Maryl Smith, LDM, CPM, has been attending out-of hospital births in Oregon for 38 years. Her degree in theology with a counseling emphasis and her involvement in Native American community generated a growing awareness of the deep need for safe maternity care settings where survivors of trauma could thrive. So she and her midwifery partner intentionally set out to educate themselves and create that environment. They are forever grateful to their best teachers: the amazing women who entrusted them with their care.
Maryl has taught on staff at Birthingway College of Midwifery and served on the Diversity and Preceptor boards. She has led women’s support groups, provided counseling for non-profit organizations and correctional institutions and co-facilitated a drug and alcohol recovery group. She continues to teach at conferences in the US and abroad, training providers how to naturally integrate trauma-informed practice with their patient care. Her articles on this topic have been published in Midwifery Today. When she isn’t catching babies, Maryl embarks on adventures with her granddaughters, creates music with her musician husband or takes pen in hand and attempts to write something interesting.

Shana Quarrie is an Occupational Therapist for over 12 years and a Certified Lactation Counselor for 5 years and now an IBCLC as of June 2023. She has worked in the pediatric setting for over a decade and in one of the largest Level 4 NICUs in the United States. Shana is one of the Co-Founders of Baby B.L.I.S.S. Feeding Collaborative of Central Florida a private practice formed with two RN, IBCLC’s. They help families prenatally, antepartum and postpartum navigate growth development and feeding journey.

Shana specializes in the medically complex infant such as 23 week preemies, brachial plexus injuries and any neurodevelopmental delays. Shana finds great improvement when combining neurodevelopmental techniques into her practice for optimal feeding and development outcomes. Her mantra is to help families thrive not just in her clinic during their sessions but in their natural environment.

Annette Leary is a registered nurse with over 35 years of experience working in Maternal Child Health (pediatrics, postpartum, home health care and level 2 NICU). She became an IBCLC in 1995. Annette owns a private practice providing home, office, and virtual visits: Orlando Lactation and Wellness Services. She formed a collaboration company Baby B.L.I.S.S. Central Florida Feeding Collaborative, with an occupational therapist and IBCLC. They help families prenatally, antepartum and post partum navigate the growth, development and feeding journey of their children.

Annette began her Upledger Craniosacral therapy training in 2015, taking advanced maternal and pediatric specialty classes. She finds great improvement incorporating craniosacral therapy techniques with lactation consulting. Helping Families Latch onto Parenting has always been Annette's mantra.

Michelle has been a pediatric neurodevelopmental Occupational therapist specializing in precrawling infants for over 26 years. She has specialty certifications and training in lactation, manual therapy, and pre and peri natal psychology. Michelle has specialized in optimal cranial nerve function and oral restrictions, with an emphasis on infant movement, innate biological imperatives and human potential, providing novel curriculums, support and resources for both professionals and parents. She enjoys collaborating and working in teams for babies and families going through the tethered oral tissues release process.

Naida Hawkins is a Registered Nurse and Lactation consultant in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. She is a passionate registered nurse who has cared for breastfeeding families for 14 years.

Almereau Prollius is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist in Saskatoon, SK. Together with Naida they have a special interest in strategies to promote successful breast feeding and are advocates of prenatal hand expression. They work as part of an interdisciplinary team supporting families to have an easier time starting and continuing breastfeeding.

More Milk Sooner is their program which supports and promotes hand expression in the antenatal and early postpartum period. Based out of Saskatoon and North Battleford in Saskatchewan, they hope to empower patients and care providers to increase successful breastfeeding. They are delighted to be sharing their journey with you. They are actively involved in research reviewing the outcomes of the implementation of the prenatal hand expression education strategy.

Mother of 6 breastfed children, Tytina is a Certified Lactation Counselor, La Leche League International Breastfeeding Peer Counselor and Program Administrator. Tytina is a Loving Support WIC Peer Counselor and Rush University Medical Center Mother’s Milk Club peer counselor. She is an International Center for Traditional Childbearing provisional Doula. She has 15 years of community-level maternal child health. Her affiliations include Chicago Region Breastfeeding Taskforce, March of Dimes, National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color, Breastfeed Chicago, the United States Breastfeeding Committee, and GOLD Learning Professional Advisory Committee.

Dr. Kimberly Thompson is a licensed psychologist in Texas. She works with people across the life span, but the majority of her clinical work centers around the special concerns of women and children.
Dr. Thompson is a published researcher, author, and teacher. She teaches in the Infant & Early Childhood Development Ph.D. program, Fielding Graduate University, and has recently authored “Perfect Mothers Get Depressed,” a book on the cognitive and relational roots of postpartum depression.
Dr. Thompson has been married to Dr. Charles D. Thompson, an obstetrician-gynecologist, since 1985. The two Drs. Thompson have four children and one grandchild.

Starting in 1971 as a LPN, Nikki has worked in clinics, homes, city and county health departments, hospitals, intensive care units, medical schools, and universities. Her focus shifted from intensive care to breastfeeding and public health in 1975. She has worked in person and virtually. She is a nurse, a lactation consultant, a bodyworker, an infant massage instructor, a public speaker, the author of two books and a teacher. Her favorite things now are being a grandmother, learning to grow vegetables, playing old-time and cajun guitar, and walking in beautiful places.

