A Small Shift - Mandy Nolan in Conversation with Madeleine West

The Shift Project is committed to changing lives. And now, with their new Small Shift Program, we all get a chance to step up. Mandy Nolan will be hosting a regular conversation series focused around resilience, truth telling and changemaking! 

If you want to know about resilience, talk to a woman!  In fact, why not talk to a single mother of 7 children. Mandy Nolan’s first guest is Madeleine West.  From  marrying Toadie on Neighbours to the partner of Tony Mokbel in Underbelly, Madeleine  has starred in the most iconic Aussie TV to date. But she’s much more than the woman on the screen. 

At 49 believing she was going into menopause, it turned out with two blue lines on a pregnancy test that she was about to pioneer a new phase of her life:   late motherhood. Facing this challenge with vulnerability and honesty, she said to Mamamia in an interview, ‘I’m terrified and very, very alone’. So many women feel this at stages in their lives. How do we find community support? The inner strength and the energy to push through? 

Mandy Nolan hosts Shift Project’s latest initiative in bringing real and inspiring stories of resilience and courage to the stage with her Small Shift Conversation with Madeleine West.  

West is an avid environmentalist, rainforest regenerator, advocate for asylum seeker rights, and frequently works in the homeless sector as a qualified homelessness facilitator. It makes her the perfect first conversation in this upcoming series.

Homelessness is a major issue in the Byron Shire with older women being one of the fastest

growing cohorts. For over a decade now, The SHIFT Project, a fully philanthropically funded Byron grown service has transformed the lives of older women in our community in a supported journey from welfare to wellbeing.

A Small SHIFT is a Conversation and the launch of a small giving program for lower entry donors - asking for a contribution of $20 per week. 

Join Mandy and Mads when they ask the big questions: How do women build resilience? How do we manage our complex lives? And how do we maintain our sense of self worth in a world where women are retiring with less super, less assets, and less options than their male counterparts? And most importantly, how do we BE the change?

Thursday 24 July, 7 - 8.30pm.

$40. Champagne & Charcuterie on arrival Date 24 July 2025

Tix on shiftproject.org.au