OHMYGOSSIP — Steph McGovern felt dismissed as “thick” when she began her TV career.
The ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’ host – who worked as an engineer before becoming a business journalist and producer for the BBC – admitted she was written off because she is a woman and because of her North East accent, but it only made her determined to prove people wrong.
She told Prima magazine: “People have underestimated me in the past, particularly when I was a business journalist interviewing CEOs. They would automatically assume I was there to make the tea or that I’d be thick.
“But it made me think, ‘I’m going to show you!’
“I’d say to anyone now who’s lacking confidence or might be worried their background will hold them back, ‘Actually, it’s your superpower’.”
The 41-year-old star insisted her work colleagues weren’t “mean” to her but she knew her working-class background gave her a different outlook on life which they couldn’t relate to.
However, Steph came to realise that was a big advantage and she encourages others in her position not to feel they need to change themselves.
She added: “At first, I felt like I really stood out at the BBC. Nobody was mean to me, but I felt I was unusual because of my background.
“I’d suggest stories – such as the fact that people in poorer areas had to hire TVs – and I’d know people were secretly thinking, ‘That doesn’t happen’.
“But it was an epiphany for me, I realised I could bring something new to the table. I refused to let being different put me off.
“I was never going to change my voice, yet I felt like I suddenly had to be someone else.
“Then my editor said, ‘No, just be yourself.’ Now I say to people, ‘Don’t change who you are.’ ”
Source: VacationHunter.Online