Hello Kat – our Melbourne curator

So, it’s another good week at Fetch HQ. This time we welcome an added pair of city-event loving hands in Kat Loughrey. I met Kat at a community management workshop I hosted earlier in the year and have been impressed with her enthusiasm and super-organisation skills ever since. It feels great to now collaborate together and bring you all the best of Melbourne. Stay tuned for more from Kat, but read on to discover more below:

How did you end up where you are today?

I’ve always been a curious and inquisitive person, and its that nature of mine that set me on this journey… from getting educated in Brisbane, completing undergrad in NSW, then to Japan for three exciting years of freelance writing, travel and teaching English. Upon my return to Australia, I moved to Melbourne to complete a Masters and get a ‘serious’ job. I realised that I was immensely interested in the digital space, new technologies and the emerging content-fuelled ‘Online Communications’ field, so after stints in government and music media, I eventually landed my current job with Victoria Racing Club. Now I can professionally combine my passion for digital, communications, content curation and social media while being involved with Australia’s most well-known racing event – the Melbourne Cup Carnival – and now also with Melbourne’s established yet ever-growing industry site, The Fetch.

What makes you tick? What makes you ick?

I thrive on exploring Melbourne for new happenings and “hotspots” across the digital industry and creative/art/music scenes, attending what I can with the aim of connecting with new people (and have a good time in the process!). Good music is also a massive ‘tick’ for me, as well as simple home-cooking, wine-tasting, tweeting, Googling, editing academic research, reading non-fiction, LOLdogs, live gigs & DJs, and singing loudly in my lounge room to 90s dance music.

On the flipside, ‘icks’ include ignorance, wastefulness, decisions that don’t help the greater good of people or the environment, and inconsiderate people on public transport. Oh and bad music!

Why do you love ‘fetchin?

I’m a hardcore information junkie, so as I already source my daily fix via the internet, social media, newspapers and more, so being involved with The Fetch will give me a chance to justify my obsession.

I love to share exciting events, places and fun things to do in Melbourne with my friends/networks, so I’m stoked to have the opportunity to share this now to a wider tech savvy and engaged community. Pay it forward I say…

What things excite you about our community right now?

Melbourne is a culturally vibrant and creative city, with always something enticing happening across digital, creative, art, music or environmental scenes.

There is an increased importance placed on “networking”, and this is proven with the ever-growing number of meet-ups available and coworking hubs for the digital/tech industries popping up, that enthusiasm for learning and meeting people in a non-pretentious or office environment is really exciting. The non-judgemental space for entrepreneurs to share their ideas with others is positive and valuable for the growth of the city as well. I am thoroughly enjoying the opportunities to engage with people outside of my field and gain new skills for my career. And the more I chat with people, the more I hear that I’m not alone on this point, so that’s great! Please feel free to invite me to events, we should never stop learning.

What’s your favourite thing about your city?

I love that there’s always something to do in Melbourne… a well as plenty of free events for all ages and numerous industry meetups, it’s simply fantastic. Add to this the long-list of fabulous restaurants, bars, clubs, live music venues, art galleries and more, and you have a stellar city to live in. Plus as with all Australian cities, there are close communities within all scenes, so you can easily see familiar faces if you’re active in your passions.

I’ve lived here six years and yet still feel like I haven’t scratched the surface… I have met many great people though while exploring!

Where can we find you in Melbourne?

Riding the tram to various destinations as I continue exploring this stellar city, observing the sights and the people out of the window.

If not, then at home tip-tapping away on projects online on my lappie listening to ABCJazz… and on the weekend, possibly on the dancefloor at one of Melbs’ underground clubs critiquing the DJ’s set with fellow music-loving friends …

How can we connect with you?

You can tweet me (@KatLoughrey) or email me (kat@thefetch.org). I’d love to hear from you!

Follow @thefetchmelb and ‘like’ us on Facebook to keep up with what’s happening in Melbourne. Please feel free to touch base and introduce yourself, I look forward meeting in person at a local upcoming event. Please also send me your event listings, cool jobs and links that you think the Melbs’ The Fetch community should know about!