Seed and Bloom: What to Plant, What to Prune, What to Nurture
Tomorrow Blooms: Abundance, Superficial Studio
Every year, around this time, I notice the same thing. The jacarandas come into bloom, the days stretch out, and instead of slowing down, everything speeds up. The calendar fills with end of year drinks, deadlines and wrap-ups. We race towards December as if the finish line will bring the rest we need.
In nature, the end of a cycle looks very different. It is a time to slow down, to let things fall away and return to the soil, and to rest before new growth begins. Nothing is rushed and nothing is wasted. What has finished becomes nourishment for what comes next.
So many of the women in our community have told me they feel out of step with these natural rhythms. Tired, a little flat, and often disconnected from the creative spark that drew them to their work in the first place. That is the feeling that shaped our final Flourish gathering for 2026
An invitation to pause
Seed and Bloom is a morning to stop, breathe and look back before we look forward. Together we will move gently through four stages:
Reflect. What has been? What did this year teach you?
Compost. What has run its course, but can still feed what comes next?
Release. What are you ready to let go of completely?
Nurture. What do you want to tend and grow in the year ahead?
This is not a goal setting session. There will be no vision boards, no pressure and no five year plans. Instead, we will be tending the conditions for something new to grow, the way a gardener prepares the soil long before anything appears above ground.
Photography courtesy of Dr Ania Zoltkowski
Two voices, one conversation
I am thrilled to be hosting this conversation with two women whose work speaks so beautifully to this moment.
Dr Ania Zoltkowski is an educator, facilitator and artist working at the intersection of creativity, regeneration and systems change. With nearly two decades across global fashion, textile, design and sustainability, including academia and research, Ania guides visionaries, founders and organisations towards more life-affirming ways of creating and leading. Her work reminds us that creativity is not something we extract from ourselves. It is a field of vitality we get to participate in, one that moves through seeds, forests, our bodies and our communities. Ecological principles like care, reciprocity, rest and tending conditions rather than forcing outcomes are the oldest working models we have for how things thrive.
Jenny Beachum explores the inner work of change: how we find clarity, possibility and direction when life is shifting. Jenny is interested in what happens when our definition of success begins to change, but our ambition has not disappeared. Rather than choosing between striving harder or stepping back, she invites us to imagine what ambition might look like when it includes creativity, contribution, freedom, wellbeing, relationships and legacy.
Together, they will open up a conversation about creativity, wisdom and what it means to lead from a more grounded and alive place.
What we will explore
A few of the questions we will be sitting with:
What can living systems teach us about letting things end so they can feed what comes next?
What inner work does change ask of us, and what does it take to let something go rather than keep pushing it forward?
What happens when our definition of success changes, but our ambition has not disappeared?
If creativity is something we participate in, how do we come back into relationship with it when we have been running on empty?
The shape of the morning
We will begin with a hosted conversation with Ania and Jenny, then move into intimate table discussions guided by our wonderful moderators. You will have time to reflect on your own year, hear from other women navigating similar seasons, and leave with one thing to compost and one thing to nurture. We will close together with a grounding practice to carry into the new year.
As always, Flourish is about real conversation and real connection. It is a space for senior women leaders, founders and creatives to slow down and be met, not to perform.
Join us
Seed and Bloom: What to Plant, What to Prune, What to Nurture Friday 20 November 2026 8:30 to 10:30am Ace Hotel Sydney, Surry Hills
Breakfast included. Places are limited.
Ground with us, book your ticket below.
I would love to see you there, to close the year together and plant something good for what comes next.
With warmth,
Emilya
