	{"id":6398,"date":"2018-01-17T23:26:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-17T12:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=6398"},"modified":"2018-01-17T23:26:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T12:26:33","slug":"community-profile-january-18-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Profile &#8211; January 18, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A year as a Monash University exchange student in Johannesburg heightened Megan\u2019s interest in Africa. \u201cIt was a bit of a culture shock but I loved it.\u201d During her time studying, with an interest in volunteer work, Megan helped out at The Oak Tree Foundation, an organisation to help young people. On completion of her arts degree, with majors in psychology and philosophy, and tired of study, she headed off on her own to backpack more of Africa and to explore Europe.<\/p>\n<p>After a year, Megan returned to Melbourne and began work with the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. Four years later she took a job with Melbourne University\u2019s Advancement Office, first in administration then in fund raising, becoming particularly involved in the Student for Students Campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Although Megan enjoyed her job, after four years she was tiring of sitting in an office. Her interest in fitness and healthy living prompted her to qualify as a personal trainer and join a friend\u2019s newly formed company, \u2018Liv Fun Fit\u2019. She developed an interest in boxing and ran small group classes.<\/p>\n<p>Megan has been coming to Lorne for holidays with her family since she was born. \u201cMum was pregnant with me while the beach house was being built. Lorne had always felt like a second home.\u201d She had a cousin working in hospitality at Bottle of Milk, who, when she expressed interest in escaping the city, encouraged her to move down. She quickly found work as a waitress, loved \u201cthe energy of it and dealing with customers\u201d, and living in Lorne &#8211; so decided to stay.<\/p>\n<p>That was two years ago. She has since met Tim. They bought a house and a dog, and she set up three bee hives, keeps fit boxing a bag, reads and walks on the beach. She has more than likely been one of the helpful waitresses who has served you at Ipsos.<\/p>\n<p>I have the feeling we will be seeing Megan around for some time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CW<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A year as a Monash University exchange student in Johannesburg heightened Megan\u2019s interest in Africa. \u201cIt was a bit of a culture shock but I loved it.\u201d During her time studying, with an interest in volunteer work, Megan helped out at The Oak Tree Foundation, an organisation to help young people. On completion of her [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":6399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-6398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Community Profile - January 18, 2018 - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community Profile - January 18, 2018 - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A year as a Monash University exchange student in Johannesburg heightened Megan\u2019s interest in Africa. \u201cIt was a bit of a culture shock but I loved it.\u201d During her time studying, with an interest in volunteer work, Megan helped out at The Oak Tree Foundation, an organisation to help young people. On completion of her [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"jamespetertaylor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-17T12:26:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/Megan-Oconnell.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"93\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"107\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@notthatjt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677\"},\"headline\":\"Community Profile &#8211; January 18, 2018\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-17T12:26:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":336,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Megan-Oconnell.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/\",\"name\":\"Community Profile - January 18, 2018 - Surf Coast Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Megan-Oconnell.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-17T12:26:33+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Megan-Oconnell.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Megan-Oconnell.png\",\"width\":93,\"height\":107},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/community-profile-january-18-2018\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Community Profile &#8211; January 18, 2018\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Surf Coast Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677\",\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"description\":\"James\u2019 first job in journalism was at the Bendigo Advertiser, where he held a number of roles, including reporter, sub-editor and arts and features writer. He has also worked for several publications at Fairfax, including the Knox Weekly, Casey Weekly and Pakenham Weekly, and in the UK with the Berkshire Media Group. Raised in Geelong, James has been back in his hometown since 2011 and now lives in Waurn Ponds. Outside of journalism, James divides his time between barracking for the Cats, chasing his two-year-old daughter around, and posting on Twitter (@notthatjt).\",\"sameAs\":[\"jamespetertaylor\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/@notthatjt\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/author\\\/jamestaylor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Community Profile - January 18, 2018 - Surf Coast Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Community Profile - January 18, 2018 - Surf Coast Times","og_description":"A year as a Monash University exchange student in Johannesburg heightened Megan\u2019s interest in Africa. \u201cIt was a bit of a culture shock but I loved it.\u201d During her time studying, with an interest in volunteer work, Megan helped out at The Oak Tree Foundation, an organisation to help young people. On completion of her [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/","og_site_name":"Surf Coast Times","article_author":"jamespetertaylor","article_published_time":"2018-01-17T12:26:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":93,"height":107,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/Megan-Oconnell.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"James Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@notthatjt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/"},"author":{"name":"James Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677"},"headline":"Community Profile &#8211; January 18, 2018","datePublished":"2018-01-17T12:26:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/"},"wordCount":336,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/Megan-Oconnell.png","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/","name":"Community Profile - January 18, 2018 - Surf Coast Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/Megan-Oconnell.png","datePublished":"2018-01-17T12:26:33+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/Megan-Oconnell.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/01\/Megan-Oconnell.png","width":93,"height":107},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/community-profile-january-18-2018\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community Profile &#8211; January 18, 2018"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","name":"Surf Coast Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization","name":"Surf Coast Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","width":350,"height":38,"caption":"Surf Coast Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677","name":"James Taylor","description":"James\u2019 first job in journalism was at the Bendigo Advertiser, where he held a number of roles, including reporter, sub-editor and arts and features writer. He has also worked for several publications at Fairfax, including the Knox Weekly, Casey Weekly and Pakenham Weekly, and in the UK with the Berkshire Media Group. Raised in Geelong, James has been back in his hometown since 2011 and now lives in Waurn Ponds. Outside of journalism, James divides his time between barracking for the Cats, chasing his two-year-old daughter around, and posting on Twitter (@notthatjt).","sameAs":["jamespetertaylor","https:\/\/x.com\/@notthatjt"],"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/author\/jamestaylor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6398"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=6398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}