The Hero's Journey: Jesse Vaughan at TEDxRVA

American film director and producer Jesse Vaughan started his career as a director for WTVR-TV6 in Richmond, where he directed local news and produced his first television show at the ripe age of 19. He later went on to produce nine nationally syndicated educational documentaries distributed to PBS stations all across America entitled Fourth R: Rights. At 22, he was hired by NBC, where for over a decade he worked on programs such as the Jesse Jackson Show, America's Black Forum, Meet the Press, NBC Nightly News, the Today Show, and the Charlie Rose Show and directed WRC-TV News Center 4's 5pm News to its first number-one position in over ten years. After leaving NBC, Jesse directed the acclaimed sketch comedy series In Living Color before moving on to direct music videos for 'N Sync and numerous music documentaries for MTV Networks, including music specials on Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Paula Abdul, Melissa Etheridge, and Steve Winwood.

Over the course of his career, he has been nominated for 36 Emmy Awards, of which he has garnered 21. He is currently in post-production for the motion picture The Last Punch, the story of Muhammad Ali's last professional fight.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)