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Welcome to the return of our popular and much loved Mama Creatives Story Slam PLUS Mother's Day celebration event. This is based on the format of our favourite podcast, The Moth.

We will showcase SIX women from the Mama Creatives community who will share their true and personal story relating to the theme of 'Legacy'.

Ten minutes each, standing in front of a microphone and you, our live audience.

Our MC for the night will be the incredible Bron Mandile, writer, editor and seeker.

With Extra Special Guest, Heather Mitchell AM

Since this is also our Mother's Day event we are thrilled to welcome extra special guest, celebrated stage and screen actor Heather Mitchell AM. Her memoir, 'Everything and Nothing' is a powerful, immersive and intimately candid memoir exploring the light and shade that co-exist in love, family and the arts.

‘A gentle collection of musings on an extraordinary life; unpretentious and honest, full of stoic wisdom.’ Tim Minchin

‘An extraordinary life told in tender detail, capturing triumph, love and tragedy with a beautiful humanity.’ Annabel Crabb

Heather Mitchell is an esteemed Australian stage and screen actor, and yet behind the scenes her real life has taken many remarkable twists and turns. Training an unflinching spotlight on her most formative memories, Heather illuminates the heartbreaking secrets, sexual encounters, family dramas and creative pursuits that have shaped her life as a woman, an actor and a mother. Told with raw candour and spellbinding lyricism, Everything and Nothing draws back the curtain on a unique and fascinating life.

‘Heather’s perspective on life and love speaks straight to the soul. Is there anything she can’t do?’ Toni Collette

‘This book is a joy. Everything and Nothing makes you feel life more keenly.’ Anna Funde

Heather has also been a big part of all our FIVE Story Slam events, as a storytelling mentor helping some of our speakers prepare their stories behind the scenes. It is fitting that Heather will be sharing some of her wisdom at our Legacy event. Copies of her memoir will be available for purchase, just in time for Mother's Day.

Special Giveaways - Just For You

We are also delighted to have some amazing giveaways on the night. Come along for your chance to win one of 5 double passes to The Dinner That Changed My Life, thanks to the Sydney Writer's Festival and more!

PLUS Express Headshots Offer

Thanks to award winning photographer Nikki McLennan, from Lion & Cub Photography, we will be offering professional express headshots. If you need a profile photo refresh for social media, your website or other media and promo opportunities, you just need to book one of 6 session times between 6pm - 6.30pm - before the main Story Slam action - to get your amazing photo taken.

So easy, everything handled in one go, while you are already dressed up, out and about, and media ready!

JUST BOOK HERE

Making a Difference - Supporting Mums 4 Refugees

We are also supporting Mums4Refugees, to help make a difference for mothers really doing it tough and to let them know we care. Dulce Muñoz, National Convenor, Mums 4 Refugees will be joining us at the event to receive your donations and to answer any questions.

How you can help: bring or donate practical pampering products that will make a refugee mama feel special. These can include sanitary protection, hand cream, moisturiser and other hand, body, face products that we all enjoy but they can't afford right now.

About Our Story Slammers

We will showcase SIX amazing women with diverse stories all relating to the theme of Legacy.

Belinda Heath

Belinda is a collector of random occupations and skills, part time painter and textile artist, chicken-breeder, back-yard agriculturalist, pigeon-rescuer, mother, wife, sister and former daughter. Apprentice family-matron and seasoned meanderer of thought.

Her story will focus on caring, dementia and the death of family elders. It sounds heavy and sad - and it is - but it’s not all gloom and doom. She is treating this as a (somewhat) comedic take on how it feels to bare witness to infirmity and how we can make friends with mortality.

Gabbi Kitchener

Gabbi is an artist living in Sydney, Australia, with an art making practice spanning 35 years. She is the founder of Art of Flow. Her work is an expression of her love for nature. Gabbi studied figurative art and anatomy at The Paddington Art School. After traveling and living overseas, studying and teaching life drawing in Barcelona, Gabbi returned to Sydney and worked as a tutor at The Paddington Art School. A deep and lasting interest in the learning process was sparked while teaching life drawing there and at Art for Hearts Sake. For nearly 30 years Gabbi has been developing art and creativity programs for children and adults, supporting them to connect with their own creativity and artistic freedom. She has worked with thousands of people and has nurtured their transformative journeys.

