The Return: Why Her Seasons Felt Like Coming Home

In this episode, we're reflecting on The Return, the latest Her Seasons event organised by Mo.

We chat about what made the day so special, from the incredible sense of connection in the room to hearing so many women say they left feeling so happy, light and full of joy. 

We also talk about the amazing local small businesses Mo intentionally brought together for the event, creating a space where women could discover, support and connect with passionate local brands while building community.

A huge thank you to Mo for the time, thought and heart she pours into organising Her Seasons. Events like these don't happen by accident and it's clear how much care goes into every detail.

We're already counting down until the next Her Seasons event, and we can't wait to see this beautiful community continue to grow 💛

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Mood Swings with Moen Morgues, where we chat all things womanhood, motherhood, and everything in between. We're a naturopath and a nurse who love an overshare, swapping insights and the occasional tangent.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

From hormones to healing and moments of chaos, nothing's off limits here.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

So let's get into it. We're gonna crash out today.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

We're on the brink of it, but we're not gonna get there. We're not gonna get there. We're good, we're good.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

It has been a hectic morning.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

But we're okay. I think we're learning and adapting to this new change. Lonnie is going through, I'm gonna say, like a bit of a nap regression. He's like not having his naps at his usual time. He's it's changing, it's evolving. And so we have to just evolve with him. Absolutely. We love you, Lani. We can see how uh successful this one is today because we've currently got him on his little couch watching Moana. A level two volume. And he's loving it totally. So thank you, son. You're doing amazing. You're doing amazing, squeezy. Alrighty. Well, this week we are fully just getting into like a recap of her seasons and um the return event, which was such a beautiful success. And I'm just gonna talk about some stuff about that, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

I love it. Love, love, love. It was such a beautiful event. I've had so many people um message me saying they're already so excited for the next one. So that's the best review you could possibly get that people are already waiting for the next or third one.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

I think with each event and what people will see through our socials, it will build this anticipation, and they'll be like, oh my god, that's so cool that they had these things and these inclusions and involvements from like the previous event. I wonder what the next event's gonna be like. Um, and I guess like I always wanted these events to be really intimate, so they will never exceed like I think the maximum I would ever do, like the absolute maximum people I would ever have would be 50. And that is a complete stretch.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah, do you know what I mean? Yeah, oh my god. I couldn't even imagine.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I I wouldn't um I wouldn't do beyond that because I really want these events to be intimate and um I also want them to Harley, it's all good. And yeah, I just I just want I'm not gonna crash out. I'm not gonna crash out. Mercury is still in retrograde. What the fuck? What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

It's actually fucking us up.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

But it's okay. Everything is okay, everything is all good. Universe, please. Hear me. I need you to jest.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Let us say our peace. Let us let us say our piece and carry on with our motherfucking day.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

But yeah, so um, yeah, well, where should we start? You tell me.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

So I guess in today's podcast episode, I want you to run through kind of the vibe of the event, the businesses that were involved, um, you know, the venues, all of that jazz. So I guess let's start at what small businesses were part of her season's event, and um, where did you find them? How'd you get in contact? Yeah, etc. etc.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Amazing. Well, so this is the first event that's gone to the public. So this is realistically not our second event. It's actually our first event. Our sec our our first event that we did was just more with family and friends. Like a pilot. Yeah, a pilot, absolutely. Just to see if we could even like dip our toes. We just dipped our toes in the water, saw how it was, and then um so this is the first like official one that we did, and it's the vibe is to really just be a few hours of time where women can literally just get together, experience some new things, meet some new women, have a bit of time where they can just not worry about anything else in their world, like literally just forget about the external noises and the external things that they need to attend to in their life and just enjoy what's happening in in real time at the event. And so, yeah, I feel like I was able to hit that brief for this event. I feel like a lot of women felt like they had a great time, it was all really good feedback. Um there was lots of different points of difference to offer in this event rather than just sort of not really having things to gravitate towards naturally for women, and so I think it was quite gentle the approach for this one. Um it felt very light, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

It felt very light, it felt very the energy was very soft and you're right. I think like people while they were there, it was kind of like a safe bubble. Like a little utopia for women just to chill and talk, and yeah, honestly, the energy did feel so soft.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

So soft. And we actually had such a diverse group of ages. Yeah. Like, so we didn't we had you know young teenagers, my sister and her friend were my my sister. They're not helping me out. But um, we also had literally like ages from like 20 22 to like 50. Actually, my nana did attend. Yeah, that's her little soul. She is just a tree, but she was she's 78. Yeah, wow. Um, and she was fully like immersing herself in in the event as well and loved to talk to all the younger women. I think it made her feel still young at heart, which she truly is. She is.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

