Multimedia Journalist, Megan Gallagher, has been turning heads for the past several years on WKYC. And, if you think she looks familiar, you’re right – Megan is a Mentor native who attended Sterling Morton and is a 2011 Mentor High graduate.

An avid singer, she developed a love of music at a young age through her father, with whom she sang on the Mentor United Methodist Church choir. She also performed with a number of other school choral programs including Mentor Top-25 and Shoreline Singers.  After high school, Gallagher went on to Bowling Green State University without an entirely clear idea of what she wanted to do. Her path to journalism soon crystallized as her passion for writing and her performance skills finally merged.

“I always like to write and a being comfortable on stage in front of people led me to journalism,” says Gallagher, “I really found something that I immediately felt good at.”

She landed her first job with the Toledo NBC affiliate where she worked for two years as a producer for the 11 PM News. She started thinking about developing her talents as on-air reporter which would enable her additional opportunities including a chance to be closer to home. Her efforts were rewarded when she got the chance to join WKYC three years ago.

“Growing up in Mentor, I watched Channel 3 every day. The news was a staple at our house, I don’t think I realized at the time that this was going to have such an influence on my career.”

As a Multimedia Journalist, she is responsible finding the news and reporting on it, but she also wears a number of hats including that of an assignment editor, producer, and content producer.

“I pretty much do all of the jobs that are behind the scenes. I love having multiple roles. Sometimes, I wish I was just doing one thing, but I would definitely miss a lot of them if did anything else,” she says.

Gallagher asserts that growing up in Mentor was truly special and that it’s a great place for families, “Living in different cities and being different places has given me an appreciation for the kind of an environment I grew up. Not everyone is that lucky.”

Some of her fondest memories were enjoying the outdoors in our area parks and natural areas, “Nature was always such an important thing to us, and the access to nature in Mentor is fantastic.  We loved visiting the Lagoons and Headlands Beach, as well as hanging out in the Marsh.”

These days, Megan makes her home in Lakewood in order to be close to work but relishes each opportunity she gets to spend time with family and friends in Mentor. Her current passion is mentoring youth and passing on the lessons she has learned.

“I try to teach them about communications skills,” she says, “There is such a need for it. You can never help children enough to understand how to navigate life. I was kind of a lost kid in middle school and high school. Teaching these kids that being able to talk in front of people and able to carry yourself and a conversation with anyone is such an important skill to have – especially in this field.”

When asked what’s in store, Gallagher responded, “I love Cleveland. I am pretty happy here right now. We’ll see what happens in the future, I’m always open to opportunity.”