Be yourself and you’ll stand out for the right reasons
Steph McGovern talks to ABI JACKSON about being authentic and keeping family life off social media
STEPH McGOVERN is reflecting on the words of wisdom she’s heard over the years which have stuck with her.
“The thing that’s stuck the most – and what I think about most for my little girl – is just about authenticity,” says the presenter, who has a twoand-a-half-year-old daughter with her partner.
“You are you for a reason: the environment you’ve grown up in, the family, the background, the geographical location, the community. All those things have a part in making you, you – and you don’t need to change that, no matter what, because that’s what makes you authentically you. The right people will love and respect you and value you for that.
Steph – who hosts Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch – was born in Newcastle and raised in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. She was awarded an Arkwright Engineering Scholarship at sixth-form, due to her potential in the field – but work experience on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World set the wheels in motion for a broadcasting career, with Steph working her way up from researcher to producer and presenting roles, including covering economic and business news for BBC One and BBC Breakfast.
“When I started out, to be a girl with a regional accent going into mainstream media was really unusual,” recalls Steph, who’ll turn 40 in May. “I remember one boss saying, ‘You’ve got to where you are because you’re you and that’s the great thing, because you’re really normal – for want of a better word’.
“That’s been something I’ve kept telling myself. There have been times when I’ve felt out of place in certain situations and thought, ‘God, I need to behave a bit posh here or sound different’. But I’ve tried to say, ‘No – be yourself, be yourself, be yourself and you’ll stand out for the right reasons’.”
It’s a message she highlights when giving talks at schools. Although, not everyone she’s worked with has been so supportive: “I’ve also had bosses who said, ‘You’re never going to end up on telly with a voice like that’. But I’ve listened to the ones that were inspiring. That’s another thing I tell kids – you might hit barriers, come up against people who don’t value you. But they’re just one voice, and you don’t have to listen to that one voice.
“Find the ones that are positive – they’re the ones to take with you.”
Recently, Steph has been re-visiting roots in a different way, teaming up with her dad Eamonn, 68, on the #GenerationWOW (which stands for ‘wonderful older wisdom’) campaign in partnership with Specsavers Home Visits and u3a, the ‘positive ageing’ movement University of the Third Age, highlighting skills older people can share with younger generations.
They’ve created a series of skill-sharing tutorials – and Steph’s done one with her dad, a professional artist. It sees Eamonn lead his daughter through a masterclass to produce a painting of a local landscape.
“Growing up, I’ll be honest, I thought, ‘Why does my dad have to have a weird job?”’ she laughs. “I thought our house was really weird, it was all paintings and sculptures. But as I’ve got older, I’ve thought, ‘My dad’s an artist, that’s amazing!”’
Although they had occasionally painted together, they’d never done it as properly as this – and while Steph’s chuffed with the painting she produced thanks to her dad’s guidance, the chance to connect is what she really cherished.
“Because you don’t really make time like that, do you? I’ve got a little girl and a lot of the time with my mum and dad is spent talking about her.
This time, we were just having a good conversation – even asking him about all his different paint brushes, I’d never really asked what they’re all for.
“When it’s something you’ve grown up with, you don’t ever stop and ask.
“It was a privilege to have that time, and hear my dad talk about how he feels about things and his life,” she adds. “I’ve learned so much more about him as a young man and being an artist in the Seventies.
“It made me think about how weird it was for him being an artist in an Irish family, where no one had gone to uni before him... You don’t stop and have those conversations, really.”
It inspired her to start “documenting” more conversations.
“I’ve started recording conversations with people in my family and asking them about stuff. I have family in Northern Ireland, so asking them about The Troubles. All of that is knowledge and history, and capturing their voice, capturing the skills and stories of other people, it’s really important.”
Steph says she’s been thinking more about documenting things for her daughter too – especially since she was born at such an unusual time – the start of the pandemic.
“In the world we live in now, we don’t stop and go, ‘Oh, tell me about this then’, and just listen, (and then ask), ‘How did you deal with that?”’
Storytelling is a passion for Steph – yet she’s very clear on her boundaries with social media. “I never put my family on there – and when I say family, I mean my partner and my daughter, obviously I’m doing this campaign with my dad.
“But I haven’t even shared my little girl’s name or any pictures of her, because I want it to be her choice when she’s older, whether she wants to put herself out there or not,” Steph explains. “And the same with my partner, she’s not in the public eye and we keep that separate and that’s healthy, because no one’s making an opinion about our family life. If they have an opinion, it’s about me – and that’s fine because I’ve chosen to put myself out there.”
Parenthood has “really changed” her approach to taking care of her health too, Steph admits.
“It’s always been career, career, career, and survival mode when it comes to health. I did dancing for a long time growing up (she’s a former Irish dancing champion) and I like to run, but I never really did anything seriously thinking ‘is it going to make me live longer?’
Now, since having our little girl, I have more work-life balance, which means I’ve also got a really good relationship with my partner, and I focus on my spiritual wellbeing,” adds Steph.
“Not in a cheesy getting-the-crystals-out kind of way, more in the sense of what makes me happy. And doing more of what makes me happy, so it doesn’t feel like it’s all about my job.”