I was like, she just can feel that way, she fucking is.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Um but it was so good to see the diverse range of women and also like at all points that I was like looking at people interacting, I literally saw women who didn't even know each other or had only met each other maybe like a little bit in a previous event or previous time, like speaking and conversing with one another. So it was really cool because that's exactly what I was trying to achieve. I wanted women to come interact with other women who they might not know, or you know, only a little bit and um see like them form some some bonding and foundations to maybe have future friendships evolve. Um, but yeah, so I digress. I was like, so the small businesses are invited. So the small businesses actually such a funny little story that I only discovered when I met Alex, um, who is the owner of Korra. She does beautiful permanent jewelry and other jewelry pieces which we currently have on rings and necklaces, anklets, bracelets.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

I love the idea of the permanent bracelet. I if I wasn't a fake planner, 100% would have got that. Yeah. Well, I've got a scrub.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

And take it. But um, I actually had her follow me on her seasons because she met my auntie, who is the founder and owner of Wonderlust Um Co. Which do all of these hydro plants, uh, which is amazing. They met at Milton Markets, and my auntie had spoken to her, and through the grapevine, um, Alex ended up following her seasons, and I was on the lookout for uh small women-led businesses to be a part of this space, and I knew that I really wanted something that felt gentle, and something that felt like a feminine touch, and I was like jewelry to make it. Women love jewelry, and it adds character to each person, and it's something that can be so uniquely you. Um, so I was like, I'm gonna reach out to her because I put a little post up being like, I I want vendors to come into this space. Um, and then so I was like, I'm gonna reach out to Cora. So I reached out to Alex, who um was super, super keen to be on board with her season's event, which was amazing. So she ended up coming and she set up her little section, which was just like a little pop-up market store for her, essentially. Um, she offered women beautiful rings, which was so lovely. Each each woman attending got a ring to keep. Um, and also if they wanted to buy anything else, they were able to. Um, and then we had Sophie from Kylo Nutrition, who had all of the women these like this look well spritzer, which is um so it was so yummy. It was so yum.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

And I we got the little confidence, and I was like, can I please have a little bit more? At least have a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

So that was so good. Um, having those two businesses there really helped elevate the space, but also create a moment of women to experience things that maybe they weren't wouldn't have experienced, or you know, meet new people and find new little things that they fall in love with. Um, but it was really good uh to have them there and it just I think helped set the vibe. Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

And it made it super interactive, so super. Which is lovely, yeah, and also so inspiring because when you see these young women, you know, being so successful in their little passion, it instills so much inspiration and love in the environment.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

I want this space to always be inspiring for other women, whether that inspires you to get creative and start doing something like journaling or doing the I gave everyone a journal to keep and they got to sticker the front of the journal or inside the journal however they pleased with all of these different stickers that we had for them to be able to put on their journals, and they got to keep that, which was really nice because they got to be able to do a little bit of like you know, nervous system regulation, calming, like creative things, but it didn't have to feel like anyone was performing, like you didn't you weren't doing kalates or yoga and feeling like oh my god, am I wearing the right outfit? Everyone was just doing their own thing at their own pace, and it was just such a it was really actually quite nice and wholesome. And then afterwards we got to celebrate and we went to dark red and had a little beveragino, which I think was really nice because in my new world, I'm loving doing the wholesome, yeah, and then like another one. Oh, exactly. Well done, Lani. Good work, brother. What a superstar.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

No more.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Um, and so yeah. So I met well, I stopped Kylo at Love Lani's and Sophie um joined us for this this event and um brought the Kylo cart and did, yeah, all of the little look well spritzers for everyone, this this event. But our first event actually um Kylo gave everyone a little sample of what they have on off of with their range of um proteins and collagen uh blends, so which was so exciting to have them be a part of it in a more immersive experience this time.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

I think it was important as well because I'm sure everyone's had an experience with like a protein powder, even herbs, like anything that's a bit more we call it like a wellness product. Yeah. Sometimes the taste can be something you're not used to, or if you don't mix it right, can be either too strong or just not taste great. Yeah. Um, we get those reviews all the time on multiple products. But it was great to see um Sophie mix it in a way that it was like genuinely the most delicious drink I've ever had. Um, and it's nice to be inspired on how you can use a product so you don't just have to mix them with water.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah, like you can incorporate it with different things and make these little elevated drinks that are functional and serve way more uh purpose than just consuming a liquid. Yeah, and like unhealthy products don't have to taste like shit. No, they don't. Actually, the look will is delicious. Yes, so yum. It's a mixed berry. Okay. It's a mixed berry. So good. Yeah, but um it's just so yummy. Like you can blend it in your smoothies, you can have it by itself, obviously, or you can do uh like what Sophie did and mixed it with some um like light sparkling water and uh apple juice and stuff. So all fun things that you can do, which obviously the women who attended were able to learn about. So I think there's some really big core things here for her season's events. Connection is one of them, uh, experience is another, and like um experiencing new moments, and also what would the other one be? I'm losing my train of thought because the baby brain's fully kicked in. Oh, just a moment for you, like just unwinding, like having a good time, you know, not not going somewhere and everything being sort of there for you, rather than you feeling like you have to go out of your way to get it. You literally come, there's food, drinks, and each time that will slightly change. Um, but yeah, that's that. That's that.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

