Breastfeeding Advocacy Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

Nikki started as an LPN in 1971, got her RN and BSN, and a graduate degree. She is an author, a teacher, a holistic lactation consultant, a craniosacral therapy practitioner, and a baby body worker (teaching Infant Massage and TummyTime! She is mother to 2 wonderful (breastfed for a long time) daughters, wife to 3 interesting men, only one of whom was the right one for the past 37 years, Rafe!

Her publications include the books, Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy and A Breastfeeding Owner’s Manual; the monographs, “Benefits of Breastfeeding and Their Economic Impact” and “Sexuality and Breastfeeding” and the educational pamphlet “How to help yourself through labor”. She has been the reviews editor for the journal Clinical Lactation, and has worked as the lactation consultant for the division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health since 2006.

Dr. Rice has been working at the intersection of education and health for social justice and public good. She is the former Executive Director of the Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon. Currently, Dr. Rice works on organizational development, communication, marketing, public policy and community engagement to advance health equity through access to donor human milk. A national thought leader, she is deeply engaged in convening conversations about the importance of maintaining women’s biological integrity, advancing feminist approaches to human milk banking and at the same time, encouraging capacity building for human milk derived therapies improving health outcomes for the most vulnerable babies.

Most recently Dr. Rice provided consulting as a Policy Associate with Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose and has provided strategy and policy consulting for the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). Marion holds a doctorate in Education Leadership and is an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant, IBCLC.

Paulina is the mother of three multicultural Latino children and Project Director for Lifespan Local. Paulina earned her BS in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University, a MS in Organizational leadership from the University of Denver and is completing her PhD in Health and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado - Denver. Paulina has over 18 years of experience working with families with young children. As a Maternal Child Health specialist for Jefferson County Public Health, she developed a NICU follow-up home visitation program and the pediatric emergency preparedness plan, co-founded and coordinated the Conectando Network (former Adelante Jeffco), established community navigation and lactation support groups focused on the Latino Spanish speaking community, and lead other initiatives to support leadership and partnerships among communities and organizations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she managed the new program Whole Community Inclusion to ensure the pandemic response and recovery implementation included health equity practices that recognize the needs and the strengths of priority populations in the county. Her areas of current work include promoting perinatal and infant mental health along the continuum of care; building community capacity to navigate health and education systems; facilitating organizational change to embrace linguistic and culturally responsive practices; and establishing community-placed participatory programs to strengthen communities. She likes to be with people, learn from and with others, and connect passions for meaningful work.

Mona Liza Hamlin, MSN, RN, IBCLC is the nurse manager of Perinatal Resources and Community Programs for the Women & Children’s Service Line at Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, Delaware. Her role consists of improving both inpatient and outpatient programs that focus on reaching the triple AIM, and improving health equity in the state of Delaware. Hamlin serves as Past-Chair to the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC). The USBC is a coalition of more than 50 organizations that support its mission to drive collaborative efforts for policy and practices that create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States.
She is a founding member of the National Association of Professional & Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC), an organization aimed at addressing breastfeeding disparities and improving breastfeeding
amongst families of color. Hamlin also serves as a member of the Delaware Healthy Mother & Infant Consortium and is a board member
for the Breastfeeding Coalition of Delaware. Her fundamental
belief is that equitable access and high quality care are provided to all women and families, especially those most vulnerable to lack of access and systemic barriers to care. Fueled by her professional and personal experiences and passions, Hamlin strives to ensure that all mothers have access to a full scope of perinatal care, support and resources.

Mona Liza Hamlin, MSN, RN, IBCLC is the nurse manager of Perinatal Resources and Community Programs for the Women & Children’s Service Line at Christiana Care Hospital in Newark, Delaware. Her role consists of improving both inpatient and outpatient programs that focus on reaching the triple AIM, and improving health equity in the state of Delaware. Hamlin serves as Past-Chair to the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC). The USBC is a coalition of more than 50 organizations that support its mission to drive collaborative efforts for policy and practices that create a landscape of breastfeeding support across the United States.
She is a founding member of the National Association of Professional & Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC), an organization aimed at addressing breastfeeding disparities and improving breastfeeding
amongst families of color. Hamlin also serves as a member of the Delaware Healthy Mother & Infant Consortium and is a board member
for the Breastfeeding Coalition of Delaware. Her fundamental
belief is that equitable access and high quality care are provided to all women and families, especially those most vulnerable to lack of access and systemic barriers to care. Fueled by her professional and personal experiences and passions, Hamlin strives to ensure that all mothers have access to a full scope of perinatal care, support and resources.

