Women in VFX | Jaclyn Stauber
Meet the women who are inspiring the future of our industry!
Inspired by the Visual Effects Society's global 'Women Who Lead' initiative, our Women in VFX series puts the spotlight on our female superheroes across our global teams, exploring the different paths they’ve taken, the challenges they’ve navigated and the experiences that have influenced their careers.
Scroll on to meet Jaclyn Stauber, FX TD!
Career Journey
Please briefly introduce yourself and share something unique about yourself that you’d like our readers to know about you.
Heya, I’m Jaclyn and I work in FX, focusing on creating simulations such as smoke, fire, water or destruction, as well as more abstract or magical effects. I have two little ones under two who keep life fast paced and unpredictable. They have definitely taught me patience and adaptability on a whole new level – qualities that carry into how I approach my work and collaboration with the team.
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time in the Canadian outback on my dirt-bike, it’s one of the things that forces me to be completely present. You’re so focused on the terrain and what’s right in front of you that everything else just falls away. It’s a reset in the best way.
What originally sparked your interest in VFX, and when did you realize you wanted to pursue it professionally?
Growing up, I was always inspired by films in a really immersive way. After watching Jurassic Park, I wanted to become a paleontologist. After Armageddon I was convinced I’d become an astronaut (and/or a member of Aerosmith). One of my all time favourites, Awakenings, made me seriously consider becoming a doctor.
Eventually I realized it wasn’t the professions themselves that drew me in, it was how those stories made me feel. They stayed with me in a way that went beyond just entertainment. That’s when it clicked for me, that what I really wanted was to be part of creating that experience for others, to help build something that could have that same kind of impact. I would, however, consider a change in career path should Aerosmith ever reach out.
Can you pick out a key milestone or event that shaped your career path?
One early milestone that I was fortunate to achieve was being nominated for a VES Award for ‘Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project’ for my work on Lost in Space, which was a huge moment as it gave me confidence and set a standard for the level of work I wanted to strive for.
More recently, stepping into my first FX Lead role was equally defining. It pushed me beyond just focusing on my own shots and into thinking about the bigger picture – supporting a team, making decisions while factoring in the supporting pipeline around the FX department.
Technical Path
What are the core technical skills that have been essential in your role?
For me, the core technical skills come down to really understanding the fundamentals of different simulations – whether it’s pyro, particles or fluids – and how the underlying dynamic networks are structured. But just as important as getting a good visual result is knowing how to debug these systems and keeping them efficient. Optimization is a key part of the job: managing cache sizes, keeping setups clean, making sure things actually run in production across a whole sequence of shots.
I think having a strong problem-solving mindset is essential. You’re constantly troubleshooting, iterating, finding better ways to achieve a result. And then beyond that, a solid understanding of lighting, compositing and how your work fits into the larger pipeline really makes a difference as well.
How has your technical skillset evolved as you progressed in your career?
Early on, I focused on learning the core principles – understanding how different simulations work, getting comfortable in Houdini and building effects that were believable.
As I progressed, my skillset evolved from just executing setups to actually designing them. I started thinking more about efficiency and simplifying setups, as well as optimizing them to stay artist-friendly and quick to iterate on, especially as production notes are constantly evolving. It’s become a balance of technical, creative and strategic thinking.
Learning Python alongside Houdini has really helped in small but impactful ways in my day-to-day work. I’m not doing heavy pipeline development by all means, but being able to write simple scripts and tools for myself – and sometimes for my team – has made a big difference.
A lot of the benefit comes from automating the little things. Whether it’s organizing nodes, or speeding up repetitive setup tasks - those small tools save a lot of time over the course of a project. It’s also made me more flexible. When something doesn’t exist out of the box, I can create a solution. That mindset shift has been really empowering.
Python is one of those skills that quietly improves everything you do.
Personal Insights
What challenges (or mistakes) in your career have taught you the most, and how did you navigate them?
I think one of the biggest challenges in my career has been managing the line between creativity and precision. Early on, I struggled with perfectionism – wanting everything to be flawless. I would get stuck refining tiny details that most people wouldn’t even notice. What helped me was setting clear priorities. I think the balance comes from holding yourself to a high standard, but also respecting the bigger picture and moving the project forward.
