Channeling Rage for Creative Good

In this episode of Change Loves Company, Dominique is joined by creative activist and Yoke founder Cynthia Sciberras to explore creativity as a force for healing, connection and change.

Cynthia shares how Yoke was born from personal burnout, sacred rage and a deep desire to slow down in a fast-paced world. Together, they discuss independent publishing, building community beyond the page, and why authenticity, care and collaboration are essential for meaningful impact.

This conversation is a powerful reminder that creativity isn’t a luxury, it’s medicinal, transformative and deeply needed right now.

Transcript

DOMINIQUE:
Welcome to the Change Loves Company podcast, where I sit down with creatives, fundraisers, social entrepreneurs, artists and activists — all with one thing in common: they’re changing the world for the better through their work.

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land I’m recording on today, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging. Always was, always will be.

Today I’m joined by Cynthia Sciberras. Cynthia is a creative, ritualistic storyteller and sacred gatherer devoted to the art of transformation. Grounded in the philosophy of Ashtanga yoga, she honours the path of integration — body, breath, mind and spirit — as a living, everyday practice, with deep roots in performance, embodiment and ancestral wisdom traditions.

Cynthia creates potent spaces where ceremony, creativity and community converge. She’s the founder and creative force behind Yoke, a printed publication for consciousness launched in 2014, celebrating the intersection of art, culture and soul.

As a creative activist, Cynthia has a rare ability to foster nourishing communities and spark meaningful conversations for change through creativity. She has gathered a collective of female storytellers and creative experts who champion authenticity, beauty and the feminine force.

Her work — through ritual, words, photography and print — invites others to remember the sacred, rekindle inner listening, and reclaim the threads that connect us to one another and to the Earth.

When Cynthia joined us in the studio, we talked about creativity, community, and why she chose to start a print publication all those years ago.

DOMINIQUE:
Cynthia Sciberras, it’s an absolute delight to welcome you to the Change Loves Company podcast — and the studio today. Welcome.

CYNTHIA:
Thank you, Dominique. It’s an absolute pleasure to be here.

DOMINIQUE:
We’ve worked together for many years — full disclosure — but we’ve never interviewed each other. We’ve collaborated on lots of projects, but this is the first time sitting down like this, so I’m really excited.

About twelve years ago, you had this small but powerful idea to start a print magazine. What possessed you? What was behind that decision?

CYNTHIA:
It’s probably not what people expect. It wasn’t peace and serenity. It was rage and disillusionment — rage at the state of the world and how we were treating our planet, and disillusionment with how we were all being corralled onto a treadmill of how we were “meant” to live.

At the time I was a photographer — a lonely photographer — and I craved collaboration and connection. Before Yoke, I was in the corporate world: high heels, high pay, KPIs, smoke and mirrors. And that path isn’t wrong — it just wasn’t right for me. My body was keeping score.

I was living with pain and inflammation and slowly unraveling. That unraveling forced me to listen more deeply to myself and my body, and that deeper listening led me to India — not as a holiday, but as a pilgrimage.

I came back not with a five-year plan, but with a prayer. And that prayer became Yoke.

Independent publishing felt like a critical path. It was about slowing down, stepping away from the fast-paced digital world, and holding something tangible and beautiful. It was about sitting with story differently — honouring long-form storytelling, wisdom, and presence.

The word Yoke comes from the Sanskrit “yuj” — yoga — meaning to unite. The infinite with the finite, the individual with the universal. For me, yoga became a way of asking deeper questions: what is wellness beyond the commercialised version? What is beauty when it isn’t curated for exploitation? What happens to creativity when it’s protected?

Those questions became the heartbeat of Yoke.

DOMINIQUE:
I’m holding the very first issue here — it came out more than ten years ago now. What did you learn from that first edition? What surprised or challenged you?

CYNTHIA:
Looking at your first issue is always humbling. A wise friend once said, “Never point out the mistakes,” so I decided not to highlight spelling errors or imperfections.

The biggest lesson was distribution. Yoke didn’t fit in newsagents. Their model — print huge volumes and pulp most of them — just didn’t align. We didn’t sit alongside glossy magazines. We were niche, slow, intentional.

So we had to think differently. We placed the magazine in yoga studios, specialty stores, and through word of mouth. It was a slow burn.

Another challenge was articulating the ethos. Yoke was more than a magazine — it was about creativity, consciousness and change. That language is more common now, but back then it was harder for people to grasp.

DOMINIQUE:
Would you do it again?

CYNTHIA:
Absolutely. But I would lean into partnerships and collaborations much earlier. We chose not to include traditional advertising, which meant we had to be very creative with funding.

The return on investment was slow, but I was adamant about paying contributors. That mattered to me. If I did it again, I’d focus earlier on non-traditional distribution and aligned partnerships.

DOMINIQUE:
After the first couple of issues, Yoke became more than a magazine. It became a community. How did that happen?

CYNTHIA:
Yoke was never just ink on paper. It was always about connection. So it naturally moved into face-to-face experiences — suppers, immersions, retreats, festival pop-ups, and eventually Creativity Moves.

The magazine became a platform rather than just a publication.

DOMINIQUE:
Tell me about the suppers.

CYNTHIA:
I was travelling between India and Australia a lot, and I realised how much I missed community. In India, you step outside and you’re instantly surrounded by people. Back home, everyone was in cars, isolated.

So I opened my home and hosted long-table suppers — thirty people, shared food, deep conversation. It wasn’t meant to be a women’s space, but women were the ones who responded.

Each supper ran for about three hours. We invited speakers — artists, spiritual leaders, activists — and explored themes around beauty, love and belonging. People didn’t have to agree with one another, but they shared a similar way of wanting to be in the world.

Over time, the community grew slowly but deeply. People came back, brought friends, and felt they’d found their people.

DOMINIQUE:
That sense of tribe is powerful. And it carried into Creativity Moves — which I’m also part of. Tell us about that.

CYNTHIA:
Creativity Moves came from the same place — connection. It was a lockdown baby, born out of loneliness and the need to bring women together.

The statistics are confronting: women earn 77 cents to the dollar, one in three women experience violence, and only a small percentage of media leadership roles are held by women.

Creativity became the practice — not just something you do, but how you live. Creativity Moves was the next evolution.

DOMINIQUE:
We also worked on Project Spotlight. What stood out from that research?

CYNTHIA:
We interviewed women about their intentionality — not just their creative output, but how creativity shaped their families, work and lives.

The strongest theme was authenticity. When people live authentically, they focus on care, regeneration and sustainability. That insight felt like a turning point.

We distilled the findings into ten virtues, with authenticity at the centre, and published them in the latest edition of Yoke.

DOMINIQUE:
The 10th anniversary edition is extraordinary. It feels timeless, especially in a world that feels increasingly artificial and polarised.

CYNTHIA:
Vandana Shiva says it beautifully: either women will lead us into peace with the Earth, or we won’t have a future at all.

Ten years of rage transformed into sacred rage — and into this book. I didn’t want doom and gloom. I wanted hope. A love letter. Something nourishing.

Creativity is medicinal. It’s activism. It’s how we change narratives, care for ourselves, our communities and our planet.

DOMINIQUE:
That feels like the perfect place to land. Thank you, Cynthia.

CYNTHIA:
Thank you, Dominique — for your generosity, your collaboration, and for always saying yes.

DOMINIQUE:
And thank you for joining us on Change Loves Company.