GOLD Lactation Online Conference 2022

Andini has bachelor and master degree in public health, majoring in hospital administration. She is an IBCLC and is currently undertaking PhD at the Australian National University. Her PhD thesis is looking at the facilitator and barrier of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative implementation and accreditation in Indonesia and Australia. One part of her PhD was measuring its social value using Social Return on Investment.

Her journey began when she was pregnant with her first child, then found and attended full series of Indonesian Breastfeeding Mothers Association (AIMI)'s breastfeeding classes. She then decided to volunteered as breastfeeding counselor at AIMI.

With her work experience in hospital management consulting for 8 years and personal experience when her breastfed son undertook open heart surgery, she realized that not every hospitals provide adequate education and support for breastfeeding mother, either since pregnancy, during and after birth.

Andini was awarded Deeble Summer Research Scholarship from Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research Scholarship Program of Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) in 2020 and published a Health Policy Issues Brief titled "Improving the Uptake of the Baby Friendly Health Initiative in Australian Hospitals" as the outcome. Thanks to her supervisor, Andini involved in working group for Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Accreditation at ANU in 2018-2019 and involve in WBTi Australia since 2019. Currently living in Canberra Australia, Andini has been providing breastfeeding education and assistance for Indonesian mother-student, students' wives or any Indonesian women who live in Canberra.

Dr. Andrew Dorough is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology. He then earned his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri. He later earned a post-graduate certification from the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (CACCP). He is qualified to deliver highly skilled and safe treatment to pregnant and postnatal patients and to neonatal and infant patients. Dr. Dorough enjoys providing collaborative care. He currently works in a family medicine clinic which boasts a breastfeeding medicine physician IBCLC, along with other IBCLCs, two nurse practitioners and a physician assistant. He assesses and treats infants with various forms of structural issues, including but not limited to cranial bone deformation (plagiocephaly), torticollis, and tongue and neck dysfunction, as related to feeding difficulties and infant well-being.

Anya Kleinman is a general pediatrician who works at Akron Children's Hospital in Akron, Ohio caring for the range of patients from birth to late adolescence. She uses her IBCLC expertise to counsel new parents and promote breastfeeding in the ER.

Bianca Balassiano has been working with families in private practice since 2008 as an IBCLC and perinatal psychologist/maternal-child health specialist. As a natural consequence of her professional background, has supported breastfeeding families into achieving individual goals while maintaining mental health and stimulating a holistic look towards the subject. Since 2014 is also working as an educator for healthcare professionals in one of the most recognized breastfeeding courses in Brazil, currently offering virtual classes and all over the country. Lives with husband and two children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2020, she launched her first book aimed at families with the title "Gradual Weaning: How to Bring Your Breastfeeding Story to a Happy End".

Dipti Shah is a Mother Support Group Leader - Lactation Counsellor since 1998 & Lactation Consultant since 2010. She was trained by BPNI Maharashtra Faculty & has been providing Lactation Counselling services in multiple Institutional Hospitals & small maternity homes in Mumbai for over 2 decades. She has wide experience in community advocacy & Individual Counselling in indoor, OPD, home and online settings. She is senior trainer for BPNI Maharashtra & participated as faculty in over 100 workshops in Seven States of India & for 5 batches of ’96 hrs of Lactation Specific Education’ for IBLCE preparation (2010-2021). She mentored many Lactation counsellors and consultants. She is a BFHI Assessor since 2001 & has trained two groups of ‘Traditional Massage Women’ in basics of infant feeding and childcare. She has extensively contributed to multiple training modules, presentations & videos for BPNI Maharashtra & Maharashtra Government & UNICEF. She is also office coordinator of BPNI Maharashtra since 2004. She participated in Expanded Global Breastfeeding Partners Meeting (GBPM) of WABA at Penang, Malaysia in 2010. She was felicitated with ‘Dr N.B. Kumta Award’ in 2016. She exclusively breastfed her son for 6 months and continued well into 2nd year.

