and being invisible to the boys in school did not help. I pledged to survive high school and reinvent myself in college. And that’s what I did. I graduated and moved to the heart of Atlanta to get my degree and get my groove back. It was such a refreshing experience to be surrounded by beautiful Black people of every kind. It affirmed we are not a monolith and much more than the confines of who we are “supposed” to be. I found my people- my roomates who I lived with all four years of school and still cherish- and found myself, a quirky, loving, creative girl that is very hard to put in a box.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I work at a startup, so I wear many hats, but primarily I am the lead project manager for the production studio, Ad Astra Media. We work with organizations to bring their ideas to life through books, film or games. We recognize that talent and aptitude are evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. Therefore all of our books and shows are made by diverse creatives to inspire the next generation of brainy creatives. Our latest Youtube show, The Doctor Is In, in partnership with influencer Dr. Joel Bervell, centers around a little Black boy learning about health and medicine from Dr. Joel and his friendly trio medical supplies, like Sammie the Stethoscope and Otto the Doctor’s Bag.

This year I was most excited to write and publish my first children’s book DeDe Detangles S.T.E.A.M. It follows the story of a young girl who is much more interested in art and crafts than science and math. It’s through her family and in practice that she learns just how connected each of the subjects are. Just like it takes patience and time to detangle her delicate curls, learning STEAM can take time, but when you do you can weave together beautiful things.

It’s been awesome sharing this book with girls in my community and online. It warms my heart each time a girl from my church or STEM events flag me down to excitedly share their latest experiments or how many numbers and patterns they notice in everyday life. This is partly the inspiration for my next social media series, Detangled. Experts of all kinds answer our most head scratching questions and comb through their own special interests. You can find this series, updates from the Detanglers, and a link to purchase a hard cover copy of the book on our Instagram @ DetanglerFairies.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three most important qualities or areas of knowledge would be learning to live with the unknown or discomfort, practicing time management, and leaning into creative expression.

The first area of knowledge I think is essential to growth is getting comfortable being uncomfortable. It can be scary to start a new venture without experience or picking up a new skill, but that is okay! With everything going on in the world, you have to learn how to protect your peace and when to give grace. For me, this comes from my faith. I know that I can not do this life thing on my own or perfectly execute every plan, but I know a guy who can. I lean on him for guidance and peace when things do not work out.

Time management is another essential skill. There are few things more precious than time. We all start with the same amount of time in a day, but it is up to us how we spend it. As a woman with ADHD, I am constantly practicing balance and learning how to use my unique strengths to my advantage. For example, I struggle to stay focused on mundane every tasks like tidying up around the apartment or preparing food for each meal. One way I work around this is trying to make a challenge out it. How many clothes can I fold and put away while the oven preheats? Can I empty the dishwasher during this ad break? I’ve developed a new appreciation for time after recently graduated from Alabama A&M University with my Masters in Business. It’s amazing how much time is left in the day after work now that I do not have to do schoolwork.

I also advocate for everyone to tap into their creative side. As an artist, a lot of people will see a piece I’m working on and tell me they have no artistic bone in their body. First, I remind them that like everything else, art is a practiced skill. I have many wonky portraits to prove it- even now, I prefer to paint nonhuman portraits because faces are weird and hands are hard! Second, visual art is only one kind of creative expression. There is creativity in performance, dance and music, but there is also creativity in building with legos, creating a new hair style, or even perfecting a sear on sirloins. Creating is iterative and emotional. Whatever helps you grow and release emotions- especially joy- is worth pursuing!

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

At risk of sounding cliché, the Alchemist is one of my top recommendations for developing and meditating on your purpose. It is a timeless tale that explores coming of age and crafting your idea of success. I like most that the character makes mistakes and at times is very misguided, yet in spite of this, he realizes the answer he is looking for was within him the whole time. Sometimes when I am overwhelmed by what I am supposed to be doing or where I am supposed to be by this point in my life or career, I am reminded to pause, pray and be present. I believe there is a higher power that loves us deeply and wants to share his infinite wisdom with us. We just have to be patient and willing to receive it.

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