We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Debbie Vu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Debbie, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
When I was in high school, I discovered one of my many life’s passions – acting. Devoted to the craft, my theatre arts teacher/mentor offered the opportunity of a lifetime, to direct one-act plays with younger high school students which eventually snowballed into becoming an award-winning film director. Having all these interests that made me a full-fledged artist allowed me to express myself in a safe space, surrounded and supported by like-minded creatives.
Even before all that, I became a writer at 12 years old, inspired by my favorite author, Sarah Dessen, whose writing style made reading more accessible to me since I have undiagnosed ADHD. which makes concentrating and reading challenging. At that point, I had just moved to Pinehurst, NC from upstate NY. There were only two places where my friends and I could hang out – Wal-Mart and the movie theater. I remember thinking this tiny lily-white town was some sort of hell on Earth. Because of that, I really focused on school and became very active in many extracurricular activities.
In the jacket of one of Sarah Dessen’s books, I found out that she had grown up in Chapel Hill, NC, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, and still lives there! That moment defined the rest of my life, realizing it was my destiny to attend the same college where my hero trained and started her writing career. She even taught there!! I remember thinking it would be a dream to be one of my ultimate role model’s students. Alas I missed my chance since she no longer taught there by the time I got there. But my first year there, I met her (!!!!!) at one of her readings and she signed my book! Then my last year there, I produced a short documentary about the audio recording lab in the Undergraduate Library at UNC which was a free studio space for students to produce their own music. The film was presented to the Friends of the Library supporters and when they found out that Sarah Dessen’s work shaped my entire career, they asked her to send me a personally handwritten card.
I finally understood the purpose of moving to NC – God had sent me there to live out my biggest dreams. I’ll never forget that fat envelope and telling my parents I would become a student at UNC-Chapel Hill – arguably the best school in the state and famously one of the top 6 public universities in the country for 24 consecutive years! When it was time to decide my major, I told my parents that I wanted to major in dramatic arts and creative writing. However, they were adamant that I do something more practical with reliable and consistent income since acting and writing were a gamble. So I figured I’d put them together and become a news anchor. I decided to study journalism so I produced for radio, TV, and print media. Within the first year, I decided to double major in media studies and production so I learned how to make movies!
Without my parents’ intervention, I wouldn’t be the award-winning filmmaker that I am today. Because my parents made the life-changing decision to move us to NC, I learned to conjure, fulfill, and manifest all my dreams. I even wrote a whole movie inspired about my relationship with my mom as well as the rest of my family, celebrating my bicultural upbringing, being Vietnamese American.
Now I have an 8-year-old production company and I am a business owner. I was fed up with people overlooking me for job opportunities. Because I didn’t fit their molds, I decided to make my own and bring my flock along with me, while I advocated for them and gave them experiences to grow into award-winning filmmakers themselves. I am honored to be a vessel and champion of the universe. My future is as bright as the rising sun. I will become a household name. I will become someone’s favorite director. I will be someone’s Sarah Dessen.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
After eight years in operation, IronWorx Media is embarking on its fourth chapter – event planning and event coverage. Through the years, I have gained access to vast amounts of resources and built my incredible team and network which has set us up for success. Though we refuse to do weddings!
Since the beginning, we’ve had a robust internship program where interns learn and gain experience in various stages of narrative film production, spanning from idea to final edit. An IronWorx Media internship is a wonderful and rewarding experience since it’s a training ground with professional filmmakers who are willing to guide and teach. Instead of using your hard-earned money or accruing severe debt trying to go to film school, get yourself on a film set! And if you can’t, find people who have the experience to guide you through the filmmaking process. Or (!) go on youtube and do your research. Use that film school money on your own project(s)! That’s much more fruitful and rewarding.
The stay-at-home order back in March 2020 forced me to rethink how I could continue my documentary services. Even though we couldn’t gather to film interviews and b-roll, I realized that writing, producing, and editing could be done virtually!
