Conference Speakers
Featuring:
Stephen Byers; Katherine Dettwyler, PhD; Jeremi Dilworth*, IBCLC; Kay Hoover*, MEd, IBCLC, FILCA; Melissa Lucchesi; Jake Marcus, JD; Audrey Perry*, DNP, CNM, RN
Courtney Byers* |
Judy Polley* |
Speaker Bios
Stephen Byers is a Clinical Herbalist. His practice is based in Ephrata, PA where he sees clients to help provide integrative approaches to health through the use of herbal medicine. He has studied Cherokee Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Western Herbalism and has enjoyed attending LLL conferences for the past three years with his wife, who is an LLL Leader.
Courtney Byers is an LLL Leader returning to the Greater Ephrata area after having led a Group in Vermont for the last two years. She is also the mother of two daughters with whom she spends most of her time. She is excited to share about nursing through the toddler years and all the challenges and joys that come with it.
Katherine Dettwyler, PhD, is a biocultural anthropologist who has been conducting research on breastfeeding, weaning, and child growth and health since 1981. She teaches at the University of Delaware and is a frequent speaker at LLL and lactation conferences. She is known for her thought-provoking but amusing presentations.
Jeremi Dilworth has worked in the birth community since 1995. She graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in dance. While pursuing a dance career she found herself increasingly drawn to the community of allied health professionals working in the fields of childbirth and lactation. She became certified as a doula and childbirth educator and taught in birth centers, parenting resource centers, and in private practice in New York City and the Delaware Valley region. She has been a La Leche League Leader since 2009 and became an IBCLC in 2011. As a homeschooling mother of three, she is constantly humbled in the pursuit of balance.
Diane DiSandro, IBCLC, has been a La Leche League Leader for 30 years and an IBCLC since 1991. She has served as a board member of the Pennsylvania Resource Organization of Lactation Consultants. She is affiliated with the International Lactation Consultant Association as well as Norristown Partners for Healthy Mothers. As a strong advocate of breastfeeding, Diane has testified before the PA State Department of Health on behalf of assisting low-income women through the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinics. She is a contributing author of The Lactation Consultant in Private Practice: The ABC's of Getting Started. She and her husband Ray have four adult children, and three grandchildren (all breastfed, of course!).
Kelly Durbin has several years experience teaching birth and breastfeeding classes. In addition, she has been an LLL Leader for five years, leading groups in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Oregon. Kelly is also the founder of the MOMI Method, a philosophy for birth and breastfeeding that empowers women to trust their own maternal instincts.
Liz Gliot has been a Leader for almost two years and a babywearing enthusiast for even longer. She currently lives in Hummelstown, PA with her husband, Chris, and her sons Caleb, Lucas, and Simon.
Kay Hoover, MEd, IBCLC, FILCA, and husband Charlie are the parents of three sons and the proud grandparents of three grandsons. Kay has been an LLL Leader for 43 years. Kay has worked as a private practice lactation consultant, a hospital lactation consultant, the lactation consultant for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, for The Center for Childhood Obesity Research at The Pennsylvania State University, and for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. She has presented workshops at national and international conferences and is a co-author of The Breastfeeding Atlas.
Stacy Laucks has been a Leader with the Boyertown Group for nine years. She has led simplicity groups for three years and loves helping people live their lives by their values.
Melissa Lucchesi, BA, is the mother of a bright and spirited two-and-a-half-year-old son Greyson Liam. She is the Founder and Director of the non-profit Voices, Inc. Melissa has worked a decade in victim services, violence prevention, and trauma healing and has presented programs on a local and national level.
Jake Marcus, JD, is the nation's foremost expert on breastfeeding law. She is a Montgomery County lawyer whose national practice focuses on small businesses (including the business issues of health care practitioners such as IBCLCs and midwives), as well as discrimination and healthcare. She was Politics Editor at Mothering magazine until it ceased publication in April of 2011. Marcus is the author of "Lactation and the Law," a comprehensive article on U.S. public breastfeeding law, and "Pumping 9 to 5", an article on workplace pumping law, and "Lactation and the Law Revisited", originally published in Mothering and now available on BreastfeedingLaw.com. She was a member of the Legal Advisory Council to La Leche League International. Her writing has appeared in Mothering, Life Learning, Leaven, The Philadelphia Lawyer, and Vegetarian Baby and Child, and on ePregnancy.com and VegFamily.com. She created and maintains BreastfeedingLaw.com as well as Sustainable Parenting.