Ruth Patterson is Cloud Nine's P I O N E E R & most sought Lactation Specialist with 32 years of rich experience. Ruth is currently practicing at Jayanagar C9, Bangalore-India and a visiting Lactation Consultant with 8 other Cloud Nine branches locally, while als heading the 22 Pan India Cloud Nine Hospitals as the Manager Lactation. Ruth's primary role is to ensure C9 nurses complete level 1 and level 2 LSTP course (Lactation Skilled Training Program). Ruth is acclaimed for the use of Dynamic Taping (only available at Jayanagar C9) that arrests/prevents breast surgery/abscess. This Dynamic Taping practice, alongside, a Gynecologist, Pediatrician and Physiotherapist at Cloud Nine, is now under patent stage.

Ruth's 30+ years of rich experience includes maternity, allied health and nursing care, both in rural and urban sector in India & Abroad. With Exclusive 17 years of experience in Lactation services, Ruth has acquired immense practical knowledge in the last decade to identify most critical disorders of mother and babies during breastfeeding stage. Ruth is acclaimed to have expertise in a lesser-known art of re-lactation and induced lactation.

Ruth is a well sought out person for patient hearing and provides her expert comments in News columns/Media and also delivers guest lectures globally.

After a career as a primary school teacher and Deputy Headteacher in central London, Emma trained with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, qualifying as a breastfeeding counsellor with them in 2007 and continuing with them as their trustee and chair. Emma first qualified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2011. She has supported families at groups in North London for 14 years as a volunteer and has a small private practice. Her book, “You’ve Got It In You: a positive guide to breastfeeding” was followed by “The Breast Book: a puberty guide with a difference – it’s the when, why and how of breasts” (published by Pinter and Martin). Her articles have been featured in print and online including on the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative website. Her article, 'The dangerous obsession with the infant feeding interval' is her most popular. She has two children and lives in London.

Evelyne Ruf is a family physician from France, and an International Board Lactation Consultant (since 1993). More than 25 years ago, she shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), working for the Ministry of Health, in Sharjah MCH Center. She opened there the first Lactation Clinic in the UAE, with the support of volunteers from Breastfeeding Friends (BFF), which she had co-founded. Five years ago, the Lactation Clinic has been shifted to the Family Health Promotion Center, where it continues to offer, to a very cosmopolitan population, skilled lactation support as well as assessment and release of tethered oral tissues.

A member of the National Breastfeeding Committee, Evelyne has been involved in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative as a lecturer, trainer, adviser and assessor. Her workplace became the first Baby-Friendly Health Center in the UAE and received the IBCLC Care Award (community category) in 2015.

She has also been actively involved in the Sharjah Baby-Friendly Emirate Campaign, a multi-sectorial initiative launched in 2012, and presented its achievements during Gold Lactation 4 years ago.

With her husband of 34 years, she is the proud and grateful mother of 5 grown-up breastfed children and the grandmother of 4 breastfed little ones.

Gretchen Becker Crabb is an Occupational Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Endorsed Infant Mental Health Therapist. She is also a Certified Lactation Counselor, La Leche League Leader, and Brazleton Newborn Observation (NBO) trainer.

Gretchen’s passion is rooted in fostering lifelong relationships and connection through co-regulation in pregnancy and beyond. Her unique approach to lactation support and therapy is rooted in culturally attuned sensory, somatic, and trauma-informed mental health techniques.

Gretchen owns and operates a private practice in Madison, Wisconsin. For 21 years, she has provided developmental, trauma, feeding, and attachment support for tiny humans and their caregivers in birth to three, preschool, private practice, and peer group settings. Gretchen is an international speaker, reflective supervisor, and infant mental health consultant. In these roles, she offers compassionate, experiential, and reflective holding spaces for professionals. She is a proud United States Air Force spouse and mother of three boys.

Indira has been involved in birth and breastfeeding support for the past 15 years. As a clinician IBCLC, she leads the Specialist Breastfeeding Clinic which is part of the Merton Health Visiting team (Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust). This Clinic is for complex breastfeeding dyads and by GP/HV/RM referral only. Indira has been awarded the National Institute for Health Research Fellowship (2021-2022) as part of the ARC NWL Improvement Leadership programme. Her project examines how to offer more skilled breastfeeding and lactation care in the NHS nationally. As an Educator and the lead Lecturer of the Breastfeeding London Course, she has been training future IBCLCs for the past 10 years. Indira's roles as Clinician and Educator have led her to the path of research. As the Director of the Centre for Breastfeeding Education and Research, she has published several articles in leading international peer-reviewed breastfeeding and human lactation journals. She has also served La Leche League Great Britain for the past 13 consecutive years.

