HER STORY
Vanessa McNeal is an award winning documentary filmmaker, national speaker, and two time TEDx speaker. She travels and speaks nationally about how to confront adversity with grace using her personal story as a vehicle to inspire and empower others.
At an early age, Vanessa experienced sexual abuse and neglect, ultimately resulting in educational challenges and a month spent in the foster care system. At age 15, while still in high school, Vanessa was sexually assaulted during a school-sponsored college preparatory program she attended at a nearby university. Consequently, she painfully endured and then had to overcome a rape culture that trivializes and normalizes sexual assault. Her life experiences have fueled her passion to educate on the topic of sexual violence and social injustice.
Despite the trauma of her abuse and the obstacles she had to overcome as a result, Vanessa was the first in her family to graduate high school and went on to pursue her bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University. She then went on to earn her master’s degree in social work (MSW) at the University of Northern Iowa.In 2017, Vanessa founded her media company McNeal Media, with the goal of creating social change through the art of storytelling. She directed the internationally recognized documentary The Voiceless, featuring the stories of male survivors of sexual violence. She won Best Director for the documentary at the Newark International Film Festival. At Indiefest she received the Women Filmmaker Award of Recognition. Vanessa won the 2017 YWCA Young Woman of Tomorrow Award and won the 2018 STATEment Maker award from Iowa State University in the Entrepreneurial Spirit category. In January 2019, she was presented with an Outstanding Iowa Anti-Trafficking Service Award by the Iowa governor. Lastly, she was awarded the Inspiring Women of Iowa award in the courage category.
She most recently Directed "Gridshock", a documentary focused on the sex trafficking demand. The film was made possible after Vanessa raised $45,000 in an all or nothing fundraising campaign.
