The Silver Sirens annual event is back for the fifth year!
Silver Sirens has evolved from its grassroots origins to become a global celebration of the explosive cultural shift we call empowered ageing.
Join women around the world for an annual gathering that is a brave space in which to explore the riches, superpowers and challenges that come with ageing, and celebrate the rise and rise of 50+ women.
ABOUT THE EVENT
Saturday 1st October 2022
Re-Imaging Ageing 2022
Be part of a vibrant online community of women who are finding their purpose and rewriting the narrative on women and ageing.
“Together with her incredible team of volunteers and steering committee Faith delivered the most amazing, educational and inspirational, fun event.
It was very well organized from start to finish.”
- 2021 attendee
This October 1st the Silver Sirens event returns to its home on the MCA rooftop overlooking the glorious, iconic Sydney Harbour and architectural masterpiece the Sydney Opera House.
WHO CAN ATTEND? Women of all ages can attend! Silver Sirens defines itself as women of any age who are ready to reimagine ageing as an important, sacred part of being human - without apology.
SILVER LONG WEEKEND
Silver Foxes Meet Silver Sirens
We love our yearly Secret Women’s Business, held in a sacred female space, but this year we give the mic to the boys to gain perspective. Is ageing easier for men? Cliches of playboys in mid-life crisis sailing through mature life abound, but Faith’s experience as a psychotherapist has illuminated the real complexities.
Women are more naturally inclined to build cohesive, emotionally sustaining networks of support and prioritise friendships. Men tend to have fewer social structures and often struggle if they divorce and don’t repartner. Married men live longer than single men (spoiler alert: it’s the opposite for women). With men, job loss and retirement can undermine their sense of self worth and dismantle their lives. Australian men grappling with ageism may be experiencing discrimination for the first time.
What can women learn from the male struggle?
The Empty Nest
After decades of raising children, a woman’s identity as matriarch can become entwined with the daily rituals, sacrifices and nurturing required of being a mum. Some women find it surreal, destabilising, even painful to let go and no longer be needed in the same way. The good news: transitioning out of motherhood can be a new Golden Age, as a woman’s time and resources become her own again. This year, we explore this period of rebirth: a new life is waiting as your family evolves.
Mastering Grief
As we get older, how do we master one of the most powerful forces in the emotional landscape - grief? It’s the price we pay for loving. We grieve the friends and family who have departed, the hardships that have befallen us, the unwieldy forces, seemingly beyond our control, that dictate our lives, our laws, even the very planet we are privileged to walk upon. This year, we explore how best to navigate the inevitable heartbreaks that lie ahead.
70+ women are here to tell us that we are just getting started. Rather than mourn the past, intentional ageing embraces the future. When we see the future embodied by living, breathing women who are a few decades older, we are able to understand the narrative arc of our life more profoundly. No matter the topic, their counsel and shining example is pure spun gold.
Sexuality Beyond 50
We tackle the myth that women don’t care about sex after 50. Sensory pleasure, sexual expression, and just plain fun in the bedroom are an integral part of being human, with no expiry date. In fact, many women over 50 have let a lot go by this time - from dysfunctional early relationships to caring too much about the physical lumps and bumps. No man or woman is an island: sexual connection is our birthright.
MEET OUR SILVER SIRENS 2022 SPEAKERS
Welcome to Country
Welcome to Country
The Empty Nest
After decades of raising children, a woman’s identity as matriarch can become entwined with the daily rituals, sacrifices and nurturing required of being a mum. Some women find it surreal, destabilising, even painful to let go and no longer be needed in the same way. The good news: transitioning out of motherhood can be a new Golden Age, as a woman’s time and resources become her own again. This year, we explore this period of rebirth: a new life is waiting as your family evolves.
The Empty Nest
After decades of raising children, a woman’s identity as matriarch can become entwined with the daily rituals, sacrifices and nurturing required of being a mum. Some women find it surreal, destabilising, even painful to let go and no longer be needed in the same way. The good news: transitioning out of motherhood can be a new Golden Age, as a woman’s time and resources become her own again. This year, we explore this period of rebirth: a new life is waiting as your family evolves.
Click the image to read the full bio of our panelists.
Silver Foxes Meet Silver Sirens
Loneliness is a huge issue for older men. Men tend to have fewer social structures and often struggle if they divorce and don’t re-partner. With men, job loss and retirement can undermine their sense of self worth and dismantle their lives. Australian men grappling with ageism may be experiencing discrimination for the first time.
What can women learn from the male struggle?
Silver Foxes Meet Silver Sirens
Loneliness is a huge issue for older men. Men tend to have fewer social structures and often struggle if they divorce and don’t re-partner. With men, job loss and retirement can undermine their sense of self worth and dismantle their lives. Australian men grappling with ageism may be experiencing discrimination for the first time.