Professor Amy Brown is based in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences at Swansea University in the UK. With a background in psychology, she has spent the last thirteen years exploring psychological, cultural and societal influences upon infant feeding decisions in the first year. Her research seeks to understand how we can shift our perception of how babies are fed away from an individual mothering issue to a wider public health problem – with societal level solutions. Dr Brown has published over 60 papers exploring the barriers women face in feeding their baby during the first year. She is a mother to three human children and three book babies: Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who really decides how we feed our babies, Why starting solids matters, and The Positive Breastfeeding Book: Everything you need to feed your baby with confidence. She is a regular blogger, aiming to change the way we think about breastfeeding, mothering and caring for our babies.

Felisha Floyd, BS, CLC, IBCLC, is currently Lactation Coordinator for Hospital Corporations of America system in Florida. She also offers infant feeding support, mentorship, and education to her local community via her private practice, Beyond Breastfeeding. Felisha is the founder of Our Brown Baby, a community based breastfeeding support group, which serves to provide specialized culturally sensitive breastfeeding support to families of color. In addition to these roles, Felisha is one of the founding mothers and current President of the non-profit The National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color, affectionately known as "NAPPLSC". She is also a Center for Social Inclusion First Food Equity Cohort member. Previously, she worked as a Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and Breastfeeding Coordinator.

Fueled by her professional and personal passions to ensure that all mothers have access to quality breastfeeding support and resources, Felisha has fervently pledged to reduce breastfeeding disparities in the African American community. To this end, she continually makes efforts to help increase breastfeeding rates in the African American community by unapologetically fighting that which contributes to racial health disparities. Fearlessly obsessive, she is affectionately known as the social media guru "Blactavist!" (Black Lactation Activist). This online community consists of approximately 38,000 supporters on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and is dedicated to empowering African American families to breastfeed.

Dianne Cassidy, MS, IBCLC, ALC, CCE, is a Lactation Consultant in Rochester, New York with Advanced Lactation Certification.  Dianne works in Private Practice, and in a busy Pediatrician office supporting mothers and babies. She also teaches prenatal breastfeeding and childbirth in the hospital setting.  In the fall of 2013, Dianne completed her MA in Health and Wellness/Lactation.  She is dedicated to serving mothers and babies, and has the unique ability to identify with the needs and concerns of new mothers.  Dianne has worked extensively with women who have survived trauma, babies struggling with tongue tie, birth trauma, milk supply issues, attachment, identifying latch problems, returning to work and breastfeeding multiples.

Dianne has 3 biological children, including twins, 3 step children and a wonderful husband.  Dianne is an author and public speaker and enjoys teaching caregivers how to support new families through breastfeeding struggles.

Carmela Kika Baeza, MD, IBCLC, is a family medicine MD, bachelor´s degree in Public Health Education, and IBCLC since 2005. She is also a BFHI Evaluator and the current president of the Spanish Lactation Consultant Association (AECCLM). She works in a private Family Wellness Clinic, Raices, as person in charge of the lactation program, which includes two IBCLCs attending breastfeeding families and an extensive offer of breastfeeding training for health care professionals and breastfeeding peer counsellors. The team has trained over three thousand doctors, midwives and nurses from both the Spanish National Health Service and the private sector in Spain. She is a frequent lecturer at national conferences, and has also lectured internationally, both on-site and online. She is the author of several scientific papers on breast pain, mastitis and tongue tie. She is also the author of a breastfeeding/parenting book, “Amar con los Brazos Abiertos” (To Love with Open Arms). She is married to Carlos and they homeschool their four children.