And then can you we've kind of spoken about her seasons, the event, and like how it was connective and it was grounding, and literally every woman that left felt lighter and um more inspired. But I guess now we'll go to like the more upbeat part of the event is when we walked from the station. Um, actually, we haven't touched on the station yet, the venue.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Oh god, yes, we have to talk about the venue.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

The venue is very one of the hero pieces. I feel like it's actually, dare I say, become the beating heart of I know it was supposed to be a roaming event, and obviously you plan these things before it actually happens, so you can only plan so much.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I know it was supposed to be roaming, but dare I say the station has become the beating heart of these events, I think.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Look, and I think this is the beauty of business and a beauty of like evolving and growing uh in real time. Like we've only just begun, essentially. I've only been an established service and offering for a few months. Um, and we will have four core events. So that is this event that's just passed, the one that we had in April. We'll also have one in October, but for this October's one, it's going to be postponed because your girl is pregnant. Your girl wants to move on. I'm a three-week-old baby, and I've come to my practical sense. My fucking God. And I need to just honour the season I'm in. So we are going to do the event now on the 28th of November. Yeah. Which just means more festivities for everyone involved. It's silly season. It's my favourite season. And there's some really exciting things for this event that we didn't have at the last event that we will be having at this event. So just think like bigger, better, more vibrant, more fun, a little bit more of a disco vibe rather than um it'll still be wholesome, don't you worry. You'll have your wholesome and then we'll we'll enter into festive phase. Wholesome festive parking. But um, yeah, so that October, and then we have one in January as well. Those are gonna be the four core events. And originally I was gonna change those events' locations each time, but I've decided literally just now, this is how my brain works. I've decided that all of our core events will be held at the station. And then any um events that we decide to do outside of those core events uh will be tailored to whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah. Because we might like throw in coast events or yeah, we're we're gonna travel. Fougie, bougie dinners or you know long lunch. Long lunch, all those things.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Her season's takes on Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast. Like we're gonna expand that, but our core events will always be at the heart of it, at the station, and will encompass sort of what we are already doing in those spaces where it's more just like an unwind connection experience sort of thing, and we don't offer too much out of that ability to make it what you want. Um, you know, because I've got some beautiful friends who do yoga Pilates who would be amazing. We could do like specific things, but I think those could be catered towards more tailored events rather than her season's core events.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

So there. I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. But the venue itself It's so cool. It's gorgeous, it is so blank canvas.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

It's so sunny. Um, it really is what you want to make it, so you can style it, change it how you like.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Um, and but when we say blank canvas, it's also the most beautiful curation. Like she always has fresh flowers every time you probably go in.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

So the owner is just an absolute godsend. She is beautiful, she is just so lovely to deal with. Um, if you have ever had an event at the station or uh want to do an event at the station, you absolutely should because it's just like I can't fault it.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Cannot, like literally cannot fault it.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

It's it's like it's got this charm, it's got this character.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

It kind of reminds me a bit like New Yorkey, but not industrial. Industrial, cruel, it's very cool, girl. It's very when you walk in, you you feel like you've got cool level two depends.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

I would love to actually, that was like my dream to live in a place like the lofty stairs.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

As soon as I walked in, I was like, oh wow, I could I could live here. Very open plan.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

But I think it's good because it's it's central to obviously the CBD and the valley as well. So we can still do our her seasons event and do all of our wholesomeness. And then um, my beautiful girlfriend Hannah, who is the owner of Dark Red, uh, she actually is in Bakery Lane in the Fortitude Valley, and we've been going to her for our after um after her seasons event drinks. And it's been really lovely to continue that on in supporting another small business that um that's women own.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Like I women own for. Yeah. She's absolutely killing it. And she's just so beautiful. Like every time we're there, she talks about the wine. She brings us wine to taste.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

It's just like so much.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

The energy radiates off her off of passion. She has got such a good aura about her, and you can tell she's so passionate about what she does. And I think that is always the very obvious thing with all of these small business owners. It's like you wouldn't be doing it if you weren't passionate. Energy. Passion. Energy. But you wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't your like number one passion. So absolutely that's infectious.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