Dr. Dyah Febriyanti is a medical doctor, an IBCLC, a breastfeeding counselor, and a mother living in Jakarta, Indonesia. She has been working in hospitals since she graduated in 2012. She was facing many struggles to succeed breastfeeding her daughter for two years. She has been an IBCLC since 2017. She works with breastfeeding dyads in a team, called Praborini lactation team, consisting of all lady doctors in outpatient and inpatient care units. Concerning breastfeeding and nutrition in early life, she has published a semi-cookbook about complementary foods for breastfed babies and cooking videos to educate and help mothers feed their babies. She also has been working on scientific writing. She is a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, International Lactation Consultant Association, and a trainer of the Indonesian Society of Perinatology.

Jeanette Mesite Frem, MHS, IBCLC, RLC, CCE is an experienced childbirth educator, IBCLC-lactation consultant and retired birth doula. She started her career working with families while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa in the early 90s. She loved that work so much she went on to receive a public health masters degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, focusing her studies on nutrition for maternal and child health. Her two children were breastfed for more than 2 years each and Jeanette has experience pumping at work for both children and has supported more than a thousand families with feeding and pumping over the last 20 years.

Jeanette provides prenatal childbirth and breastfeeding classes at her office in Northborough, Massachusetts, as well as providing virtual and office feeding consultations. She also enjoys leading workshops for perinatal health professionals and mentoring those who work with families. If you have questions, feel free to email [email protected].

Katherine is a Senior Lecturer at School of Sociology, Australian National University. Katherine’s particular areas of interest include the sociology of reproduction and motherhood, perinatal medicine, lactation sciences, human milk banking and donation. Her current projects include an Australian Research Council funded study on maternal experiences of lactation after infant death, and a Mayo Clinic funded research project on the communication with families regarding periviable infant resuscitation.

Kristin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and IBCLC in private practice in central NJ. Her practice specialties are low supply, maternal and infant mental health, and the intersection of ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender in the care of the new family. She has spoken on various lactation, mental health, and equity topics for USLCA, the Lehigh Valley Breastfeeding Association Conference, the Appalachian Breastfeeding Conference, LPPEC, LC in PP, and for LLL of the Garden State. She designed and taught a training course on Mental Health First Aid for Perinatal Providers. She has been a featured speaker on several lactation related podcasts.

She is the mother of two children who nursed full term despite maternal IGT, and who are now 16 and 13. She is an anti racist LGBT+ activist, a member of transformative works fandoms, and makes fighting for a better world part of her daily life.

Laurie-Anne Muldoon has supported families both as an RN and as a Social Worker in a variety of hospital, public health and community mental health settings in the U.S. and Canada for the last 25 years. She has felt privileged to have companioned many women, families and groups through their experiences of loss, upheaval and life transitions. Her passion for perinatal mental health was reignited following her own birthing and breastfeeding experiences with her son 11 years ago. Laurie-Anne brings her compassion and respect for human dignity to her work with parents transitioning into the world of parenthood. She is founder of The Ottawa Integrative Mental Health Collective. A proud Franco-Ontarian, Laurie-Anne was born and raised in Ottawa Ontario. She currently works in private practice specializing in perinatal mental health, birth trauma and loss.

Megan Dunn is a board certified Lactation Consultant and Health Educator who views infant feeding from an anthropological perspective and through a sociological lens. Her experiences have run the gamut as a volunteer, peer-to-peer counselor, clinical IBCLC, and as an educator.

Currently she is the Breastfeeding Program Coordinator for a local WIC agency where she is coordinating a pilot program to equitably expand peer services. She is privileged to be a part of the excellent team at Legacy Health as a perinatal Educator. She also provides community lactation support as a home-visiting provider. Her goals are to support biological feeding norms and to offer practical and empowering solutions for dyads. Professionally, her special interests include the fascinating world of our microbiome, empowering parents through Participant Centered and motivational approaches, and creating successful feeding solutions for complex cases. She is eager to collaborate on projects which focus on improving public policy and accessibility to culturally aware and trauma informed care for all perinatal families.

When she’s not pondering and working on all things human milk, Megan enjoys cooking, hanging out with her teenagers, going on nature walks, volunteering, and spinning tunes as a community radio host and DJ.

