We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meghan Lamontagne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Meghan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
When you are a creative and choose to make a living that way there is always risk but I remember one particular risk that I never imagined I’d have to take. It was 2021 and I had a steady remote creative job and was in, what I thought, a steady relationship, and in a twenty-four hour period my world turned upside down when my relationship suddenly ended and my remote company (based in North Carolina) asked me to relocate from Los Angeles.
I decided, at 33, to take the leap into the unknown. I left my home of ten years in Southern California and relocated to a state where I knew no one. I can say now, I have happily lived in Raleigh, NC for four years and life has not slowed down. My career and relationships have flourished. I am a successful radio personality and also the in-arena host for the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team. Sometimes you have to take the risk, to get the reward! I’m glad I did!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Meghan Lamontagne, or Meghan on the Mic, as some people call me, because pretty much all my jobs require a microphone. I am a local radio personality in Raleigh, NC on MIX 101.5 and I am the in-arena host for the Carolina Hurricanes and the stadium host for the North Carolina Courage. I also run a side business where I help small businesses build their PR and Social Media presence.
When someone asks me what I do for a living, I always struggle to get the words out because I do many things. Like so many creatives and entrepreneurs reading this, but I recently learned that the term, for people like us, is a Multi-Hyphenate.
I’ve always known I wanted to be a performer, and when I was younger, I would tell people I wanted to be the next Ryan Seacrest. When I was 16 my family and I also won “America’s Funniest Videos” and it was my first time in Los Angeles and on a TV set and I immediately knew that is what I wanted for my future.
I got my degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College and moved to Los Angeles in my early twenties to make it happen. Man, the journey of ups and downs are real and you can never predict how life will turn out. You just have to work hard, be a good person, make connections, and have faith in yourself.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I think for most of our lives we’ve always been guided to choose one thing. One area of study. One career path, One brand. I always struggled to pick one. I remember when I was living in Los Angeles I went through so many brand changes. One year I focused on being a “Girl Boss” and the next year I was “Single Meghan” and talked about dating and the next year I was “The Nostalgia Chick” where I did all 90’s content. It was exhausting. I wanted to be all of those things but didn’t know how to build an audience.
If I could go back, I’d tell myself to embrace all your interests and know that you can have a Multi-Hyphenate life! You can be a jack or jill of all trades and a master of all!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Yes! I am currently reading the Multi-Hyphen Life by Emma Gannon. It’s opening my eyes to embracing all I have mentioned and allowing myself to have multiple careers and streams of income.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.MeghanontheMic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghanonthemic/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meghan.lamontagne
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-lamontagne-a81b6b30/