And also, do you know what I love? I love that she's been so supportive and collaborative in terms of like her seasons and what we're creating. Like she's just been amazing. It's just when people pour into you, you just want to pour into them. Yeah, 100%. And so it's it's contagious. I feel like it's fully contagious.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah. Circular. Yeah. Everything that you wanted her seasons to be. Is becoming it. It is becoming that. Like the DGU.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Like I I'm I'm not even joking. It's only gonna get bigger and better as the times progress. You know, and I think this is the one of the biggest things I love about small businesses and women starting these little projects that become something more, is because you see them from the very beginning, and you see as they start to grow, and you see what happens, and you're you just go far out. It's so cool to see where they started and where they're at now.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

The business gets a life of its own, hey. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

And it's fully um, yeah, it's just one of those things that is just so amazing to see. And I also just wanted to mention so each event we will always have beautiful flowers. Yes, beautiful flowers. I mean, like the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen in my entire life. I feel like they change the energy in the room. They do. And these flowers are always gonna be designed and styled by our beautiful Keely, who is um the owner of the Velvet Sunday Studios. And she does floral arrangements and she will eventually have her own e-commerce business that she does gifting and florals on there as well, which will just be so gorgeous. So I can't wait for her to start um being able to like starting her website so we can finally share that space. Um, but every time every time women see her flowers, they're like, these are just so gorgeous. Who are these from?

SPEAKER_02 24:50

And she has such an eye. She's very, very creative. Every piece of clothing on her body, every bag, every she's just such a walking piece of art. And then you see her flowers come to life and her even her branding for like a first oh she is just she's got such an eye for it.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

She used to do marketing. Yeah. She used to she's she's very good. She um looks after her husband's uh concreting business, she's the own owner of that as well. And just what she does with her with Optimal and what she's going to do with Velvet, I can just see this like they're gonna just be so successful in Skyrocket, and I'm kind of a magic spark. Oh, she has a magic sparking spark. She's just she oozes Magic Queen. A magic queen. But yeah, so her seasons was really exciting, and I'm I'm excited for people to continue to be a part of this space, and it's growing and it's an evolving um, you know, world that I've I'm creating and creating alongside you and other beautiful businesses. So all I can say is for the women who have attended so far, thank you so much. Literally helps me continue to build these things and build this space and create um something that I hope will only get bigger and better each time and will end up turning into something that I never even imagined could be possible. Um, but you know, anyone that wants to be a part of this space or be in collaboration with us, get in touch. Get in touch. I want you. I want you and I need you, and you you were the reason why I'm gonna be able to continue to keep this growing.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

I'm excited. I'm excited to see where it goes. And also on behalf of Mo, I just want to say thank you again to the people that have come to the first event and the second event because no one sees behind the scenes how much work Mo does, I think except for me. And like showing being there and showing that support, like obviously, not only are you having the most amazing day, but you really are the real MVPs.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Yes, you are the real MVPs.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

We know you.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

I feel like giving up, I remember you guys, and I'm like, oh, I've gotta do it for them.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Yeah. Yeah. So please know that forever grateful. You guys are beautiful and we love you.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

We love you so much. Well, next week, we're gonna talk about what are we talking about next week? What are we talking about next week?

SPEAKER_02 27:36

I don't know. There was something I mentioned to you, I'll remember, and we will talk about it next week.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

No, there is definitely something we were talking about next week. Okay, we fully need to get into our back into our back into our planning mode. We've lost it. Yeah, we have. We've lost a bit of momentum with um mood swings in terms of our structure and our and our our um life is busy. Life is busy, we do our best. I think Morgan and I are both being pulled in really different directions right now. You know, she's focusing on her necropathy and the her new job, and it's just doing so well, and I'm also focusing on her seasons and trying to um help flourish that a little bit more. So mood swings is always sorry, bless you. Mood swings is always something we want to continue to do, even if it does take a few little steps along the way, but it's something that we both are super passionate about, and we want to make sure that women just do what they're passionate about. If you like painting, start painting. If you want to do a podcast, fucking do it. Yeah, like I'm just too.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Last too short. You don't want to look back in 20 years' time, it's never too late, but you don't want to look back in 20 years' time and be like, oh my god, I should have done that then. Yeah. That would be the worst feeling in the world. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

And do you know what? It does take a lot of effort to do this stuff. Like for us to schedule in time each week to do this, it's effort. But do you know what? It's effort that feels like it's totally worth it because I love one, I love seeing you. Yeah. And two, we just get to it, yeah, it yeah, and our creative juices get to flow and we experience things that we didn't even realize we we had potential of of doing. So, you know what? Get that brain girl. Get that brain girl. So we don't know what we'll be yapping about next week, but we will um But we will be yapping about something is the moral of the story.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

So we will see you next week.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Okay. Ciao for now. Ciao for now. Bye.