Johanna Sargeant is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, teacher and writer based in Zurich, Switzerland. She is passionate about utilising her background in education, biological science, psychology and language to empower parents with empathetic support and evidence-based information through her private practice, Milk and Motherhood. Originally from Australia, Johanna provides much-needed English-speaking support to many thousands of parents throughout Switzerland and across Europe, and has recently been contracted to create the new education modules for the European Society of Paediactric Research and the European Society of Neonatology. She has taught at the University of Zurich, has spoken as a panelist for the WHO’s Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative congress in Geneva, has been an expert speaker and facilitator for Google, and has presented at a wide variety of international conferences. The complexities of her personal feeding experiences have led her to the establishment of the sole peer-to-peer milk-sharing network in Switzerland, and fuels her passion for providing knowledgeable, guilt-free infant feeding support globally.

Kathryn is mum to 4 boys, twins and 2 subsequent singletons. She trained as a breastfeeding peer supporter and volunteered in the groups for years in and around Harrow, NW London, UK.

Kathryn caught the breastfeeding support bug and decided to further her knowledge training as a Breastfeeding Counsellor with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers and then qualifying as an IBCLC 3 years ago.

Kathryn started Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets Facebook group almost 6 years ago and it now has over 6500 members. It has recently been made into a UK charity. Kathryn is passionate about delivering high quality breastfeeding support to as many twin and triplet families as possible, creating resources and educating health care professionals and breastfeeding supporters. She runs a small private practice and continues to teach music part time, her original career path.

Sejal is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in private practice and an infant massage educator in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA. She combines her professional expertise with her personal instincts as a mother and a supportive team member.

She holds a Bachelors in Microbiology and Clinical Laboratory Science.

She also brings with her the following comprehensive toolkit: Certified Educator of Infant Massage Formerly Certified in skin-to-skin care for full term infants from the United States Institute of Kangaroo Care Certified Provider of Innate Postpartum Care

She has presented nationally and internationally for GOLD lactation, ILCA, community colleges, local lactation organizations.

As a lactation consultant, she believes that every individual needs to be educated about breast health, optimal infant feeding and how breastfeeding support is a basic human right and can impact world health globally.

She strives to help each family by continuing to learn all she can about breast health, breastfeeding ecology, breastfeeding movement and parent-infant connection using the neurobiological and infant mental health lens.

When she’s not with her clients, you can find her at home in Hillsboro, Oregon, USA, listening to bollywood music, hanging out with friends and spending time with her family.

Renowned expert Elizabeth Davis has been a midwife, reproductive health care specialist, educator and consultant for over 40 years. She is internationally active in promoting physiologic, undisturbed birth and is widely sought after for her expertise in midwifery education, legislation, and organizational development. She is the author six widely translated books on birth, sexuality, and female psychology, including “Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying, and Pleasurable Birth Experience,” “The Rhythms of Women’s Desire: How Female Sexuality Unfolds at Every Stage of Life,” and the textbook “Heart & Hands: A Midwife’s Guide to Pregnancy and Birth,” now in an updated 2019 5th edition (see https://elizabethdavis.com for details). She served as Regional Representative and Education Committee Chair for the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), as President of Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC), and as midwife consultant to the State of California’s Alternative Birthing Methods Study. She is the recipient of the California Association of Midwives’ Brazen Woman Award, and Midwifery Today’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is Co-founder of the MEAC accredited National Midwifery Institute, and author/instructor of Heart & Hands Coursework.

Sarah Mlambo is a registered Nurse and Midwife who has international and intercultural nursing and midwifery experience in both the public and private sector. She has several qualifications from Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. Sarah Mlambo is currently finalising her PhD where she focusses on a model for midwives in the facilitation of childbirth-choices. She is a published author and Midwifery educator in Namibia.

Loredana Zordan is an Independent midwife, freelance midwifery teacher. She completed a BsC in Midwifery and a Master Degree at King's College and City University of London. She has worked as a community midwife and a in a Birth center in London at University college and at St. Thomas hospital. She is a certified acupuncturist specialized in obstetric acupuncture.
She is teaching nationally and internationally workshop for midwives on the use of acupressure for labour preparation, induction of labour and for pain relief.
She is using acupressure whiting the clinical practice, providing antenatal classes and facilitating home birth. She strongly advocates the use of acupressure internationally as it will allow midwives to expand their role, becoming more complete and independent practitioner. Acupressure being drug –free and therefore having not harmful teratogenic effect, provides a much safer and satisfying childbirth experience as well as facilitating a more natural and less medicalized childbirth.

Dr Marjan Jones, a dental surgeon in Brisbane Australia pioneered a multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of oral restrictions in Australia. With over 20 years’ experience with dental lasers and extensive knowledge of the comprehensive treatment of oral restrictions, her practice treats patients of all ages, offering a team-based approach to surgery incorporating in-house myofunctional therapy and orthodontics for treatment for children and adults. For infant patients, she collaborates with IBCLCs and cranial therapists for a comprehensive approach toward functional outcomes. She co-founded the Tongue Tie Institute designed to advance the education of health professionals in the treatment of oral restrictions. She now lectures to practitioners from Australia and around the world who have been introduced to a team approach to the management of oral restrictions. She has personal experience with the effect of tongue ties and their effect on herself and family (including breastfeeding challenges) and is determined to help others avoid or overcome their impact. She is a Fellow of the World Clinical Laser Institute, a member of the Academy of Laser Dentistry, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and was the immediate past Chairperson of the Interim Board of the International Consortium of Ankylofrenula Professionals (ICAP). He passion for breastfeeding has resulted in studies toward IBCLC certification.