Chuang: Len Brown is still my role model

Bevan Chuang says she wants to use her profile to help advance the cause of ethnic communities in New Zealand. Photo / NZ Herald

Bevan Chuang says Auckland mayor Len Brown remains one of her role models.

The mayor's former mistress also says she wants to use the public profile she received during the sex scandal to do good for New Zealand's ethnic communities.

Ms Chuang became a household name after the explosive revelations of their two-year-long relationship.

Ms Chuang, an aspiring local body politician, told Radio Live this morning she was often recognised on the street, with people wanting to take photos and to talk to her.

"[One] thing I've learned was that if this doesn't do anything to me, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger really, I think. I think I can use this profile that I've got now to do something good.

"... The work that I want to do now is getting the ethnic communities aware of the political process because a lot of them don't really care until things like my story broke.

"When my story broke suddenly everyone was commenting about me and my behaviour. The thing is that we still have a very low turnout from the ethnic communities and they don't really understand the process."

She said her notoriety was "a bit scary", as the story had even reached her native Hong Kong.

"But the people around me are very supportive. There are people obviously who are not and who are judgmental. That's okay, I can understand. But none of them have been aggressive towards me, at least physically."

Ms Chuang was asked by interviewer Wallace Chapman who her heroes were.

She said pop star Madonna was one.

"Who's your role model locally, who do you look up to ?" Chapman asked.

"This is really ironic, but I actually did really respect the Mayor a lot and I looked up to him in a lot of other ways. He actually was a really great mentor... He was able to teach me things about life and all the political life."

She said she did not miss him.