Megan Tackett has been a recent but recognizable fixture at the Aspen Daily News for the past four years: First as a crime reporter, then chronicling COVID. Last week, she wrapped up her tenure as the paper’s Editor-in-Chief. Tackett has also worked at The Sopris Sun and here at KDNK. During her time at the Daily News she collaborated heavily in the creation of Sol Del Valle, the Spanish language newspaper that has helped expand access to local journalism in the Roaring Fork Valley. When asked about her experience as an editor at the Aspen Daily News, Tackett had this to say:
"I was always simultaneously floored and flattered by the level of engagement of my readers. We have such an incredibly engaged community, and people are so well-informed. It has been the professional honor of my life to sit in this chair in this community, so thank you."
Megan Tackett has formed a reputation for tenacity in her reporting and a familiarity with community members from all walks of life. Tackett doesn’t plan on leaving Carbondale any time soon – she’s focused on her new role as Operations Director for Bowden Real Estate:
"I've gotten to know Bob over the years, and I told him I don't know the field, but I would be honored to take it on. Business development and growth management is definitely in my wheelhouse and something I'm passionate about. He tells me 'I'll teach you the industry, I just want your brain' and I thought okay, here's someone on a similar wavelength as me. But, the thing that's so wonderful to me as well, is he's in a stage of his life where he is really thinking legacy. And when it comes to strategic positioning within the community for him that now also means meaningfully exploring public, private sector partnerships to tackle this workforce housing problem that seemingly every resort community on the Western Slope is facing.
I'm so, so, so excited at every level. I feel like I'm getting paid to get the equivalent of a Harvard MBA, and I think that we have an opportunity to -not create new momentum- but more meaningfully leverage the momentum the community already has going in this conversation as it pertains to housing. So, between those two things it's a dream job."
Now that Tackett is no longer corralling reporters and photographers, you’ll see less of her toting around a laptop, and more of her at yoga classes, out socializing, or skiing to her heart’s content. And if you’re lucky, KDNK listeners can still catch an old recording of Megan doing our translator ID’s that we have in rotation.
