The evolution of Indira 'I'M PROUD OF WHO I AM'

How the beloved Breakfast star learnt to embrace her culture

When Breakfast host Indira Stewart started out in broadcasting, she tried everything she could to be more like the people she'd seen on TV growing up. That meant trying to tone down her Tongan accent and straightening her "beautiful island curls" to conform to society's Western beauty standards.

Two years on, however, and firmly ensconced as a newsreader on TVNZ I's morning show, the 37-year-old mum-of-four is doing things differently. Her hair straighteners have been binned and Tongan-born Indira, who is also of Fijian heritage, is determined to show young brown girls that they too can make it in mainstream media.

"I started to feel like I was straightening my culture out," she says, speaking to us on a wet, wintry Auckland day. "But it took a while to gain my confidence and realise just how important it is to be proud of who I am - and to embrace it. When I was growing up, there was no one who looked like me on TV, so I love the idea that young brown girls can turn on their screens in the morning and see that it's possible."