“As Silver Sirens turns eight, I find myself planning a birthday celebration and my brother’s funeral in the same week. This is what ageing asks of us – to hold deep grief and deep joy together, and to remember we don’t have to do it alone.”

Faith Agugu 

Eight years ago, when I nervously hosted the very first Silver Sirens conference, I was not the woman I am today. I was searching for language, for courage, and for a community of women who were willing to say, “Ageing doesn’t mean shrinking. It means becoming.” I had no idea that what began as one event would become a living, breathing community that would hold me so tenderly in one of the hardest weeks of my life.

Last week, my brother Michael died. As we approach Silver Sirens’ 8th birthday, I find myself sitting in the raw tension of grief and celebration – the paradox that ageing keeps asking us to navigate. One moment, I am joyful, laughing on the couch with my partner, feeling deeply in love and grateful for this life. The next moment, I think of Michael, and tears spill over before I can even catch my breath.

In one hour, I am recording a video to celebrate Silver Sirens – moved to tears (the good kind) by how far we’ve come, how many women’s lives have touched and changed one another. In the next hour, I am on the phone to London, speaking with funeral directors about his cremation. These emotional contrasts sit side by side now: joy and sorrow, gratitude and heartbreak, expansion and loss. This is what midlife and beyond ask of us – the capacity to hold many truths at once, to let love and grief share the same room in our hearts.

I am not the same woman who began this journey. Silver Sirens has stretched me as a leader, softened me as a woman, and deepened me as an elder-in-training. I’ve learned to stand on stages I once thought were too big for me, to ask for support when I would previously have soldiered on alone, and to trust that my voice – and yours – matters in the global conversation about ageing. Together we have challenged ageism, celebrated our changing bodies, talked honestly about money, sex, purpose, health, loneliness and leadership – the full, unedited complexity of women’s lives after 50.

In eight years, we have:

• Hosted conferences in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Coffs Harbour, with Coffs as our first regional hub and now a thriving part of the Silver Sirens family.​

• Grown an online and in‑person membership community of women 50+ who show up for each other with honesty, humour and fierce kindness.​

• Launched programs like Steptember, ageing‑well conversations, buddy and mentoring initiatives, and countless events where women leave saying, “I feel seen,” “I feel hopeful,” “I feel less alone.”

Perhaps the most unexpected achievement is this: I created a community I didn’t know I needed. In this week of phone calls about funerals and flights to say goodbye, it is the messages, prayers, check‑ins and quiet love from Silver Sirens women that are holding me together. You remind me that we are never meant to shoulder life’s extremes alone – not the wild joy of celebrating eight years, and not the deep ache of losing a brother.

As we blow out the candle on our 8th birthday cake, my wish is simple: that Silver Sirens continues to be a place where we can bring all of it – our laughter and our tears, our beginnings and our endings, our courage and our fear – and know we are held. Because this is ageing in real time: planning parties and funerals in the same week, learning to keep our hearts open through it all, and discovering that together, we are far more resilient, radiant and powerful than we ever realised.

In 2024, I made a conscious decision not to host our own International Women’s Day event, choosing instead to support the many powerful gatherings already available. Please scroll below for our choice of IWD events in your state.

To honour the abundance of choice for women, this month our theme is career reinvention, and the rest of March will be a celebration of our 8th birthday and a time to learn new skills to step up in our careers. I hope you’ll join me next Tuesday for our online, career-themed birthday trivia event—details and link are below.

Happy 8th Birthday, Sirens

Big Hugs,

Faith & The Silver Sirens Team