We recently connected with Sònia Victoria Werner and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Sònia Victoria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
For us, Lighthouse Ladies was born out of a need to see more authentic, empathetic collaboration over the cutthroat competition that so often defines this industry.
The nature of entertainment is inherently transient—casts, crews, and audiences constantly hop from project to project, always made to feel like they must be chasing the next thing. As multi-hyphenate founders, we saw firsthand how that mindset can make it easy to overlook the incredible talent and humanity right in front of you. From day one, we made a conscious choice to reject that culture of transience and inhumanity. Instead, we built a company grounded in a human-first approach—where every production, whether for stage, screen, or our service offerings, prioritizes people above all else.
That commitment is evident in everything we do! We prioritize paying our artists—even when budgets are tight. We embody an “anti-gatekeeping” approach, offering resources, mentorship, and transparency to emerging creatives. Our innovative paired speed networking Lighthouse Lounge events exist to foster real connections, breaking down barriers to entry rather than reinforcing them. We also refuse to subscribe to tokenism or typecasting, as our company was built on a foundation of incredible diversity. We amplify diverse voices not just in front of the camera but behind the scenes, ensuring that our teams reflect the stories we tell. We also embrace genre-bending storytelling—our work spans everything from South Asian dystopia to Catalan family drama to queer, female sketch comedy. We want to see stories that haven’t been told before and create the kinds of projects we wish we had growing up, with the best humans and artists behind it all.
At the end of the day, we’re here to create the best, most high-quality work while also making the industry a better, more inclusive place. We’re constantly innovating, pushing the envelope, and proving that media can be both impactful and deeply human.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m so glad you asked! Lighthouse Ladies is a dynamic, women-founded production company based in NYC, dedicated to creating bold, genre-bending work while fostering an inclusive creative community. Our foundation is built on diversity and representation, with a 100% female core team spanning nine countries and including majority Asian, Hispanic, First-Gen, and LGBTQ+ identities, which are rarely seen at the forefront of media production. We’re here to reshape the industry from the inside out—not just by creating impactful work, but by changing the way that work gets made.
Our journey stemmed from a need to fill a massive creative void during the pandemic. Our founding team of four women came together as guerrilla filmmakers to create a short film titled “Sandwomen”—where we took on every role: producing, directing, acting, editing, and beyond. Through that experience, we discovered a creative synergy that felt too rare to ignore. We knew this couldn’t be the last time we collaborated!
We started with a simple but radical idea: What if the industry could be a place of genuine connection, not just a stepping stone to the next gig? What if we could create an ecosystem that actively supported underrepresented voices both on and off screen?
Fast forward to today, and we’ve grown from a passion project into a thriving regional (soon-to-be national and international!) name. We’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring multilingual, multicultural, genre-bending work to life, selling out full houses, collaborating with dozens of service-seeking clients, earning ~50 film festival wins/selections, and premiering at prestigious festivals like the Oscar-Qualifying Tasveer Film Festival and the Canadian Screen Award-Qualifying Nollywood Film Festival, among many others. Overall, we’re incredibly proud of our productions their impact, ant the artists who made them happen.
Throughout our three key divisions (Screen, Stage, and Services), we primarily produce narrative (fictional-story-driven) works, while also supporting creatives in producing their own works. In addition to our award-winning narrative work, we also produce gorgeous, story-driven commercial work.
The industry is notorious for burnout, exploitation, and exclusivity—but we reject all of that. We’re proving that high-quality, meaningful work can be made with compassion, respect, and equity at its core.
Without a doubt, we are proudest of the incredible, engaged community we’ve curated. Since our founding, we’ve grown to a core team of 10-15, hired and collaborated with hundreds of artists across productions, built an extensive internal network of thousands of creatives via our database, ensuring representation and talent accessibility for every project, launched a “Letters from the Lighthouse” newsletter with a near 100% open/engagement rate, and grown a community of thousands of artists and collaborators who share our vision. Every milestone reaffirms why we started this in the first place.