Melissa Cole is a board-certified lactation consultant, neonatal oral-motor assessment professional and clinical herbalist in private practice. Melissa is passionate about providing comprehensive, holistic lactation support and improving the level of clinical lactation skills for health professional. She enjoys teaching, researching and writing about wellness and lactation-related topics. Her bachelor’s degree is in maternal/child health and lactation and her master’s degree is in therapeutic herbalism. Before pursuing her current path, Melissa’s background was in education and cultural arts, which has served her well in her work as a lactation consultant and healthcare educator. She loves living, working and playing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her 3 children.

Merete Eggesboe, MD and an environmental epidemiologist at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, is dedicated to understanding the role of the microbiome and environmental toxicants in children’s health. In order to do so she initiated the prospective HUMIS & NoMIC birth cohorts, encompassing more than 2600 mother-child pairs where the gut microbiome and toxicant exposure has been mapped in human milk and fecal samples. She has now followed them for 18 years and the longitudinal extensive data collection provides a wealth of research opportunities. It has also been linked to the Norwegain Patient Registry where all specialist diagnosis set on all research subjects are available. The focus so far has been on understanding their role in reproductive health, growth/obesity, neuropsychological functioning and vaccine immune responses. Recent studies have also looked at how toxicants in human milk may affect the infant’s microbiome. And vice versa: how our gut microbiome affects the metabolism of toxicants. She has been cited >6000 times over the last 5 years and has an h-index of 51 and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers. She is a popular speaker, leads several prestigious Norwegian Research council programs and participates in several EU projects.

Monica Esparza is currently the Executive Director of the New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force. She is a trained Certified Lactation Counselor and Community Interpreter who previously served families as a breastfeeding peer counselor for more than 10 years, providing peer-to-peer support to lactating families through the Department of Health Women's, Infant & Children's program both individually and in the hospital setting. She participated as a Leader in the Health Connect One Birth Leadership Academy and the NM Women of Color Leaders in Non-profit. She has served on different boards and currently sits on the National College of Midwifery Board and the New Mexico Certified Nurse Midwives Board. As a Mexican, Immigrant woman living in the south valley of Albuquerque, she brings a grassroots community approach and an equity lens into her every aspect of her work. She understands the importance of centering families and Black, Indigenous and People Of Color as a crucial step into achieve birth equity. She enjoys hiking and gardening with her husband and 2 children.

Rebecca began her lactation journey with her undergraduate senior thesis evaluating a breastfeeding education program. After working as a doula and childbirth educator, she decided to pursue a Master’s in Public Health in Maternal and Child Health. There, she was also in the first class of the Mary Rose Tully Training Initiative, a Pathway 2 IBCLC training program. After graduating, she first worked full time as an IBCLC in a large academic hospital. She then became the Director of Lactation Services at a busy freestanding birth center. After making the move to a new state, she went into private practice part-time, and expanded her focus on a longtime passion: providing education for IBCLCs, lactation trainees, and health care providers. She also has special interests in research, support for the LGBTQ+ community, and coalition-building to advance and support IBCLC services.

Rosann Edwards is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, an experienced front line public health nurse, and lactation consultant. She is also a third-degree karate black belt, and mother of boys. Rosann’s research and community work focuses on breastfeeding, the transition to motherhood, maternal satisfaction with breast/infant feeding, mothering in the shelter system, and empowering vulnerable populations of women and their children. She is the co-editor of the recent Demeter Press Anthology Breasts across Motherhood: Lived Experiences and Critical Examinations.

Zainab Yate is a Biomedical Ethicist, with a specialist interest in infant feeding. Zainab is Vice Chair and named qualitative lead on a paediatric flagged Research Ethics Committee Panel for the Health Research Authority (HRA) in the UK, reviewing research protocols for over a decade. Zainab's previous working background is in Public Health and Commissioning the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. She had also been a volunteer breastfeeding peer supporter with the NHS for a number of years, is the owner-author of the resource site for mothers and healthcare practitioners on Breastfeeding / Nursing Aversion and Agitation and author of "When Breastfeeding Sucks".

