The past several years, Meagan Thompson of KXLF-TV has proven to be a fearless reporter who is not afraid to ask the tough questions.

Last week, she took her camera into a homeless camp filled with potential danger to make sure she got all sides of a complicated story about a neighborhood fed up with transients, drugs and garbage.

Meagan also brought to light the fight of Jamie Decker and Top Deck Medical Aesthetics to build a handicap ramp at the office across the street from the Courthouse when county leaders were saying they could not. Her coverage helped right a wrong right in front of our eyes.

Meagan asked tough questions of the governor and other state and local officials when our water supply was exposed to possible contamination last summer. She was one of the first on the scene after the Owl Bar shooting last August, and she continues to cover the story of the alleged shooter, the victims and their families.

You have seen her near the front lines of wildfires, reporting on the people impacted by the disasters.

The thing you might not have known about Meagan, though, is that she never intended to be a television journalist. She graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in journalism, a camera and a love of art.

That came after former Emerson Yellowjacket and Whittier Wildcat graduated from Butte High School, where she played soccer four seasons for the Bulldogs, in 2000.

Meagan worked for five years as a staff photographer at a newspaper in Idaho before return to Butte to open a photography studio and then take a job as a photographer at The Montana Standard.

When Lee Enterprises, which owns the paper, started forcing employees into unpaid furloughs, Meagan moved out of her comfort zone and got on the other side of the camera for KXLF.

On Friday, I met with Meagan inside the Vault at the Metals Sports Bar & Grill for a fun conversation. Listen in as she talks about her long road to television reporting.

Listen as she talks about some of the hard-hitting stories she delivered to the viewers of KXLF and around the state on the Montana News Network. Listen in to hear why it is important to her got always get all sides of every story.

Today’s episode is presented by Thriftway Super Stops. Download the TLC app and start saving today.