Amidst a torrential downpour on Gadigal country in Sydney’s East, our 2022 International Women’s Day event came with an outpouring of love, connection, and empowerment from our guests and speakers.

We gathered at Paddington’s Martin Browne gallery to celebrate the year’s theme #BREAKTHEBIAS – in partnership with the iconic Seed Heritage. Dubbed Seeds of Change, we invited four game changing women to share their stories with us, and in an intimate panel discussion, they lit the room up with energy…

Kirli Saunders

Author, artist, consultant and proud Gunai woman Kirli Saunders put her power with words into practice. “International Women’s Day for me is a day of championing the bold women around me and celebrating them”, she said. “It’s also about challenging the systematic racism, discrimination and institutionalised structures that cause harm to women and to non gender-binary people everywhere. I spend a lot of time being a very loud and proud confident Queer Black woman…let’s make big change!” Kirli also talked about the innate wisdom that is intuition, our “deepest knowing”, and how powerful we would all be if we listened to it more fully.

Read our full interview with Kirli here

Kate Darvill

In a perfect representation of why sisterhood is so powerful, when host Georgie Abay asked renowned Fashion Stylist Kate Darvill what she puts her success down to, she spoke about a combination of hard work and luck – only to be shouted down by an audience that included women she has worked with over decades in the industry. “It’s not luck”, they all agreed, but a combination of talent and hard work. As a mother of five, Kate also spoke about why for her, celebrating and empowering women is not just something she focuses on with her four daughters. “It’s also something I teach my son”, she told us, “because I also feel a responsibility to educate my son about equality as I believe the female struggle won’t be as difficult with socially aware men supporting and uplifting women.”

Read our full interview with Kate here

Our panel with host Georgie Abay

Annabelle Williams

If we’d read out all of Annabelle’s accolades we would have had no time left for our panel discussion – so talented is the Paralympian, lawyer, disability advocate, TV presenter, public speaker, and more (believe it or not). But what Annabelle reminded us all was that sometimes the most impactful actions aren’t the ones that bring home gold medals or awards – they’re the simple acts of kindness that shape us. “When you feel different, as I did”, she said about a moment of kindness that changed her life as a child, “that sense of belonging is incredibly important.” And it’s something we all felt palpably in the room.

Read our full interview with Annabelle here

Nicole Liu

For the founder of Kin Fertility, her purpose is to break taboos. After a personal experience that shocked her at just 24 years old, her eyes were opened to how much of women’s reproductive health is shrouded in stigma. And once she started sharing her story, she was blown away by how common it was. “We just weren’t talking about it”, she told us, which is why Kin’s mission is to start conversations and create space to hold them. And it’s a conversation we’re proud to be a part of.

Read our full interview with Nicole here

After filling our cups with inspiring stories and shared experiences, we filled our glasses thanks to our friends at 42 Degrees South. Our guests were sent home with plenty of goodies thanks to The Beauty Chef, Clarins, Collective Hub, and of course our partner Seed Heritage.

A big thank you to everyone who braved the rain to join us for such a memorable day!