Her Story Your Strength
Description
Her Story, Our Strength is a one-day symposium bringing women together to celebrate the experiences that have shaped their lives. Through honest conversations and personal stories, this event will explore courage, resilience, leadership, family, faith, and the lessons learned through life's triumphs and challenges.
Featuring inspiring presentations from Lauren Kathage and Mary Shamaly. Throughout the day, you'll enjoy engaging keynote sessions, thought-provoking discussions, opportunities to connect with others, and moments of personal reflection.
Whether you are seeking encouragement, fresh perspective, or meaningful community, this symposium is designed to leave you inspired and equipped.
Together, we'll honour the women whose lives have paved the way for us, celebrate the strength found in shared experiences, and encourage the next generation to write their own stories with courage and confidence.
Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon Tea Included
Lineup
Mary Shamaly
Meet Our Speaker She is a nationally accredited mediator, communication and conflict coach, facilitator and former lawyer who has spent more than 13 years helping people find a way forward when conversations become difficult and relationships are tested. Her journey has taken her from Legal Aid and the Children’s Court, where she mediated more than 1,500 complex child protection matters, to founding Grace + Justice — a space dedicated to helping people communicate with clarity, courage and dignity. But her story is about more than a career. As an Egyptian-Lebanese woman raised in Dubai who moved to Australia at 13, she has experienced the beauty — and complexity — of navigating different cultures, identities, values and ways of communicating. These experiences have shaped her deep understanding of how easily we can misunderstand one another, even when our intentions are good. Today, she uses her experience to help people break unhealthy patterns, have the conversations they have been avoiding, and build relationships grounded in understanding, honesty and respect. Her message is powerful: You don't have to lose your voice to keep the peace. You can speak with courage, listen with compassion, and still honour who you are. At Her Story, Our Strength, she will remind us that our stories — including the difficult chapters — can become sources of strength, wisdom and transformation. And when she’s not helping people navigate life’s difficult conversations, you’ll likely find her enjoying her Coptic Orthodox faith, embracing her bilingual and multicultural identity, or indulging in her love of all things baked! ❤️
Lauren Kathage
Meet Lauren Kathage A life of service. A passion for community. A commitment to making a difference. Before entering Parliament, Lauren Kathage spent more than 20 years working and volunteering with communities across Australia and abroad. Her journey has taken her from remote housing and homelessness projects to leading multi-million-dollar national programs that trained healthcare workers, strengthened income opportunities for regional communities, and helped more children with disability access education. For Lauren, leadership has never simply been about a title. It has been about people, purpose and creating opportunities for others to thrive. Her desire to make a greater difference inspired her to enter Parliament, where her work continues to be guided by a belief that communities should be at the heart of development, families deserve the opportunity to build a good life, and everyone should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. At Her Story, Our Strength, Lauren will share a journey of service, purpose, community and the courage to step forward and make a difference. Her story reminds us that leadership begins long before we are given a title — it begins when we choose to serve. ❤️
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity