Megan M.

So, tell me more about this Megan person!

I’m an idea generator — with a gift for situational brilliance.
Most of my professional time is spent brainstorming and generating brilliant ideas. I have a particular knack for getting myself out of sticky jams, and my creative cortex busts into overdrive in desperate situations. I’m very proud of how far I and my projects have come as a result of this skill, and am always looking for ways to develop it. (Here are some suggestions, by the way.)

I design awesome web and print projects.
I’ve worked for upwards of ten years designing web and print media and, now that I’ve realized that thinking really is my job, I’m done deluding myself. I still do quite a bit of design work when I can make a difference to someone awesome, and you’re totally welcome to email me if you have something you’d like me to look at.

P.S.
Keep in mind that I don’t code (except for close, long-time friends with coercive methods). I can code (and have coded many of my personal sites myself) but because I am less effective and quite a bit slower than other professionals in the industry, I generally outsource HTML, CSS, PHP and other programming as needed. I’m happier that way (which means you will be too).

I manage people projects (for the right people).
I have managed small groups of people in web development for many years, but in October and November 2008 I (accidentally) became the project lead for the Tribes Q&A eBook, written and produced by Seth Godin’s Triiibes network. This was an enormous group of people (more than 160 strong, with my frequent interactions falling in a group of maybe 30 or so). It gave me a taste for leading brilliant people through slightly impossible (but truly amazing) projects, and I wish to do more work just like that — with the right group. If you’re it, please email me. I’ll be thrilled to hear from you.

I write like a madwoman.
If you’re reading this, you already know that I keep a Megan-flavored blog overflowing with bits and pieces of my life and work, and I am very motivated to make change happen in other people’s lives, in the world. I’m very happy to consider writing projects or paid blogging exploits for the right client. (I won’t lie, the idea of being paid to blog always gives me a bit of a thrill.)

Here are a few of my favorite entries, from the worldmegan.net archive:
Raise it from the ashes | Seth’s Tribes Presentation in New York | Learning Leadership | Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us | Late to the Party | The Tribes Q&A (by the Triiibe) | Mac Morris and the FBI (Part One) | Jobs and the Mob (Part Two) | Old Man Zodos and Winston Churchill (Part Three) | Hey! Don’t you want me to order some furniture? (Part Four) | By Yourself | Poverty and Purpose | Who You Are and Why You’re Here | Where I face some seriously scary shit, and BY GOD DO IT ANYWAY, because there is no alternative. | Wherein You Find Out Just How Scary That Idea Blueprint Girl Launch Was — Surprise! | When Life Isn’t About Money | My Piece of the Puzzle

Social Work prn / The Social NetWorker
I have also written extensively for Social Work prn and their company blog, The Social NetWorker. Here’s a post I put together that includes my favorite Social NetWorker items.

I sing. (Yes — that too!)
I’ve been studying vocal performance since 1998. I studied for many years with Dr. Wade Raridon in Youngstown, Ohio and since moving to Austin have commuted whenever possible to study with Dr. John van Cura (who happens to be my wonderful Welsh cousin). I sing mezzo-soprano classical repertory (including opera) as well as Welsh traditional folk songs and the occasional jazz standard. I’ve performed extensively as a student and young professional in Ohio, including a two week North American tour with the Pendyrus Male Choir from the Rhondda Valley. I competed to win the North American Festival of Wales’ David G. Morris award in Orlando, Florida. That award gave me a boost to participate at the Welsh National Eisteddfod in Swansea, where I placed second in the mezzo-soprano division of an entirely Welsh-language competition. To my knowledge (and from what others have said), I was the only American competing. (There was a giant pink pavilion, and a huge lot of media — live broadcast, film news, live radio, newspapers everywhere — the works. It was great fun!) I am intensely inspired by the power of music to connect people to themselves and others — I’ve been influenced extensively by the emotional effect a performance can have on one person or a thousand people.

So what’s with all this idea stuff?

I am likewise intensely inspired by the power of ideas and the effect they have on the world at large. Where ideas are smothered, people languish. Where ideas are encouraged to grow and spread, people thrive. Change and diversity is the name of the game, and I’m dealing.

For the last decade at least I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants, determined to make a life for myself that was really worth something. This didn’t mean getting a “regular job” (though I’ve had, uh, I think one of those in all these years) — this meant finding the things I loved and using them to make good changes in my life, providing value to others, and enabling growth all around me. Rather than being easy to do, this has gotten more challenging every year. Every day I have to think better and faster to keep up with the way the world is changing, and the way I’m changing.

I believe that many people manage to completely avoid challenges like these — not because they’re not up to the task but because they don’t know any better. No one told them how glorious life is when you’re really living it (instead of hanging out on the couch). No one told them they could change their circumstances with a little work and belief in themselves, no one told them that a spot of creativity could mean the difference between boredom and happiness. And I believe that if I can show those people what’s possible, they’ll be capable of changing their whole world. They won’t even need me!

My mission is always shifting and developing, but if you want to know more, you can follow my think tank blog. Reading posts there is a lot like watching new wrinkles crawl across my brain. ;}