Back in the nineties, if you’d tuned into an early episode of Sex and the City, you might have come across the term ‘slashie’.

It was used somewhat disparagingly to describe the archetypal model/actress, or perhaps actress/waitress – the women wearing many hats in pursuit of their big apple dreams.

But for Gorgi Coghlan - broadcaster, classically trained singer, and the owner of the award-winning boutique Provincial Hotel and Lola Restaurant, Ballarat – variety is the spice of life. And she puts the wearing of many hats down as essential for her sense of satisfaction in life. A news director once accused her of being a “Jack of all trades, master of none”, but Gorgi describes that as “some of the worst advice I've ever been given”, because her career has been defined by her ability to pivot (and haven’t we all needed that skill, post-2020).

An Ambassador for Veuve Clicquot’s prestigious BOLD Women Awards, Gorgi is the embodiment of living boldly. And here, she speaks openly about leaving The Project after 11 years, about her heartbreaking fertility battles, and why going from TV to hospitality made perfect sense. At 46, she says, “I don’t feel like I’ve scratched the surface yet”…

You’ve had such a varied career. Do you think that we often get boxed into thinking that we can only have one career in life?

Absolutely. I think that starts really early, when we have that simple question at school, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ So I think we do box ourselves in. I'm 46 and I'm thinking to myself, "Oh my goodness, I'm four years off 50," and I don't feel like I've scratched the surface yet, in a really wholehearted way. I feel so much that I've still got is in me, that's still bubbling up and yet to be discovered. The worst advice I was given once by a news director was, "I really feel like, Gorgi, you're the Jack of all trades, but you're the master of none." It was such a horrible thing to say to anyone, but let alone women, when we have to wear so many different hats as it is in society. Women are incredible at that.

So I put that down to some of the worst advice I've ever been given, because I feel like one of my strengths and the thing I'm most proud of is that I do several things and I feel like I do them really well. I'm really proud of the mother that I am, and I'm really proud of my career. I'm a really creative person and I am a really driven person, so it keeps me really engaged with life. If I had just gone down one path, I can't imagine how unhappy I would be. 

Madame Clicquot was arguably the first female entrepreneur, and at the Veuve Clicquot Bold Awards, we learnt that a number of women aspiring to become entrepreneurs had jumped from 39% to 44%. Why do you think this is?

I think there's been a greater awakening of what it means to be a woman in the world. For so long there were so many shoulds and shackles on who we were meant to be, and from such a young age, women have been moulded and subconsciously told to be nurturers and carers and givers. And that's wonderful, and there are some women who just thrive in that role. But for many of us, it's been a discovery of realising I'm more than that. Because being a nurturer and looking after everyone else, sure, that's a privilege I feel that I have as a woman. I naturally do have that, but I've also realised that that doesn't necessarily serve me and my happiness and my joy. I can only talk on my behalf, but there's been a real release and a freedom in owning that. And so hopefully we're seeing women around the world decide, "I don't have to be boxed into this particular role. I can be a wonderful nurturer and have this incredible career," and pushing back against the patriarchy. 

I think my generation, I'm Gen X, we had that really weird combination of, ‘you can do anything, you can change the world, get a career.’ It was quite an empowering generation, Gen X. And we feel like we can do everything, which is why sometimes I think we almost get burn-out. But then I still feel like my generation were told, ‘When you have children and you stop your career, it's a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice for the family and it's a sacrifice for the community and for society,’ and I still think we believe that a little bit, and it's still taken, for me, the last five to 10 years to go, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's just so wrong on so many levels. Men need to sacrifice the same. They make the same choice to have that child with you, so where's their penance in terms of a career?’

You and your husband, Simon, opened the Provincial Hotel. Tell me about what it was like stumbling across the building, because I'm sure it's still such a vivid memory in your mind, and what was the vision that you both had?

It was literally a stumble. When I walked through it, I could feel intuitively this magic. I knew we were in a bit of a moment in our lives, but I also knew that we were about to just jump off this huge cliff of hard work. And when I do something, same with Simon, when we do it, we want to do it really well. You have to do it full-on. She just presented herself in our lives at the right time. And I say "she" because there's a real connection to her for us as a building. She's this beautiful, grand dame that stands tall in the CBD, and it was like she just tapped us on the shoulder and said, "Okay you two. It's time for you to come and do this."

