Jessica Lee is a Staff Attorney at the Center for WorkLife Law, and co-founder of the Center’s Nursing Mothers Law Project. She works to advance gender equality in the workplace and in education, and is a nationally recognized expert on discrimination related to pregnancy and breastfeeding. Lee has provided know-your-rights resources and training on workplace supports for breastfeeding to thousands of healthcare providers, public health practitioners, and employers. She also seeks to prevent discrimination by working with institutions to draft and implement family-responsive policies.

Lee’s writing has been featured in publications ranging from Harvard Business Review and The Chronicle of Higher Education to the journals Breastfeeding Medicine and Midwifery and Women’s Health. She is a co-author of the study, Exposed: Discrimination Against Breastfeeding Workers.

Kathy Parkes is a sought-after speaker and webinar presenter as well as a published author. She has lived all over the world, settling in San Antonio, Texas after her Air Force husband retired. Kathy is a Registered Nurse with a Masters in Nursing Education and received her International Board Certified Lactation Consultant designation in 1992. Her private practice, Breastfeeding Perspectives, adds to her over 30 years of lactation experiences, which include WIC staff and clients, in-patient hospital work on L&D, postpartum, and NICU, taking a hospital to Baby-Friendly designation, setting up a lactation visitation program for both a home health agency and for the largest birth doula organization in San Antonio, and providing home and office lactation visits for private clients. She specializes in tethered oral tissues (tongue-and-lip ties), milk supply problems, multiples, and preterm/late preterm infants.
On the fun side, Kathy met her husband of 47 years as she was jumping out of the airplane he was flying. (You could say she fell for him!) She loves animals, traveling, and gardening. Most of all, she loves teaching others about breastfeeding.

Helen Gray MPhil IBCLC is Joint Coordinator of the UK Steering Group of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi). In 2017 she and Clare Meynell IBCLC jointly received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to Breastfeeding from the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (LCGB), for leading the UK’s first WBTi assessment of infant feeding policies and programmes.

Helen is an international speaker on ethics and conflicts of interest. She represents La Leche League of Great Britain on the UK Baby Feeding Law Group, which works to bring the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into UK law. She is also Policy and Advocacy Lead for Lactation Consultants of Great Britain, and previously co-chaired LCGB’s Communications Team.

Helen’s background in anthropology and human evolution has influenced her interest in how breastfeeding, and the way we nurture our babies, are influenced by both human biology and culture.

Her current advocacy focus is the need for strong policies to protect infant feeding in emergencies. She currently serves on the Advisory Panel for a London Food Resilience research project with Oxford University.

In her spare time, she can be found sculling on the River Thames.

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.

Tamara Drenttel Brand holds an MA in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the American University of Beirut. She spent 10 years in the Middle East, where she worked as a public health practitioner, infant and maternal health consultant and an IBCLC. She has supported breastfeeding dyads from all over the world both in private practice and as a volunteer. In 2011, she founded and still actively facilitates “Mama 2 Mama Beirut Breastfeeding Support,” the largest breastfeeding peer support network in the Middle East (currently at 25k+ members). Additionally, she founded Galactablog, a professional group for lactation specialists and those aspiring-to-be (currently at 4.7k+ members) and has authored several articles for La Leche League’s monthly leader publications in both the Middle East and Ireland.

She is currently an international speaker on the topics dealing with breastfeeding in the Middle East, innovative lactation teaching strategies, working in resource-scarce settings, providing culturally sensitive lactation support, developing and implementing peer counselor training programs, mast cell disease and other related topics. Due to her own chronic health conditions, she has a special interest in educating others about mast cell disease and supporting those with chronic illnesses. She currently resides in a seaside village in Ireland with her family.