Paulina Erices, BS, IBCLC, RLC, is the mother of three children, a bilingual Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in private practice and Maternal Child Health Specialist for the Jefferson County Health Department in Colorado. She is originally from Chile and has lived in the US for almost 15 years. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from PennState and is currently completing her Masters of Science in Leadership and Organizations from the University of Denver. She has been a La Leche League Leader for 12 years where she has held different mother and Leader support roles across the US. She is a member of several groups working to improve child health and well-being, including the Early Childhood Colorado Partnership, the NICU Consortium, and the Community Leaders in Health Equity. Paulina's goal is to elevate and empower the voices of the community to effectively improve systems of care through advocacy and policy. Paulina lives in Littleton, Colorado where she spends her free time birding with her family and training her dog Aussie.

Fiona Lang-Sharpe, IBCLC, NAMCM, is a Birth Doula and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice in Edmonton, AB, Canada. Fiona has over 20 years of experience attending births, supporting mothers post partum, and offering lactation case management services. Having studied in England under the National Association of Maternal and Child Welfare, Fiona moved to Canada in 1989 and after having her first born son was accredited through La Leche League Canada as a Leader and went onto obtain her certification as an IBCLC. Fiona's experience in perinatal health along with her interest in technology and social media and passion for quality education makes her an excellent fit for GOLD Conferences International. Fiona is one of the first voices you'll hear as one of GOLD's online Master of Ceremonies, and is also often one of the first faces you'll see, online and in person, as she represents GOLD at industry events and via social media. Fiona is highly anticipating an expanding role with GOLD, as GOLD increases it online offerings.

Dr. Amal Omer-Salim is the Executive Director of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). She is a nutritionist with a Ph.D. from Uppsala University, Sweden. Her areas of expertise are nutrition, breastfeeding, international health, gender, programme planning, research, and advocacy, with a special focus on Africa and Asia.

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC, FAPA, is a health psychologist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and the Owner and Editor-in-Chief of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is Editor-in-Chief of two peer-reviewed journals: Clinical Lactation and Psychological Trauma. She is Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology and Past President of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology. Dr. Kendall-Tackett specializes in women's-health research including breastfeeding, depression, trauma, and health psychology, and has won many awards for her work including the 2017 President’s Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association’s Division of Trauma Psychology. Dr. Kendall-Tackett has authored more than 460 articles or chapters and is author or editor of 38 books.

Amy Brown, PhD, Professor, is based in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences at Swansea University in the UK. With a background in psychology, she has spent the last thirteen years exploring psychological, cultural and societal influences upon infant feeding decisions in the first year. Her research seeks to understand how we can shift our perception of how babies are fed away from an individual mothering issue to a wider public health problem – with societal level solutions. Dr Brown has published over 60 papers exploring the barriers women face in feeding their baby during the first year. She is a mother to three human children and three book babies: Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who really decides how we feed our babies, Why starting solids matters, and The Positive Breastfeeding Book: Everything you need to feed your baby with confidence. She is a regular blogger, aiming to change the way we think about breastfeeding, mothering and caring for our babies.

Nekisha Killings, MPH, IBCLC, LLLL, is an experienced marketer, writer, equity strategist, and international board certified lactation consultant. After spending years in consumer-packaged goods marketing and community partnership building, followed by a decade of public relations and ghostwriting, she found her life’s work in lactation support and maternal and child health equity through her personal experiences with birth and breastfeeding. Nekisha contributed the chapter on Cultural Humility in the latest Core Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Lactation Care. She acts as equity strategist for lactation-related organizations that seek to better reach underserved communities. Recently, she co-founded Nikki & Nikki: Lactation Career Consultants, an organization dedicated to equipping aspirants of color to sit the IBCLC exam. In addition to being spouse to an active duty United States Air Force member, Nekisha also homeschools three little future world changers and enjoys writing and research on the impact of historical trauma on families’ breastfeeding experiences today.

Tomoko Seo is a pediatrician and IBCLC in Japan, working in a private clinic with colleagues including IBCLCs who practice's general pediatrics and breastfeeding medicine. She became certified as an IBCLC in 1999 and recertified in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. She is a member of the Japanese Association of Lactation Consultants (JALC) since 1999, when it was founded. JALC has been holding conferences several times a year, including the “Annual Breastfeeding Seminar for Physicians” since 2005 to provide breastfeeding education to physicians and improve breastfeeding support among physicians. Tomko has been a member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) since 1999. She is also an active member of the International, Protocol, Education, Conference, Membership Committees of ABM.