Sheena Hamilton Weatherford will tell people there is nothing about her that is newsworthy, and that she is unremarkable. Listening to her talk about her life shows a totally different story as she has overcome a disability and more than 50 eye surgeries to build a life that she loves with a family, a career and a love of travel, people and God.
Born blind in her right eye, Weatherford was only two weeks old when she had her first surgery. She has now had more than 50 surgeries with the most recent being last year, but she said her parents taught her and her brother, who also has a disability, not to let their disabilities hold them back.
The blindness was caused by a neurological issue, and she also has glaucoma. The strain of looking through one eye caused strain in her neck muscles and led to terrible headaches. She ended up with a pediatric eye surgeon willing to operate on her last year because she couldn't find another surgeon to take her case. He felt confident he could strengthen her eye muscles, and he was successful.
Weatherford grew up in Darbun and moved to Columbia when she was 14. She is a 2003 graduate of Columbia High School and has degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and William Carey University. She began at Millsaps College as a pre-law student but quickly learned it wasn't for her.
Sheena Weatherford has been obsessed with Paris since reading the Madeline books as a child and has now been to Paris three times, along with 14 other countries.
She taught for five years and was doing a pilot program at West Marion Elementary School where every child there went through Save the Children when she was offered a job with the literacy program. She has been with them for 10 years and loves every minute of it. She was recently promoted to the position of National Education Advisor and covers Mississippi and California.
"One thing that's really driven my passion to stay at Save the Children is my ability to give back to children in need, and I am able to see the difference it's making," Weatherford said.
Sheena Weatherford and her daughters, Laurel and Lola, love that Sheena works for Save the Children.
She has had quite a few big achievements since joining Save the Children.
She is a member of the emergencies team that is deployed to disaster areas. They go in and create a child friendly space while parents get things in order for recovery. They work to get childcare facilities back up and running. Weatherford was deployed to New York and New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy and to Moore, Okla. and Louisville, Miss. after massive tornadoes touched down.
She organized the Marion County Farmers to Families food boxes at two churches in Marion County feeding over 1,200 families during Covid. She was happy to see a need being met through this program.
She works closely with schools and has seen the education programs of Save the Children work.
"I've seen children learn to read," she said. "If you can read, you can do anything. During Covid, we served the whole child. We went to homes and dropped off activities. These were things they could do without internet or computers."
She's had the honor of working with some major corporations such as Dollar General, TJ Maxx and Bvlgari Jewelers, and she has met Jennifer Garner and Dakota Fanning.
Last year she helped to organize the 100 Days of Reading bus stop in Columbia. Seeing the community come together in such a huge way to support the children was something she will never forget.
"My daughters helped me visit local community members, did an interview with WDAM about the event and supported their mom," she said. "I pray that I’m instilling a hard work ethic and a desire to give back to the community within Laurel and Lola. One thing that makes me so happy is that I'm leaving a legacy for them. I hear them talk about what I do. They say, 'My mama works for Save the Children.'"
Weatherford has been a member of Woodlawn Church since she was 13 and sings on the praise team there. A fun fact is that she recorded a southern gospel CD at age 11.
Matt and Sheena Weatherford enjoy a vacation together in Lisbon, Portugal.
"I want people to feel the reason we worship," she said.
She likes to read self help books and southern literature and travel with her husband of 13 years and high school sweetheart, Matt.
"Travel allows you to learn about other cultures and people," she said. "Travel experiences forever leave a stamp on the blueprint of who we are. I’m so thankful to have a husband that loves to travel as much as I do. I also believe that if we open the door for kids to read, they'll want to go places."
She read the Madeline books and became obsessed with Paris.
She worked at her grandmother's restaurant, Nell's Grill, during high school and whatever she made went into her Paris fund. She also held chicken plate fundraisers and has now been to Paris three times. She said she cried at the Eiffel Tower.
She has now been to 15 countries, and her favorite has been Ireland.
"It's as beautiful as you can imagine," she said. "It's blue and green. It's slow paced and has a rich history."
Weatherford calls her family spontaneous travelers. They got last minute tickets to Colorado for $64, so the whole family went. They had no hotel booked. They just went and had an awesome time together.
Weatherford calls herself very frugal and has had to work very hard for her education.
"I don't take anything for granted," she said. "Use what you have, your money, your gifts and your talent, wisely."