Andy Mehrotra is a former child and family therapist and current mother, cook, gardener, and racquetball player. She has two daughters—Kareena, 12, and Maya, 15—and one lovely husband, Devan.
Devon Miller is mother to daughters Ocean, five, and Sky, two, and has been married to husband Nick for 10 years. She is an Associate Coordinator of Leader Accreditation, a member of the LLLUSA Social Media Team, a member of the LLLUSA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, and a member of the Live Love Latch! WBWC team. She enjoys spending time with family, knitting, reading, biking, kayaking, and LLL!
Peggy Moran: At her very first LLL meeting in September 1966, she happily paid a total of $3. which included payment for dues AND the blue "manual", The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding! When Kristina, her third child was born (Kristina is now also a Leader), Peggy began her journey toward leadership. Almost 13 years ago she became an Associate in the Leader Accreditation Department and thoroughly enjoys working with the future Leaders of LLLI!
Bobbie North has been a member of LLL for 17 years and a Leader for the past 12 years. She has experience working in Continuing Education, Publications, and is currently serving in the Leader Department. She and her husband enjoy a quiet life in Lancaster with their three children.
Dr. Audrey Perry, DNP, CNM, RN, is the mother of two home-birthed, exclusively-breastfed children. She grew up in a La Leche League family and has been a Leader for five years. Audrey is a Certified Nurse Midwife, lactation researcher, and nursing faculty. She is an advocate for informed, empowered, evidence-based health care utilization.
Judy Polley has been a Leader for 35 years, leading in NJ her first year and since then in Chester County PA. Chuck and Judy have been married over 40 years and have two children, Jennifer and Chris, two daughters-in-law, Rose and Stephanie, and an adorable two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter, Katie. She enjoys working with local LLL Groups and LLL of Eastern PA.
Christine Roco has witnessed the changes in her own body over the course of one adoption, two pregnancies, and ten years of lactation. As a La Leche League Leader and a private practice IBCLC, she embraces every opportunity to expose the realities that affect most mothers, but aren't openly discussed.
Karen Shaw has been a Leader since 1978. Active in Group and Area activities, she is the current Secretary for the Luzerne County Breastfeeding Coalition. The mother of two adult sons, she also writes and performs original folksongs with breastfeeding themes.
Allison Shepard has four children who are now 21, 18, 16, and 14. She works part-time in a hospital microbiology lab and likes to work out and bake in her free time. She travels every year to a new location, each time with a different one of her children.
Carol Smith is the mother of five, involved with LLL for 34 years. She enjoys working with Leader Applicants and seeing their enthusiasm for breastfeeding and mothering.
Marah Sollenberger is a 27-year-old stay-at-home mother of five and part time photographer. She has a Bachelor's Degree from Liberty University and is a Certified Lactation Counselor. Marah began attending Leche League in North Carolina shortly after her son's birth in 2009. La Leche League has always been a huge source of support and friendships for her. Marah has experience nursing through pregnancy and tandem nursing.
Mark Starkman has been married for over 15 years and is the father of three children, the oldest of whom is 12 years old. He is currently employed as a software developer with a company that allows him to work from home which allows him to spend a lot of time with his homeschooled children.
Heather Tuckman, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a member of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association and American Psychological Association. She has practiced in West Chester, PA since 2007. Her primary therapeutic interests are in helping women and new mothers address complications of reproductive status. She also enjoys working with couples around these same issues and other relationship struggles and assisting individuals with chronic illness to manage the psychological aspects of their conditions. Separate from her professional life, Heather enjoys being with her family and friends, spending time outside hiking, gardening, and exercising. She and her husband, Dr. Ari Tuckman, have a son, along with other furry children.
Ellen Zschunke is a La Leche League Leader who has enjoyed being a part of LLL since before her daughter's birth in 2009. Mother to five-year-old Cecelia and one-year-old Elliot, Ellen is looking forward to sharing her experiences and learning from all of you at this year's Area Conference.