Today we’d like to introduce you to Clay Vaughan.
Clay, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Challenges have never scared me, they’ve motivated me. As a young teen struggling to find my place in the world many years ago, I found myself implanted in a small troop of Boy Scouts in Katy, Texas. Surprisingly, that’s where my journey of artistry and entrepreneurship began. I naturally fell in love with all things outdoors as an awkward 13-year-old and it was through those experiences of packing through mountain ranges and stretching my comfort zones, I was placed in leadership positions within my troop of scouts, ultimately resulting in studying the Cinematography merit badge.
My grandma let me borrow her camera which caused me to naturally be promoted to the “Director/Editor” role because of my access to equipment. Since that first time I pressed the clunky red “Record” button, I’ve been hooked. Sadly, I never got the badge, but the passion quickly outgrew everything else in my life. Fortunately, the film I made those many years ago has disappeared from the digital scape, but at the time a local film producer happened upon it and eagerly sought me out in hopes of providing me the opportunity to grow that passion into a career!
Realizing early on that it took a lot of time and hard work to make money in the film industry, I took a loan from my dad for roughly $1500 and started my first business venture, “Splash Power Washing”. The success I found with this little business not only funded my passion in film but it also taught me valuable lessons of never giving up, working hard, getting dirty, and seeing a completed job well done.
All of this laid the foundation to what I have accomplished today. 2008 marked a pivotal point in my career when I found myself freelancing in areas that compromised my values. I was horrified to see the route I had taken was leading me down a path that I had never dreamed to go, so I drew my proverbial “line in the sand” and named my company, Reverent Media. The name is nothing special, but the meaning has become the lifeblood of this now multi-million-dollar company. Integrity, to me, means that regardless of the cost, we are united to be honest, to live morally, and to humbly serve others. And that’s our mantra at Reverent amongst our 20-man team and 80+ freelancers. It’s what defines our service, our quality, and our vision.
Reverent has had the blessing to be involved in many fantastic projects and is now the parent company to three other thriving businesses, Ambition Agency, BLVD Photography, and Reverent Wedding Films. The latter being my brainchild and the most successful company launched to date with nearly 1000 weddings on the books for the next several years and the roadmap to national expansion. Lots of great things but regardless of how large any of these businesses get, they will always be held accountable to the core values that make it what it is today!
All in all, the real reason for my success comes down to my family and my faith. My wife, Emilee, has been with me from the start and faithfully encouraged me to take the leap from a job I hated to a passion that I loved. She has stood with me in the good times and in the bad and I couldn’t be more grateful for her. Reverent would literally not exist without her giving me the confidence I needed and the behind-the-scenes support I couldn’t live without! Most importantly, my faith in Jesus is the very reason that I even named the company “Reverent”. It is my desire to honor God in all that I do and I wanted my company name to hold me accountable for the kinds of projects we work on as well as the kind of service we offer. His hand of blessing has been on us from the start and we want to continually seek to honor Him with all we produce! The only reason I do business is to share the good news of His love!
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
No matter what media format our art is at Reverent Media, we are passionate storytellers. We love telling stories that move people to positive action. We love telling stories that have a purpose! Many creatives, including myself at one time, struggled to understand what a story actually was. And that’s what I’ve poured my heart and soul into understanding.
Realizing that every good story needs a hero, a villain, a guide, and a goal, I have been able to take those elements and lay them over any and every work that we do. Whether it’s a wedding film, a corporate photo gallery, or a feature film for Netflix, it all has to have those elements. Teaching my team of editors how to craft those stories has truly become my life’s work and I can’t wait to see where they take it from here!
Currently, I maintain the role of CEO for both Reverent Wedding Films and Reverent Media, while mentoring the CEO’s over each of the other companies I’ve started. But my passion remains the same. Ever since that day in Boy Scouts that I found my life’s work, I’ve been striving to this point in my career.
I currently film high-end wedding films, story films for corporate entities, and most recently have been hired by two separate organizations to produce two Feature-Length Documentaries with the goal of having them streaming on Netflix by the end of 2019!
Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
Never give up, set a vision in stone, and prepare to work your butt off! At one point in my film-making career I looked in my bank account and had $0.16 to my name. Three years later I look and see six figures sitting in the account. Trying to connect what happened between those points in my timeline might seem challenging but what it boils down to is that I put in 80-hour work weeks for a very long time and I surrounded myself with people I knew were better than me. I even hired a few of them! By humbling myself and not getting in my own way, I was actually able to get to where I am today by having a team of support. Couldn’t have done it any other way!
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
They can see my work on all of our social platforms on Vimeo or YouTube by searching “Reverent Media” but also just check out our websites listed below!
www.wedding.film
www.blvdphotography.com
www.reverent.media
www.ambition.agency
www.ekopodcasting.com
Contact Info:
- Address: 110 Vintage Park Blvd Suite 245
- Website: www.reverent.media
- Phone: (832) 559-2129
- Email: booking@reverent.media
- Instagram: instagram.com/clayvaughan
- Facebook: facebook.com/vaughanclaytond
- Twitter: twitter.com/clayvaughan
- Other: www.wedding.film
Image Credit:
Jana Vaughan
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