Through a series of events, we got a great opportunity to stay active with our editing. For Helius Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports NC-based necessity-driven small businesses, some Duke University students created the “Success Story Saturday” series to be shared on Instagram. They reached out to me since I’ve worked with Helius and they wanted me to be the subject of one of their weekly videos. They had me record myself answering five questions and send them a bunch of pictures which was their model for all the videos. When they sent me the edit, I was horrified! As a keen and talented storyteller, I could not let their edit represent my business so I gave them a loooot of detailed feedback. They got back to me and suggested I edit it myself since I was the expert. So I did. Then the whole series was passed to me and my team. For 8 consecutive weeks, my interns and I put these videos together for no pay. One of the success stories, we even did a photo shoot. Another time, we traveled from out of town to produce the subject’s interview instead of him doing it on his own. Fortunately, the subject saw the value of what we were doing and paid us! After 8 weeks of producing these videos, no one else claimed the opportunity so we discontinued the series but it was a great experience to connect with other business owners and continue growing our craft.
A documentary idea about my mom transformed into a full-length fictional-based-on-my-life movie which I wrote in three months during the lockdown. Despite the deadly virus plaguing our society, I was inspired to produce a short film version of this movie called “Ma’s Kitchen”. I taught myself grant writing and was able to secure $5000 in funding through five different grant programs. At the time, the number of people gathered was limited to ten people in the same room so I kept the crew size small with 8 people along with the two cast members. We all tested negative for Covid within a couple days before the shoot so we got the green flag to produce it. Casting was fairly simple. I met Carolina Do, the actress who played the mom character, through Facebook! She was the only one who applied after I posted the opportunity in a FB group and she so happened to be so utterly perfect for the role! The actress playing the daughter was actually my niece Natalie Tran though I considered her younger sister first. She froze up and shut down doing the audio recording so Natalie stepped up to the challenge and nailed it! Since the end of the film festival circuit, the short film has won 14 awards including best director, best narrative short film, best child actress, among many others. It was wild to produce during the pandemic – we were all wearing masks the entire time! Though if it wasn’t for that life-altering shared experience of the pandemic, I wouldn’t have thought to evolve my initial documentary idea about my mom into a full-length feature film.
What inspired the original documentary idea was my mom’s breast cancer diagnosis back in 2017. She and my dad left NC and moved to CA for free health care. She’s still fighting the good fight even after 9 years of battling stage 4 breast cancer. With this looming death sentence, I was inspired to make a film about her before the day she passes. I produced the short film like a race against time because I didn’t know when she would leave this Earth. I was determined to make something to show her how much she inspires me and the rest of our family. The film was accepted at a screening event in LA, an hour drive from where they are living so my parents were able to witness my hard work and passion – it even made my dad cry which is sooooo out-of-character! It is my one and only film that is all in Vietnamese (with a couple English words).
Lately, I produced a no-budget production in three weeks! And now, I’m less than a week away from producing my newest project, “VuberVision” an hourlong sketch comedy special. Every second that passes, I get closer to my dream of being internationally known and appreciated. If you’re reading this, you are about to witness a rising star make it to the top so sit back and enjoy the ride!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
On 01/30/2026, I admitted myself into the behavioral health ward for the 11th time. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 07/2014 – it was sooooo freaking hard. Managing my mental health has been challenging but made easier with a strong support system. This time around, I made the decision myself which I’ve only done twice before. After not sleeping for two nights and seeing the sun rise that second morning, I knew that I needed medical assistance so I made the easiest yet hardest decision of seeking out help.
I planned to produce my latest short film on 02/04/2026 so I had a mere five days to get what I needed and move on. This particular film was an ambitious project with only three weeks to prepare and shoot a script I thought would only happen if I had money. However, the cast and crew all volunteered and we had locations at no cost so all I paid for was snacks, water, and frozen pizzas! In the five days I was in the hospital, I used the phone that the entire ward shared to do a lot more pre-production planning with my production team. I think it’s hilarious I was still producing in the “loony bin”! The work never ends!
Even before the hospitalization, I felt like God and the universe were giving me all the puzzle pieces and all I had to do was assemble them to see the big picture. It was one of my favorite set experiences and I can’t wait to see the final edit on the big screen!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Imposter syndrome serves no one. It only makes things worse. Instead, know that you are worthy of success and keep moving. Let go of the worry and stress. They only cloud your judgment and leads to toxic spiraling. If you can see your dreams, you can see the destination. Knowing where your path leads reveals the steps you need to take to get there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ironworxmedia.com
- Instagram: ironworxmedianc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbie.vu/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbienvu/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ironworxmedia6153
Image Credits
Dan Brenner