It's a really theatrical, vibrant, moving beast, hospitality. It's hard work to do well. So when you do nail it, because you give so much of your soul, it's quite magical. It's quite addictive.

For the past decade, you have been a regular co-host on Network 10's The Project. Tell me about the big decision to leave.

It was just time. Success for me has never been how high I am up on the ladder, it's been, how much does a job nourish me? 

And I think, for me, it just got to the point where after 11 years, I just decided, "I think I'm done here. I think I've got what I needed to get in terms of my fulfillment out of that show, my joy." And it was just a really strong, intuitive feeling. With the pandemic, we all had a reflection on what we've done, where we want to go, what we want to do. And for me, I questioned what I else do I want to get from this job, and more importantly, what else do I want to do? I really wanted to be home more. With homeschooling, I just had a pull to be anchored here. And when I weighed all of that up, it was just this overwhelming decision. And once I've made that decision, there's no turning back for me.  It wasn't an easy decision because I love the team and I love the show, and I'm so grateful for what that show gave me. It gave me so much over 11 years, beautiful friendships and experiences and memories. When I flick through my iPhone now, I just smile at all of the memories. And I think that's a really nice place to finish. 

On the topic of motherhood, you've written before that as parents of an only child, it's always fascinating to observe people's judgment and assumptions. And you've said, "I'm immune now to the common question, so is it just one?" When people make comments like that to you, what's the response that you have now?

What we think a woman should be is someone who wants more than one, or has more than one. "Do you have children?" I often correct them and say, "We have one child."  I'm not defensive, but I don't explain anything anymore. I don't feel the need to explain. I don't feel the need to justify.  I think when you have an empathetic heart and you're a person that tries to make other people feel comfortable, you try and compensate for their comments sometimes. I'm pretty good at calculating who those people are. I think there are legitimate people that don't mean anything by it, and it's really innocent, and I'm pretty good at working out that energy, but when I do feel, hear and see a judgmental take on it, I just don't buy into it anymore. I do a quick calculation, I think, "I'm not going to change this person, so am I going to spend the energy trying to correct them, or will I just let it sit out there in the ether and just stand between us?" And that's a lot more powerful, I find.

The Provincial Hotel

You've been very open about your fertility journey and you've said that part of the reason you're so comfortable talking about your IVF journey is that it releases so much built up guilt and inadequacy in you. Do you ever feel this guilt anymore? And if not, what was the journey like to healing from that?

I still feel moments of sadness now more than guilt, and I'm not going to lie, I'm 46. If my period's a bit longer even now, I still get that tinge of excitement, of ‘maybe it's a miracle. Maybe’. And I don't think it ever truly goes away. There's a couple of things that will make you come undone, and we are very open with Molly-Rose about it. We talked to her when we went through IVF. We just didn't want it to be this secret thing that we were dealing with on the side, but we also said to her, "But we're so grateful to have you and you are enough. This is just a bit of icing on the cake. We don't need anything else." Because I didn't want her to feel like just being her is not enough. But I remember when she was in grade two and she came home with a sheet from school, and it was one of those cute little information sheets, ‘my mums, my dads, how many brothers and sisters’, and she just wrote ‘none’. That just absolutely tore me apart. I was in tears, and it really, really, really hit me, that tiny little sentence of the reality of her life. 

I hear people say, "So have you got any brothers and sisters?" I mean, even that I sort of think, "Oh my God, why are you asking this child that all the time?" But maybe that's just my oversensitivity. And she's so gorgeous because she'll just blurt out, "No, I'm an only child, but I've got so many friends." She'd say, "Mum, I really would've like a sister. I'd really like a brother." Oh, it was a dagger in the heart. That was so painful for me to hear, and now I'm in a position where I say, "I know sweetheart, and me too." And, "We'll keep trying and having some fun, but maybe it wasn't meant to be.”

Madame Clicquot met every challenge in her life very, very boldly. How do you approach your life boldly?

I think I'm able to approach it boldly because of a sense of self that is strong. I understand who I am. I have learnt to really appreciate myself, accept myself and love myself for my faults, as well as my strengths. And I'm not afraid to be vulnerable, and that gives me power. I feel that vulnerability is courage, and courage gives you the strength to be bold. I'm okay if I fail. I really don't mind. Failing is often the greatest gift we can get. So I'm not afraid of failure. And that also gives me a superpower.