Shawn is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. His short film Thanksgiving won Best Drama at the New York International Film Awards and was a semi-finalist at the New York Indie Short Awards. He has also screened work at the Texas Short Film Festival and the ATX Short Film Showcase.

Shawn holds a B.A. from The Ohio State University and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College. Before filmmaking, he worked as a project manager at Google and as a public school teacher with Teach For America.