Kelsie Barta is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) who lives in Richmond, Texas with her spouse and two young children. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing Science with Texas Woman’s University, with a primary research interest in lactation. She occupies her time with various part-time endeavors, including working as a Family Nurse Practitioner, a Clinical Nursing Instructor for nursing students in their maternal child health and pediatric clinical experiences, lactation consulting, and volunteer work with an emerging nonprofit maternal health organization in Houston, Texas. Her experiences with lactation are dynamic. Professionally, she has worked with breastfeeding/chestfeeding dyads in a postpartum hospital unit, through outpatient clinic visits, and via antenatal education. Her personal experiences include breastfeeding her children, serving as a resource to friends and family, and generally being “plugged in” to how lactation and lactation consulting may be perceived among people her age. She is passionate about empowering parents to reach their infant feeding goals, equitable access to lactation care, and health policy.

Stephanie Wagner, "Steph", is a Registered Nurse of 20 years, her first 13 years working Labor & Delivery in various hospitals in Virginia, California, and New York, working as a Travel Nurse for many years. Steph graduated from James Madison University in Virginia in 2001 with her BSN. She became a Certified Lactation Educator in 2012 and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant in 2014. After working in the hospital setting for 18 years, she now works solely as a Lactation Consultant in Private Practice. Her Private Practice, EverLatching Love, started in 2015 in NYC. EverLatching Love provides Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding/Bodyfeeding support and education by way of home visits and virtual consultations. Steph is the current Treasurer of the New York Lactation Consultant Association (NYLCA) and a member of the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) as well as the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA). She has been featured in Romper.com, nymag.com, the Strategist, TLC the TV network, and other media outlets such as the Breastfeeding Outside the Box podcast series. She teaches part time for Evergreen Perinatal Education, proudly educating new lactation professionals entering our field. She speaks at conferences and to groups across the Country on best practice when working with LGBTQ+ families who may use the language and action of Chestfeeding or Bodyfeeding their babies. Making sure healthcare is always aware of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for all persons is a pilar of Steph’s work. Steph is a proud Certified OutCare Healthcare Professional as of March 2020 and is very proud to be featured on OutCare Health’s OutList of Medical Professionals. She was privileged to speak at the New York Coming Out Conference, the first ever International Transgender Conference in NYC, in October 2019. The conference had a big emphasis on healthcare and Steph presented on Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding/Bodyfeeding to the Transgender and Non-Binary community in attendance. She is constantly learning about Queer culture and advances in human lactation, and she works hard to find the best ways to intersect them for inclusive care.

Melissa Cole is a board-certified lactation consultant, neonatal oral-motor assessment professional and clinical herbalist in private practice. Melissa is passionate about providing comprehensive, holistic lactation support and improving the level of clinical lactation skills for health professional. She enjoys teaching, researching and writing about wellness and lactation-related topics. Her bachelor’s degree is in maternal/child health and lactation and her master’s degree is in therapeutic herbalism. Before pursuing her current path, Melissa’s background was in education and cultural arts, which has served her well in her work as a lactation consultant and healthcare educator. She loves living, working and playing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her 3 children.

Anna Le Grange is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Registered Paediatric Nurse, Mindfulness teacher and Author. She has worked with new families for over 20 years in a variety of clinical roles. Anna brings her passion for psychology, neuroscience and mindfulness into her lactation support work and facilitates other professionals to incorporate emotional well-being tools into their own lactation practice.

Mother to 3 children, Anna breastfed her 3rd child following breast reduction surgery and experienced first-hand, the emotional challenges that so often relate to infant feeding complexities. She used her personal experiences alongside mindfulness and lactation knowledge, to create a toolbox of techniques for breastfeeding families, which she includes in her courses and book, The Mindful Breastfeeding Book. Anna believes whole-heartedly in prioritising calm and connection within our breastfeeding support practices, both for our clients and ourselves.

Anna is currently studying for a MSc in Positive Psychology at Buckingham New University and has spoken at various events including the ILactation conference and Womanfest.

