International Women’s Day Breakfast – Monday 8 March, 7am – 9.30am

Northern Beaches Council is holding an International Women’s Day Breakfast on Monday 8 March at the Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific, Manly.

This year’s guest speaker is Sam Bloom - a two-time World Para Surfing Champion, bestselling author, and inspiration behind the international best-selling book, Australian box-office hit and global Netflix sensation, Penguin Bloom.

In 2013, while holidaying in Thailand with her family, Sam fell six metres onto concrete in a near-fatal accident that shattered her spine, ruptured her lungs and caused severe bleeding on the brain.

With her body, soul and spirit crushed, this once active and adventurous mother was convinced if she could not have her old life back, her new one was not worth living.

A serendipitous encounter with a frail and injured magpie chick, her sons dubbed Penguin, was to transform her attitude, change the course of her recovery, and save her family.

Sam and Penguin’s remarkable bond and extraordinary story of parallel recovery was sensitively captured by Sam’s husband, acclaimed photographer Cameron Bloom and, in a collaboration with New York Times bestselling author Bradley Trevor Greive, resulted in the international bestselling book, Penguin Bloom.

This beautiful and powerful story inspired a major film starring Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln.

Sam’s is a story for the times, with profound messages for us all - of the power of love and family, and of our innate ability to find determination and courage in the face of adversity.

Funds raised through raffle ticket sales at the event will be donated to the two Women’s Shelters on the Northern Beaches - Manly Warringah Women’s Resource Centre and the Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter.