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Wise words from Lisa Gorman, the founder and creative director of Australian clothing and accessories label Gorman.
On the best part about working in a predominantly female sphere…
The female voice is quite loud and clear at Gorman, as we are women
creating for other women. The advantage is the understanding of what
our customers want in our brand. Of course there are some mighty fine
men working in the company too, but when it comes to product they tend
to leave us to do our thing.
Women are the multitaskers of the world, which makes for good management, whether it be a company or a family or both.
On the challenges of being a woman in her field…
In terms of my experience in the business world, challenges are vast and varied, man or woman. I grew up in a family with three sisters and my dad was a nurse. Most of our family friends felt sorry for Dad, but we thought he was pretty lucky. However it was definitely a woman’s world growing up in our house purely out of numbers alone.
On the best advice…
‘A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.’ Coco Chanel.
I’m very conscious and incredibly grateful that I’ve grown up in a
society that has allowed me this attitude. It’s not available to all
women of this world unfortunately.
On inspirational women…
This morning, I was visited by eight ladies from Papua New Guinea who are working with me to produce a collection of traditionally woven Bilums (type of bag). The source of inspiration from their product was enormous. But that was
not the only thing. Their personal stories, love of their art form,
their humility and happiness were present in overwhelming proportions.
We are working together to not only show Australia their incredible
work, but to empower these women and the women of their community.
That’s where the inspiration is at.
On ‘Mum’s (NOT) always right’…
I quote Jane Gorman: ‘Lisa, slow down, or you’ll kill yourself.’ Hasn’t
yet rung true… thankfully!
On girl power…
You might have seen me post this before… ‘In Paris I see girls and boys wearing painted nails and bike gloves. People wear bike gloves for grip and painted nails for fancy times,’ wrote Hazel, aged-six at the time. Equality through the eyes of my six-year-old – this is a good sign for the
future!
On what I wish I knew back then…
Too much knowledge when starting out would scare the life out of
you and you wouldn’t start anything at all. I think you find out things when
they’re ready to find you .
On what we need to achieve greater gender equality…
There’s been improvement, but I’d like to see equal numbers of women and
men on company boards, and equal numbers on women’s and men’s pay cheques.
Equality starts at the top, at home, in the workplace… therefore in all areas of society.
