Jennifer Ratcliffe and Carima Couttas run Mary Kay workshops every month in Wollongong but they joined forces to invite their consultants to an educational fundraiser for a good cause.

Aware that one in eight women in Australia will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, they asked BreastAware founder Maralyn Young, of Casa Mia, to talk to the women about breast cancer awareness, breast self examination, detecting cancers using teaching aids, breast anatomy and breast care.

Mrs Young started BreastAware recently after 20 years' experience educating women on breast care and 10 years as a certified breast prosthetic and bra fitter and trainer.

Money raised at the workshop went towards purchasing more teaching aids for showing women how to detect breast cancer.

Mrs Ratcliffe said the workshop was about educating and empowering women of all ages to take control of their own health."Early detection saves lives," she said.

"I thought it would be good to use our platform in Mary Kay to touch women's lives and spread the BreastAware message by inviting Maralyn to come along."

Mrs Ratcliffe also recently held a Mary Kay event to help the Salvation Army in its work responding to domestic violence.