BBC business journalist honoured by Teesside University

Popular BBC journalist Stephanie McGovern returned to her hometown to receive an Honorary Doctorate.

Stephanie was at Teesside University in Middlesbrough, where she was made an Honorary Doctor in Professional Achievement.

The 31-year-old admitted to being excited and overwhelmed at receiving the accolade.

She said: 'I always think of people who get honorary degrees as having really achieved something and I don’t feel like I have yet.'

Teesside University has forged partnerships with companies across a wide range of sectors and Stephanie’s role as a business journalist on BBC Breakfast means she’s well acquainted with the issues facing those companies.

She’s also a huge advocate for the North East and grasps every opportunity to promote the area and its people.

She said: 'I’m proud to be from the North East, I remember early in my career people telling me I needed to change my accent, that I needed to sound more professional, more BBC perhaps, but I think if I wasn’t from Middlesbrough I wouldn’t have done as well as I have.'

The former Macmillan Academy pupil left Middlesbrough to complete a degree in Science Communication and Policy at University College London.

She later worked at Black & Decker and won an engineering award, but decided to follow her dream of working in the media and secured work experience at the BBC where she’s gone from strength to strength.

Stephanie, who now lives in Manchester, paid tribute to her parents Anne and Eamonn, who accompanied her to the graduation ceremony, saying: 'They have been key to everything I have achieved in life, I couldn’t have done it without them.'

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