If you’re an artist looking for a community that genuinely supports and uplifts you, we’re here. If you’re an audience member craving stories that are fresh, diverse, and boundary-pushing, we’re creating them. If you’re a client seeking authentic, high-quality creative services, we have the expertise, teams, talent, and passion to make your vision a reality.
We’re not just redefining industry norms—we’re rewriting them entirely. And we can’t wait to grow this movement with all of you. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn (search Lighthouse Ladies everywhere) and join our newsletter and database at www.lighthouse-ladies.com. We can’t wait to connect with you!
Any advice for managing a team?
I absolutely love this question because it’s one I’ve asked myself quite a bit, as I honestly believe that the core team we’ve built at Lighthouse Ladies is the best team we could have asked for!
I’m lucky to lead alongside co-founders Melina Rabin, Cindy Xu, and Heather Lynn Wong, who all bring their own flair to our company and the projects they head. My personal leadership style, however, is rooted in empathy, communication, and a genuine desire to see the people around me succeed. One of my early mentors told me, “Good leaders lead, but great leaders inspire others to lead,” and that truly stuck with me. I strive to embody this daily, ensuring I continue to foster an environment where folks not only feel valued, but empowered to take initiative and see ideas come to fruition. Our founding team is devoted to their personal growth just as much as we are invested in the company’s!
For me, morale starts with genuine connection. At Lighthouse Ladies, we’re all here for a reason—we believe in the work we’re doing and the mission behind it all. I make sure every team member understands not just what we’re doing, but why. When the pressure is high, I want everyone to feel anchored by a deeper purpose. But that also means staying adaptable—encouraging open dialogue, listening when something isn’t working, and making space for collaboration. We’re always stronger together!
And of course, we celebrate—often and loudly. Wins, big or small, deserve recognition. I wholeheartedly believe that when you invest in your people, they invest in your vision. Time and time again, I’ve seen that the more support, appreciation, and respect you give, the more it comes back tenfold. That’s what propels us forward. That’s why we’re thriving today.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn—and one I think every entrepreneur faces—is the instinct to say yes to everything in the beginning. When Cindy, Melina, Heather, and I first started Lighthouse Ladies, we were driven by this massive goal to grow and expand and do it all. I mean, hey! Growth—big growth—is incredibly appealing. So we said yes. Yes to opportunities, yes to collaborations, yes to requests from friends and people who believed in what we were building. At the time, it felt right. And to be fair, a lot of joy and unexpected growth came from those choices.
But looking back, I realize I was caught up in short-term wins—things like visibility and momentum—when I should have been thinking more about long-term sustainability. Now bear in mind, this is not a cliché lesson of “knowing when to say yes and no,” rather a cautionary tale beckoning readers and aspiring entrepreneurs to slow down and be intentional with every decision. Are we protecting the energy and bandwidth of our team? Are we setting ourselves up for lasting success, or running on the thrill of the next project and the next?
It’s a deeper shift in mindset I hope to inspire our dear readers with here today! Balance the vision and passion with practical, long-term strategies. It’s not about saying yes or no; it’s about knowing WHY we’re saying it and understanding the impact it has on our collective, bigger picture.
And if I could go back? The funny thing is, I’d still make a lot of the same choices I did at the start. Diving headfirst into our first major short was a game-changer—it reshaped our entire journey in ways I could never have anticipated, and I wouldn’t trade that experience (or the relationships it forged) for anything. But there are later decisions I reflect on with more nuance, ones that taught me the value of pacing ourselves and protecting what we’re building. Those lessons have set us up for the most exciting chapter yet—and I can’t wait to share it all with you very soon!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lighthouse-ladies.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lighthouseladiesco/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lighthouseladies/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lighthouseladies?themeRefresh=1
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@lighthouseladies
Contact us at [email protected] or via our website!
Image Credits
Sophia Riseman (@sophiarise.photos), Anna Barrett (@TheLilUrbanCowgirl), Romy Caton-Jones (@Romytakesphotos), Sònia Victoria Werner (@soniavictoriawerner)