Helen Kapalos asked by TV boss to change her surname to Smith

Helen Kapalos is proud of her Greek heritage, so when a TV boss asked her tone down her ethnicity by changing her name this was her reaction.

HELEN Kapalos says a former boss suggested she should tone down her ethnicity and change her surname to Smith.

Former television presenter Kapalos said she faced resistance to her Greek heritage early in her career, but things changed for the better after moving to Melbourne

“Early on in my career, I did have a news editor who wanted me to change my name from Kapalos to Smith. That was at Channel 9, but I won’t mention who it was,” Kapalos told the Herald Sun’s Sacked: Showbiz podcast.

“It was really jarring to have that happen.”

Helen Kapalos when she was named Victoria’ Multicultural Commissioner. Picture: Rebecca Michael

Kapalos, a journalist and TV presenter, started her career on radio before taking jobs at Channel 9 as a reporter, Channel 10 as co-presenter on the nightly news bulletin and Channel 7 as host of Today Tonight and a senior correspondent on Sunday Night.

Kapalos said the suggestion to switch surnames followed a conversation with her parents on the topic.

She told them: “I know you want me to change my name if I’m married, or have a family and so on, but I’m very attached to my name.”

Kapalos says: “It’s a really important part of my cultural identity and that heritage is something I’m proud of. I made a decision ... in my teenage years, that I’d always have my name.”

She said her Greek surname “was more of a problem early in my career, (and) maybe it was part of that cycle of time.” Kapalos added: “In Melbourne, it was much more accepted because I could identify with a Greek audience.”

Kapalos wrote, directed and executive produced the doco, A Life Of Its Own, based on a series of stories about medical marijuana she did for Sunday Night.

Kapalos also served as Chair of the Victorian Multicultural Commission for four years

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