Big Feels: Here’s to a Night of People, Passion and Peppermint Peptalks!

Oh, what a night! Filled with connection, warmth, and wisdom, Peppermint Peptalks was SOLD OUT and once again affirmed why we think our community are the bee’s knees! Not to gush or anything, but it’s been a while (read: the last Peptalks) since we’ve seen a more colourful, joyful bunch of humans together under one roof. One of the most colourful and joyful of all, was the beautiful ball of pink tulle herself, our incredible Sewing Manager, Laura Jackson, who led the night in such a fun, insightful and empathetic way. What a natural presence she has – and she guided the proceedings perfectly with her own insights, humour and style. The gorgeous heritage Morningside School of Arts building proved the perfect space to host the festivities. Came with friends? Braved it solo? (Go you!) We hope that by the end of the evening, you’d met someone new to add to ‘your people’. As Laura so perfectly summed up with her intro, it doesn’t need to be as complicated as it seems to make friends as adults. It’s ok to just go up to someone you vibe with and go, ‘let’s be friends!’ The warm and fuzzies you may feel from the night are deserved, too: thanks to you, we’re able to donate $570 from ticket sales to Dangerous Females and their important work. Hoorah!

We couldn’t have done it without the generous support of our sponsors, of course: a giant heartfelt thank you to our event sponsor Australian Makers Directory; Angela and Renée are huge champions of the creative community and we’re eternally grateful for their support. And the goodie bag fairies (seriously, how good were the goodie bags?!): Kakadu Plum Co, Lük Beautifood, WooHoo Body, Sew To Grow, Lauren Rogers, Love In A Bottle, Grants of Australia, Pablo and Rusty’s, Weleda, Dr Bronners, bellyME and Make Good Things Happen. Plus cute stickers from Australian Makers Directory and Kylie And The Machine!

Not to forget lucky door prizes from Lauren Rogers, Kylie And The Machine, ShayeKet, The Somewhere Co, and The Sleep Boss. And what’s an evening without snacks and sips? Brews from Helios Brewing, wine from Yalumba, prebiotic soft drinks from Remedy Drinks, and those dreamy donuts from NoDo.

And then, our speakers: you were such an integral part of making the magic happen! Shout out to Jes Hallagan from Dangerous Females, Katie Roberts, Alice Veivers of Alice Nightingale, Sue-Ching Lascelles, Jane Milburn of Textile Beat, Katie Weychardt of Katie Makes A Dress, Lauren Rogers and Sally Steele – your generosity and courage in sharing – both words and actions – touched us all. There were so many inspiring take-aways from the evening, but we’ve rounded up a few kernels to pin on the fridge below:

• “The key to starting is just giving a shit. The rest you can learn as you go.” – Jes from Dangerous Females on having “big f*ck yes energy”, and taking that essential first step towards action.  
• “If living more sustainably was just a matter of knowing what to do, you would have already achieved your goals … (Behavioural) design matters way more than willpower.” – Katie from Sustainability In Style gave insights on ‘behavioural economics’ and turning ‘sludge’ into ‘nudge’ prompts to live more sustainably
• Our creative pals on the me-made panel, Sue-Ching Lascelles, Alice Veivers, Katie Weychardt and Jane Milburn had some great thoughts to share on the sewing and sustainable fashion community. The feeling was unanimous that the sewing community is the best, most welcoming and supportive of communities with all members of the panel reflecting on how sewing connects them to like-minded people in the most wonderful of ways. Laura also expanded on a quote that Katie had previously said, that sewists feel that “that’s what our body is, a really great coat hanger: we’re not thinking about what size it is because it’s just a place to hang the cool things we make!” 
• “Art is my culture, and culture is my art. The stories that I weave through my art are generally from Country and walking on my Country”. Aboriginal artist and proud Ngarabul woman Lauren Rogers on how she weaves her Indigenous heritage through her beautiful, contemporary art. Lauren also spoke about how every artwork has a story and that story isn’t confined to the artwork, but rather that when it’s installed in someone’s home it takes on the energy of the new owners’ own story and grows the meaning and energy of the piece ongoing.
• “Emotions are energy in motion … If you’ve got trauma you’re going through – look to the things that are going to allow you to scaffold your recovery, those things that bring you joy, comfort, connection, courage, hope… and just create a daily practice as you would for your creative practice around that. You’re actually recreating yourself.” – Sally Steele had the room in tears (and laughter) as she spoke with vulnerability and honesty on being a widow with two children, on finding the micro-moments of joy in everyday life (and how much they matter) and flowing forward in the face of grief.

No Peppermint Peptalks would be complete without the Me Made Parade: we witnessed your creativity and innovation, and we salute you, getting your brave on and strutting your stuff across that stage! And because there is no possible way we could have judged any of you and your outfits, we drew one lucky winner who walked (or danced) away with the new book Making Happy Things from Sue-Ching Lascelles and some delish raw chocolate from Deva Cacao. The cherry on top of a lovely night? An uplifting community singalong of Lean On Me led by the multi-talented Hillary Wall from Cork and Chroma.

Then it was all over… Except that a whole bunch of you stayed behind to help us tidy up – legends! We won’t lie, an event like this involves a fair amount of waste, but we did our best to minimise it. All cardboard boxes were taken to a recycling depot, and the leftover food made its way to various chooks in our community. 

It’s been a weekend full of feels, and our team is still processing. One thing’s for sure: we would do it all again in a heartbeat, if it means rubbing shoulders and sharing laughs (and tears) with our beloved Peppermint People. 

The gallery of photos is live now over on our Facebook page – go relive the night and feel free to share!

PHOTOS: KELLEY SHEENAN