How she does it: Coryse Borg
Coryse Borg. Photo by: Rio Warner
Actress and writer Coryse Borg recently took the leap and went freelance. This opened a door – which she walked straight through - into the world of radio. The first topic she picked?... Forgotten women. She talks about what inspired her to learn about history’s hidden heroines and her urge to share what she learned.
What spurred you to go freelance?
I had worked freelance in the past. I’m not going to say it's easy. Sometimes I still wake up and ask: ‘What did I do?’ Because I left a secure job as a full-time content writer.
When I was employed full-time, at one point I had stopped doing theatre. I could not do it with a full-time job, a young son, topped with rehearsals in the evening. I needed a break.
Over the years, when it came to my full-time job, I moved from news, to financial services and the corporate world. But I started to feel a bit not like myself and that was worrying to me.
I was feeling grey. I’m not a grey type of person. I got into a rut. I was almost burnt out.
Then I hit 50. I thought to myself: ‘If I don’t do this now, I’m not going to do it.’ It also coincided with a couple of friends, who were not much older than me, passing away. You start to think about your own mortality.
So I asked myself: ‘This is where I am. Am I happy at the moment?’ The answer was: ‘Not really. I’m not unhappy, but I’m a bit meh.’
Also, my son Andrea is now a teenager and more independent. So now is the time.
How was the actual transition?
I’m one of those people who are very, very cautious. I’m not a risk-taker. I like to be very financially independent. The plan was to try freelance work for about six months, and if it didn’t work, I would find something else
Then something happened that encouraged me. I was having lunch with a friend - Colin Fitz - who works at the University of Malta radio station Campus 103.7 and he invited me to visit the station.
I went and met with the station manager, Celaine Buhagiar. I was eventually offered to co-host the summer breakfast show with Colin - which I accepted. I said ‘yes’. At the station, I was also told to let them know if I had any ideas.
Coryse with her son Andrea.
Tell me about the birth of that idea.
Some time back I was scrolling through Instagram. My Instagram is my happy place. I curate it for nice stories only: kittens, recipes, puppies, art, theatre, culture, film.
I was scrolling, when something popped up and I saw a story about the younger sister of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright who went down in history as “the Wright brothers”.
“I was thinking to myself: ‘Why don’t I know this?’ We did history at school, but I can’t remember learning about any prominent female figures apart from Malta’s first female president Agatha Barbara. But there were many amazing women in our history.”
Her name was Katharine Wright Haskell. It turned out that she was seminal to their work. I did a bit more digging: her mum had died early so she took over that caring role. She was a teacher and suffragette and funded her brothers’ work with money she made from her teaching and kept all the accounts. She was eventually given a medal of honour. I was thinking to myself: ‘Why don’t I know this?’
We did history at school, but I can’t remember learning about any prominent female figures apart from Malta’s first female president Agatha Barbara.
But there were many amazing women in our history. I would have been fascinated if I had learned about these people at school.
How did that idea become a radio programme?
Then the idea crystallised. I was in Sicily with my partner and he was watching a football match. I started thinking about this – these women I had researched.
I had Googled ‘forgotten women’ and came up with a list of foreign and Maltese women who seemed to have been left out of the history books. For one of the episodes, I interviewed writer and actress Kim Dalli who did the documentary The Women of George Cross Island.
Coryse with climber/data analyst Julia Vella before the first programme of Nisa Minsija.
These include female wartime hero Mary Ellul, known as Mary Man, who used to help rescue people from under the rubble during the war. Another programme featured Malta’s first female university graduate Tessie Camilleri and philanthropist Cosmana Navarra, amongst other prominent Maltese women.
I sent a proposal to put together Nisa Minsija - a programme about these women - and, sure enough, it happened.
Nisa Minsija includes a total of 13 episodes aired every Monday at 2pm. There are some online for those who missed them. You can find them here (to see all the programmes you have to press ‘up next’).
In each programme I have a guest from the niche subject of the forgotten woman we are focusing on. The women we focused on included Kathrine Switzer who became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, pioneering photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White and so many more.
Do you think these programmes are needed?
Things have changed but there are still parallels. For example, the past tells us stories of women who felt the need to use a nom de plume like author Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot.
Now we have Joanne Rowling, known by her pen name J. K. Rowling. Her publisher had suggested she use the pen name for her Harry Potter series to ensure men and young boys relate to her work.
“The past tells us stories of women who felt the need to use a nom de plume like author Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot. Now we have Joanne Rowling, known by her pen name J. K. Rowling.”
Women are still not the same: the gender pay gap and the fact that we bear the children and take on the main caring role - it’s almost expected of us even when our parents are elderly. Of course, there are men who share in the caring roles, but research proves that, in most cases, it’s the women.
Having a programme that celebrates women is not about being against men.
I think it’s unfair that when we read history, we mainly celebrate the accomplishments of men. If they were just doing so, it’s fine. But it's not.
Photo by: Rio Warner
“We spent all these hundreds and thousands of years celebrating men – who should be celebrated. But there were also the women who were in the background and who deserve to be celebrated and known.”
Take, for example, Hedy Lamarr. She was an actress who had an inventing table in her trailer and, together with music composer George Antheil, they came up with what eventually will become ‘frequency hopping’, the precursor to what would eventually become Wi-Fi. And she is one of the women people do know about.
Ask anyone to name an artist and they will come up with a long list of men that include Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dalí. Ask for the name of a woman and you might get Frida Kahlo. But what about Artemesia Gentileschi, Margaret Keane, and Tina Blau?
We spent all these hundreds and thousands of years celebrating men – who should be celebrated. But there were also the women who were in the background and who deserve to be celebrated and known. It’s about time that we bring them to the forefront and create a level playing field.
Is there a message you picked up when learning about these women?
Us women are often ‘the daughter of’, ‘the wife of’ and ‘the mother of’. If I had to look back at my childhood, I realise that – like many girls back then – I was raised to ‘be good’, ‘be nice’, ‘be helpful’.
I think that this is why I am such a people-pleaser. There have been times when those people have taken advantage of this and I end up kicking myself for letting it happen.
So, if I had to give advice to women now, I’d tell them: it’s okay to say ‘no’.
But ‘yes’ can also be a powerful word. I accepted the radio job which was a bit outside my comfort zone - and I’m getting back into it. In fact, I will be doing a daily afternoon programme on Campus 103.7, called The Lunchbox as from October.
I love it. I’m really enjoying it.
Photo used here were taken by: Rio Warner, Elisa von Brockdorff, Nadine Genovese, Jacob Sammut, Christina Muscat-Azzopardi.How she does it…
We often look on at other people in awe and ask ourselves: How does she do it? How does she find the time? How does she find the willpower?
Woman Unclouded believes that, by sharing our stories, women can inspire one another - to take the leap, make that call, book that class. A leap towards doing what you really want to do or being who you really want to be. It does not have to be something extraordinary. It just needs to be special for you.
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