Deadlines also taught me discipline. Instead of seeing them as limitations, I began to treat them as part of the creative process. They force you to make decisions, and keep momentum. There’s a point where continuing to tweak doesn’t meaningfully improve the shot – it just delays it.
And of course burnout can be real in this field. Long hours made me realize the importance of managing my energy, staying organized and knowing when to step back so I can come back with a clearer perspective.
What has been a defining moment that significantly changed your perspective or career direction?
After five years in advertising, I realized I was exhausted from working on commercials nobody really cared about. I wanted to create work that was meaningful, something people were genuinely excited to see. So I made a bold choice: I dropped everything and started over. I took a job in VFX, moved to a new town with just two suitcases in hand, and accepted a significant pay-cut.
That decision completely reshaped my career and my life. It set off a domino effect: Through friends I made at that first VFX job, I moved from Germany to London and eventually to Vancouver over the next few years – working at different VFX studios and exploring new countries. What this experience taught me is not to be afraid of temporary setbacks. Staying focused on your goal and being willing to start fresh can completely transform your path.
Spotlight
What excites you most about working in FX, and what are the most complex problems you enjoy solving?
What excites me most about working in FX is that it sits right at the intersection of art and technical problem-solving. You’re not just creating something that looks cool, you’re figuring out how to make it feel believable and dynamic at the same time.
The most complex problems I enjoy solving are the more abstract or magical effects, because there isn’t always a real-world reference you have to match. With something like fire or destruction, you’re often aiming for realism. But with magical or stylized effects, you have a lot more freedom to define the look and behavior yourself. That opens up a different kind of challenge. You’re not just asking, “Is this physically accurate?”, you’re asking, “Does this feel right for the story?” or “Does it have the right energy and motion?”
I like that process of experimenting and shaping something that doesn’t exist in real life. It pushes me to be both creative and technical at the same time. You still need a strong underlying system to make the effect believable, but you’re also designing the rules as you go. Finding that balance, where something feels intentional and visually interesting, is really exciting to me.
How do you approach building simulations that are both physically accurate and artistically driven?
I usually start by grounding the simulation in something physically believable, by making sure the scale, timing, and overall behavior feel natural. That gives you a base that audiences can intuitively connect with, even if they don’t know why.
From there, I treat the simulations as something I can guide, rather than just let run. I’ll layer in controls, whether that’s custom forces, timing adjustments or manipulating attributes, gradually pushing things further until it hits the right balance. Sometimes that means knowing when to break the rules a bit, as long as it still feels convincing overall.
I think the key is not seeing physical accuracy and artistic direction as opposites. The physics give you credibility, and the artistic choices give you intention.
What is your favourite project you have worked on and why?
One of my favorite projects has been Kin. The team and my supervisor made it the smoothest, most enjoyable experience I’ve had. The clients were two young directors working on their first feature film together with an indie production company, and they were really open to my creative input. I got to work on an abstract hologram effect that layered many different elements. Experimenting with all those layers and coming up with my own ideas made the process incredibly fun.
Advice to the Next Generation
What skills turned out to be more important day-to-day than you expected?
Confidence is important, but not in the sense of having all the answers, more in trusting that you can figure things out. A lot of growth in FX is from trial and error, and being comfortable with that process helps you improve faster.
I’ve also learned the importance of leveraging and taking advantage of teamwork. If you’re stuck, asking your teammates for ideas isn’t a weakness, it’s a part of the process. Collaboration can spark solutions you wouldn’t have found on your own and it often makes the final result much stronger.
What technological shift is currently transforming VFX and your role?
Tools like Solaris in Houdini have been slowly transforming VFX, because it lets us work more like real filmmakers – building entire digital sets, lighting and effects in one integrated space. It expands Houdini’s procedural nature from just the FX department to the pipeline as a whole, which is incredibly powerful, as this allows working in a seamless, centralized way.
Additionally, AI is obviously a huge shift in VFX, but I chose not to see it as something to fear. It’s already changing how we work – speeding up repetitive tasks, helping us experiment faster and even inspiring new creative ideas. I’d like to think it will be a new teammate rather than an opponent. If we embrace it thoughtfully, AI will let the VFX industry reach a level of creativity and efficiency we’ve never seen before.
Thank you, Jaclyn!