What can women learn from the male struggle?
Click the image to read the full bio of our panelists.
“I attended the Silver Sirens event in 2021 and found it to be uplifting and inspirational. I came away with enormous admiration for the wonderful women who spoke and shared their stories, and I felt inspired and more fearless about pursuing my own dreams. I also felt excited (and no longer daunted) that I’d turned 50! I will be attending the next event – and I hope you will too.”
- 2021 attendee
Sexuality After 50
We tackle the myth that women don’t care about sex after 50.
Sensory pleasure, sexual expression, and just plain fun in the bedroom are an integral part of being human, with no expiry date.
In fact, many women over 50 have let a lot go by this time - from dysfunctional early relationships to caring too much about the physical lumps and bumps.
No man or woman is an island: sexual connection is our birthright.
Sexuality Beyond 50
We tackle the myth that women don’t care about sex after 50.
Sensory pleasure, sexual expression, and just plain fun in the bedroom are an integral part of being human, with no expiry date.
In fact, many women over 50 have let a lot go by this time - from dysfunctional early relationships to caring too much about the physical lumps and bumps.
No man or woman is an island: sexual connection is our birthright.
Click the image to read the full bio of our panelists.
Elders are Treasures: Mastering Grief
As we get older, how do we master one of the most powerful forces in the emotional landscape - grief? It’s the price we pay for loving. We grieve the friends and family who have departed, the hardships that have befallen us, the unwieldy forces, seemingly beyond our control, that dictate our lives, our laws, even the very planet we are privileged to walk upon. This year, we explore how best to navigate the inevitable heartbreaks that lie ahead.
Elders are Treasures: Mastering Grief
As we get older, how do we master one of the most powerful forces in the emotional landscape - grief? It’s the price we pay for loving. We grieve the friends and family who have departed, the hardships that have befallen us, the unwieldy forces, seemingly beyond our control, that dictate our lives, our laws, even the very planet we are privileged to walk upon. This year, we explore how best to navigate the inevitable heartbreaks that lie ahead.
Click the image to read the full bio of our panelists.
EXPLORE THE SILVER SIRENS 2022 SCHEDULE
AM
9:15
Welcome
9:30
Welcome to the Event
with - Faith Agugu
Empty Nest
Morning Tea
Is Ageing Easier for Men?
PM
Lunch
1:30
Sexuality Beyond 50
2:30
Our Charity Partner
3:00
Afternoon Tea
3:15
Entertainment
3:30
Elders Are Treasures
4:30
Raffle and Closing
5pm
Closing
“I’ve attended the previous events in person and I was concerned about an online event. I invited some friends and we turned it into a party. Sharing the day with other women made it such a special occasion and I didn't feel like I was missing out on being part of the community.”
- 2020 Attendee
MEET THE ENTERTAINERS
Click the image to read the full bio of our entertainers.
MEET THE FOUNDER OF SILVER SIRENS
Faith Agugu
If you want to shift your inner dialogue about ageing, Faith Agugu is the woman to have in your corner. She has always had the instinct that she would get better with age, and she is hoping to inspire other women into the same mindset, hence Silver Sirens.
In 2018 Faith launched the inaugural Silver Sirens event in Sydney. “We had some iconic Australian women who took the stage to speak about this potent and transformational period of our lives. Health, beauty, business, leadership and spirituality were all on the agenda on the day."
As a trained psychotherapist with a Bachelor of Social Science, Faith has helped hundreds of women at her Sydney-based practice, The Healing Process, to experience their ‘third age’ as a renaissance of self and true rebirth.
Faith believes that women often internalise cultural messages that warp our ideas of age into something to ignore or even fear, blinding us to our own accomplishments, sexiness and worth.
Faith’s vision to be of service to a wider audience has garnered an audience that doubles year on year, and national media attention, such as feature articles on Silver Sirens in Mindfood Magazine and The Guardian.
ABOUT THE SILVER SIRENS EVENT
OUR CHARITY PARTNER
The Silver Sirens event is meant to not only inspire, but contribute to tangible positive change in older women’s lives. This year we acknowledge the growing number of women over 50 at risk of homelessness and seek to align with individuals and organisations working to reduce this trend. On the day, we will be raising money for NSW’s Older Women’s Network OWN, who have addressed and run workshops for older women on low incomes and in public housing since the mid-1980s.
They do superb work, and have been a vital, consistent voice for older women who are tackling issues such as elder abuse, income insecurity and domestic violence.
By attending this event, you will help us reduce the trend of homelessness amongst women over 50!
SILVER SIRENS 2022 SPONSORS
At Silver Sirens
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the country throughout Australia
and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.
We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Sovereignty was never ceded.