Dipti Shah is a Mother Support Group Leader - Lactation Counsellor since 1998 & Lactation Consultant since 2010. She was trained by BPNI Maharashtra Faculty & has been providing Lactation Counselling services in multiple Institutional Hospitals & small maternity homes in Mumbai for over 2 decades. She has wide experience in community advocacy & Individual Counselling in indoor, OPD, home and online settings. She is senior trainer for BPNI Maharashtra & participated as faculty in over 100 workshops in Seven States of India & for 5 batches of ’96 hrs of Lactation Specific Education’ for IBLCE preparation (2010-2021). She mentored many Lactation counsellors and consultants. She is a BFHI Assessor since 2001 & has trained two groups of ‘Traditional Massage Women’ in basics of infant feeding and childcare. She has extensively contributed to multiple training modules, presentations & videos for BPNI Maharashtra & Maharashtra Government & UNICEF. She is also office coordinator of BPNI Maharashtra since 2004. She participated in Expanded Global Breastfeeding Partners Meeting (GBPM) of WABA at Penang, Malaysia in 2010. She was felicitated with ‘Dr N.B. Kumta Award’ in 2016. She exclusively breastfed her son for 6 months and continued well into 2nd year.

Christine Staricka is a Registered, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant and trained childbirth educator. As the host of The Lactation Training Lab Podcast, her current role focuses on training and coaching current and aspiring lactation care providers. Christine created and developed The First 100 Hours© concept, an early lactation framework designed to support lactation care providers with the knowledge and mindset they need to help families optimize early lactation. Christine worked as a hospital-based IBCLC for 10 years and has over 20 years experience providing clinical lactation care and support. She provides clinical lactation care to families at Baby Café Bakersfield and serves as its Director. Christine recently completed 6 years of service on the Board of the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA.) She holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Phoenix. She has been married for 27 years, lives in California, and is the proud mother of 3 amazing daughters.

Julie Matheney knew when she was ten years old that she wanted to feed babies for a living. She earned her Masters in speech-language pathology and has worked with feeding and swallowing disorders for over a decade. While most people assume speech therapists teach children who stutter or work on ""r's and s's"", the bulk of her job is feeding and swallowing as part of a hospital based, rehabilitation team. The same things you speak with, you eat with! Over the past decade working in the NICU, she discovered her passion for working with breastfeeding families and became an IBCLC in 2018.

She transitioned out of the hospital in July 2021 and currently works full time in private practice as a lactation consultant in Los Angeles. She enjoys helping the whole family in the feeding process to meet their goals.

Her loving husband is always supportive of her in her vocational passions and was instrumental in launching her private practice. She has two young daughters, both of whom were exclusively breastfed until two years old.

Julie Matheney knew when she was ten years old that she wanted to feed babies for a living. She earned her Masters in speech-language pathology and has worked with feeding and swallowing disorders for over a decade. While most people assume speech therapists teach children who stutter or work on ""r's and s's"", the bulk of her job is feeding and swallowing as part of a hospital based, rehabilitation team. The same things you speak with, you eat with! Over the past decade working in the NICU, she discovered her passion for working with breastfeeding families and became an IBCLC in 2018.

She transitioned out of the hospital in July 2021 and currently works full time in private practice as a lactation consultant in Los Angeles. She enjoys helping the whole family in the feeding process to meet their goals.

Her loving husband is always supportive of her in her vocational passions and was instrumental in launching her private practice. She has two young daughters, both of whom were exclusively breastfed until two years old.

Stacy Davis is the Health Equity and Community Partnerships Manager for the National Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Association. Inspired by her personal and professional experiences, Stacy has focused her efforts on addressing health equities in Maternal Child Health, locally, nationally and internationally, especially as it pertains to black and brown families.

As the former executive director of the National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color, Stacy established the organization as a brand and leader in the field- addressing racial inequity in lactation support and education, acting as expert panelist and collaborator with other leading organizations, and holding privileged organizations accountable and responsible for the health and wellbeing of communities of color. Additionally, she participated in the growth and expansion of equitable access to Pathway 2 lactation training programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, such as Johnson C. Smith and North Carolina A&T Universities. She co-developed and hosted a unique event of its kind- The Amazing R.A.C.E.- a safe space retreat for Maternal Child Health professionals and supporters.

Stacy is a graduate of Western Michigan University where she obtained her master’s degree in Public Health. She has received numerous honors including, but not limited a member of the Center for Social Inclusion’s First Food Racial Equity Cohort, IBCLE’s Spotlight, and the AHEAD in WIC Health Equity Champion. Stacy Davis is a United States Lactation Consultant Association Board of Director.