Speakers

Conference Speakers

Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, FILCA

Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, FILCA is author or coauthor of some of the most popular books in breastfeeding, including Breastfeeding Answers Made Simple, Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers (with Kathleen Kendall-Tackett), and The Breastfeeding Answer Book (with Julie Stock). She has been helping breastfeeding families since 1982. Board-certified as a lactation consultant in 1991, she ran a large private lactation practice in the Chicago area from 1993 to 2003. In 2008 Nancy was in the first group of 16 to be awarded the designation Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association (FILCA) for her lifetime achievements in breastfeeding.

Click here to learn more about Nancy's expertise and presentations.

Amy Shaw was accredited as a La Leche League Leader in 1982 and has led Series Meetings in the greater Boston and greater Pittsburgh areas, as well as in NJ. She continues to actively lead meetings and is a member of the LLL Alumnae Association. She was a representative of the Leader Accreditation Department for 20 years, and has held a variety of Area Council and Area Conference positions. Currently Amy serves as Director of La Leche League Alliance for Breastfeeding Education, Delegate to the LLL USA Council, and on the Advisory Board for the LLL Breastfeeding Helpline-US.

Sheila Humphrey, BSc, RN, IBCLC, is author of The Nursing Mother’s Herbal, the first book devoted to the topic of herbs and breastfeeding. She also contributed chapters to The Textbook of Human Lactation (editors Peter Hartmann and Thomas Hale), and Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health (editor Aviva Romm MD). First as a La Leche League Leader, then as a postpartum nurse, and for the last 12 years as a hospital-based Lactation Consultant, she has helped breastfeeding families for over 25 years. She takes particular interest in prenatal education for all pregnant women, and was a contributing author of the MN Breastfeeding Coalition online prenatal education packet for families. She and her husband of 30 years live in a small village outside of the metro area, and have one daughter.

Tiffany Gallagher (BA, CLC) became a Certified Lactation Counselor in 2010 and is working toward becoming an IBCLC. When not mothering her four children (including a set of twins), she writes about breastfeeding at www.theboobgeek.com.

Jo Carrane is a recovering lawyer and working mom of Mike (4) and Joey (18 months), Jo has been an LLL Leader for 2 1/2 years and Area Professional Liaison for the last year. Following in her mother's LLL footsteps, Jo has enjoyed helping moms learn to make their breastfeeding relationship possible even when heading back to work. As a consultant who regularly travels Jo is all too familiar with the need for flexibility and creativity in a successful nursing relationship.

Vickie Albright, IBCLC, RLC, has been a Leader with La Leche League since 2008. She is the Area Coordinator of Leaders and a District Advisor as well as the Area Database Administrator. Her private practice, MamaWise Lactation, provides in-home lactation support. She is a proud mama to two daughters and a member of the International Lactation Consultant Association.

Maureen Campion, MS LP is a licensed psychologist and relationship expert. She specializes in the early years of parenting, and building families. She writes a free weekly newsletter- Notes from a Marriage Geek and teaches inclusive, research based parenting and marriage classes at her Richfield office. www.marriagegeek.com

Barb Barrett has been a La Leche League Leader for over 13 years. She is a licensed Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing as well a licensed K-12 American Sign Language (ASL) teacher. She currently teaches high school ASL at Park High School in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. She has successfully used ASL with both of her children when they were babies and toddlers.

Jenni West is licensed as an RN and IBCLC and a mother of four. As a breastfeeding specialist for several years with La Leche League, Jenni has come alongside mothers on their journeys from pregnancy through weaning and back again. She is also a New Mama Teacher with Amma Parenting Center in Edina, facilitating a series of discussions with first-time mamas as they experience the initial weeks of life with their new babies.

Deb Roberts, M.Ed. is a Licensed Parent Educator employed with the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) programs of the Edina Public Schools. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a master's degree in Family Education in 2009. Deb was an LLL Leader for twenty years, ten years each with the NE Mpls. & Suburbs and Eden Prairie Groups, retiring in 2012. She also served as Area Coordinator of Leader Accreditation, Regional Administrator of Leader Accreditation, and Contributing Editor for LEAVEN. She and her husband of 28 years, Mike Kruger live in Chanhassen and have four sons, Joe (24), Zak (22), Chris (20), and Jackson (15).

Deb Pladsen is the Coordinator of Leader Accreditation for Minnesota and the Dakotas. She has been a La Leche League Leader since 2009 and also works part-time for an investment firm. Deb has worked with many Leader Applicants in the preparation for leadership and enjoys helping them to support other breastfeeding moms. Deb keeps busy enjoying downtime with her husband and two children as well as reading, running, and (sort-of) knitting.

Judith Nylander is a DONA certified birth doula, the mother of three daughters and six grandbabes. She has served on the Board of the Childbirth Collective and lives in Eagan with Glenn, her husband, and Sadie, her poodle.

Angie Sonrode is a self described "lactivist" who is mildly obsessed with birth and breastfeeding. Luckily as an LLL Leader, Birth and postpartum doula and New Mama teacher she gets to talk about these things all the time. She also serves on the board of the Childbirth Collective as the Outreach Coordinator and teaches parent and infant yoga and movement. She has been lactating or pregnant (or both!) for the last decade and has 4 breastfed children and an uber supportive partner who listens to all of her birth and breastfeeding talk patiently.

Anne Casey has been a La Leche League Leader since 2009 and the Area Communications Coordinator since 2012. She currently edits Northern LLLights, La Leche League of Minnesota and Dakotas’ newsletter for Leaders and has contributed to New Beginnings, the magazine of LLL USA. She holds degrees in sociology and history from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Pennsylvania and has a strong interest in history as a way of understanding and impacting the present. Anne lives in St. Louis Park, MN with her husband and two children.

Sarah Marshall has been a birth doula since 2005 and a Birthing from Within Childbirth Mentor since 2012; she has served well over 200 families. She has been an active member of The Childbirth Collective since 2005 and currently serves as the Board President of the organization whose mission is to serve and educate families in the childbearing year. She has four children, all of whom were born with the support of a doula as well as were breastfed for an extended period of time. To learn more about her you can visit her website at www.MotherToMotherDoula.com

Kim Miller is a stay at home mom married to a brilliant, loving, and incredibly supportive but very absent minded husband and raising two gorgeous (like their mom), spirited (also like their mom), quirky, head in the clouds, could not be bothered with reality (like their dad), girls. She is a La Leche League Leader and also the Communication Skills Instructor for LLL of Minnesota and the Dakotas. She has a degree in Biology from UMD which focused on Molecular and Cellular biology. She has personal interests in genetics, personality, psychology, and neurology. She is a Non-Violent Communication Instructor. She is very open about the two years she spent in a wonderful, life changing, mindfulness based, cognitive behavioral therapy, depression support group for her postpartum depression.

Jared Parks lives in a small Minnesota town and works as a furnace repairman when he isn’t busy at home helping his wife raise their seven boys. Having a love to learn and study life, Jared Parks has a passion for fathering, teaching music, outdoor survival, and husband-wife relationships (in other words indoor survival.)

We are currently accepting submissions from local presenters who would like to participate in our conference. If you have knowledge and expertise to share related to breastfeeding, birth, babies, families, or parenting, please email Anne Ferguson.