Her story will be a humorous but deeply heartfelt take on life and relationships.

Simone Koster

Simi is working in the age of holistic enlightenment as a qualified Energetic Health Practitioner & Life Journey Coach at One Spirit Energy Wellness Centre. Her previous international corporate background working for multinationals in Sales, Marketing, IT & Events has provided her with a unique understanding of how an individuals soul can thrive once the spirit is balanced.

Her life’s calling as an intuitive wisdom weaver and spiritual mentor began when she was spiritually guided to extract herself out of a loveless childhood home.

Simi's emotive talk is about being seen and heard through the multi-layered lens of the mother daughter relationship & to illuminate her wings of freedom.

Wendy Russell

Wendy is a Systems Thinker at her core and has used this capability in a wide variety of professional and personal pursuits - 'driving' warships, leading organisational change, enterprise-wide process improvement using Lean Six Sigma, crisis management, ski patrol, home renovations, ensemble singing, problem solving, rescuing wildlife, and caring for her fur family. Historically right-brain dominant, Wendy is exploring her creative side to develop greater comfort with self-expression and allowing more time for 'play' in her life - and trying to shed acute perfectionism, shame, and fear of failure along the way.

Her powerful story will be about unpacking shame and reframing the concept of justice.

Lisa Tatman

Founder of My Kind Co creative collective, Lisa is a Creative Director, Creative Producer and Designer in experiential design and place-making. Lisa leads her My Kind Co team with entrepreneurial spirit and strategically explores social purpose and community connection, through unique programs, events, exhibitions, place-making, public art and installation design. Innovative and collaborative, she thrives on the creative process and uniting diverse creative teams and partnerships. Lisa proactively engages and supports women in the creative industries, through her unique project and community initiatives. Lisa is always motivated to make a difference and an impact, and is known as a cultural activist in her neighbourhood! “Design for Good" is Lisa’s mantra. Lisa is a mum of two gorgeous girls and loves living with her family in the village of Balmain!

Her story is about generational emergence and decline in parallel, and the sacrifice mothers and daughters make for love and family to survive.

Polly Wilkie

Polly is a wholistic integrative health professional with 30 years of clinical experience. She is passionate about women’s health and paediatrics seeing people for a myriad of reasons to improve their health and wellbeing. She is a speaker, writer, advocate and mentor in natural health and in 2020 was awarded "Highly Commended Practitioner of the Year" at the ATMS Natural Medicine Awards. In 1995 she co-founded “Care Clinic” - a family-friendly clinic combining gentle personalised techniques to provide care tailored to individual requirements – currently celebrating 21 years in Bondi Junction. Polly is mum to 4 children who are growing up way too fast!

Polly's story relates to family being our greatest teachers and the inspiration for the legacies we create - a journey in health.
FB: careclinicbondi

About Our MC, Bron Mandile

Bron is a writer, editor and seeker. She has a start-up social media agency called Social Addict and has launched parenting website Mumlyfe.. She also writes for SBS Food, blogs at Maxabella Loves and is the mum of three kids. Bronwyn previously managed the parenting website Mumtastic and has also written for Kidspot, Essential Baby and news.com.au, as well as corporates like Telstra, NRMA, ANZ and many, many small businesses. Bron likes to be busy, but not rushed. Along that fine line is where the happy balance thrives.

About Our Venue: The Bellevue Hotel

We will be hosting this incredible event upstairs at The Bellevue hotel. Come a bit earlier and enjoy dinner and drinks in this lovely light filled space. The menu offers a range of excellent tasty pub classics, including two for one special on Tuesday nights, with Happy Hour from 5pm – 7 pm. Forget making dinner, bring a friend or your mama posse for a perfect night out.

PLEASE NOTE: These events have all sold out in the past, please get your ticket sooner than later to ensure your spot.

At Mama Creatives we have organised an amazing year of events, online and offline - we can't wait to see you!