2018 Speakers & Themes
The Silver Sirens Event is about sharing experiences from a holistic perspective; body, mind, and spirit,
so every woman who comes to the event will take away something meaningful to their own life experience.
This was our first event and I really had no idea what would work but I wanted to explore ageing from a broad perspective and offer a holistic view of ageing.
As I walked onto that stage for the first time, I was terrified. Racked with anxiety and imposter syndrome, I had not eaten for weeks and had been running on adrenaline in the lead-up to the event. My internal dialogue was of self-doubt and fear of failure.
But...from the opening by our MC Kathryn Toohey - who said "When women come together magic happens', to our first speaker psychotherapist Deb Pembleton, sharing the psychological effect of a midlife crisis, I exhaled and my body relaxed.
After the first segment, my event manager and dear friend Jann Hing came up to me and gave me big hug, and said, congratulations, this is great! I knew instantly that we were onto something.
My very favourite segment that year and subsequent years are The Elders. Our elders were Andreea Kindryd who was the first black woman to appear in Star Trek and Elizabeth Burton, Sydney's infamous burlesque dancer.
Elizabeth passed away last year and her riotous tales had us in shock, giggling like naughty schoolgirls. Elizabeth's four M motto for healthy ageing was: Mobility, Mastacation, Meditation and Masturbation.