I am a wife and mother of two breastfed children. I was a general practitioner and am currently more focused on helping mothers to breastfeed. I work at Puri Cinere Hospital and Kemang Medical Care Women and Children as a lactation counselor. I currently on leave due to accompany my husband school in United State for his PhD programs. Since 2009, I've been helping mothers who have difficulties breastfeeding. It is a delight when we meet during tough times, then met again once their breastfed child are big and smart, and most importantly successfully breastfed. My desire is to help mothers to breastfed wherever I live in this world.

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.

Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice in New York City. Certified in 1992, Catherine is particularly interested in helping moms and babies breastfeed when they have medical challenges and is an active clinical mentor. She speaks to healthcare professionals around the world on assisting breastfeeding babies with anatomical, genetic or neurological problems. Her presentations and her writing are enriched by her clinical photographs and videos. Catherine collaborates with Columbia University and Tel Aviv University Departments of Biomedical Engineering on research projects investigating the biomechanics of the lactating nipple and various aspects of sucking and swallowing in breastfeeding infants. She is the author of Selecting and Using Breastfeeding Tools: Improving Care and Outcomes (Praeclarus Press 2009) and Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants (Jones and Bartlett Learning 2008, 2013, 2017) as well as professional journal articles and chapters in the Core Curriculum for Lactation Consultant Practice and Breastfeeding and Human Lactation. Catherine served as Associate Editor of the United States Lactation Consultant Association’s official journal Clinical Lactation for its first seven years.

Hope has always been the type of person to dive head-first into the deep end (literally - she learned to swim before she was 2!). Hope became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2017, completed her PhD in nutritional biochemistry in 2018 at NC State University, and became a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) in 2020.

In addition to owning and operating Hope Feeds Babies in Rock Hill, SC, Hope is employed full time at Winthrop University in the Department of Human Nutrition overseeing the Certificate in Medical Lactation and running a research lab that focuses on helping mothers to reach their infant feeding goals, improving access to human milk, and analyzing the nutritional content of human milk. As an IBCLC, Hope has a passion for connecting with mothers to help them to reach their individual feeding goals and advocacy for maternal health. As an RDN, Hope loves to support parents in feeding their children, whether that is traditional solids, baby-led weaning, or blenderized tube feeds.

Karin always knew that helping people would guide the course of her career. Karin’s professional path demonstrates this passion as she pursued a BA in psychology from Villanova University, a Master’s in Nutrition Education from Immaculata University, and is currently in the latter stages of her dissertation work towards a PhD in Health Education and Promotion from Walden University. In the past 20 years, Karin has sought opportunities that allow her to gather experience in various settings. While earning her Masters in Nutrition Education, she worked as a counselor and nutrition therapist at the world renown Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, PA. It was here that Karin adopted her view that an individual’s relationship with food and body are critical to change and sustain physical and mental health.

Sharing this approach with future health-minded individuals prompted Karin to begin teaching at Winthrop University, where she has taught for the past seven years courses related to health and nutrition. During this time, Karin continues her own education through the pursuit of Doctorate in Health Education and Promotion from Walden University. Her dissertation focuses on online faculty perceptions of college student mental health concerns and if these perceptions predict the likelihood of a mental health service referral.

Ruth Anne Hammond is the author of Respecting Babies: A Guide to Educaring for Parents and Professionals (Zero to Three, 2019), and is a consultant for infant/toddler care and education. Having been mentored by Magda Gerber, founder of Resources for Infant Educarers, she teaches and mentors parents and professionals in the US and abroad. She served on RIE’s board of directors for many years and was President from 2006 through 2011. She was on the faculty of Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School as both a member of the Senior Adjunct Faculty and a Master Teacher in the Infant/Toddler-Parent Program for 17 years. She is currently on the board of directors of Families Forward Learning Center in Pasadena, CA and serves as chair of the Programs Advisory Committee. Ms. Hammond earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Southern Methodist University and a Master of Arts in Human Development, specializing in Infant/Toddler Studies and Leadership in Education, from Pacific Oaks College. She is a longtime member of psychologist Allan Schore’s interpersonal neurobiology study group.