After my oldest child was born, we struggled with breastfeeding. I had not prepared, but assumed I’d be okay since my mom had been successful. That was a terrible assumption. My journey nursing my son led to a passion to educate and help other families in their own infant feeding journey.

With over 4 years of personal breastfeeding experience, ultimately leading me to become an IBCLC, I know the real life ins and outs of feeding a baby. From the first days, to being a working, pumping mom, to weaning and everything in between, I’m passionate about it because I’ve lived it. My passion for lactation led me to opening Nurture Lactation in 2019, initially focusing on education, then individual consults.

In addition to being an IBCLC, I hold a Bachelor’s in Organizational Communications and Spanish from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Yes, that means I speak Spanish as well! I continue to build my lactation education through various trainings and continuing education so that I may serve families with the most updated evidence-based research. I share knowledge and information so that you can make the best informed decision for your family’s needs.

In 2017, I graduated nursing school with anticipation and excitement to start my career as an RN in Labor/Delivery/Mother/Baby. I loved being present with laboring mothers, and observing and assisting in births. However, I found myself truly ENJOYING those nights on the postpartum unit helping nursing mothers breastfeed and troubleshoot during those first few hours and days after birth. I CRAVED more education to better help the families I was encountering.

Soon after this desire to further my education started blooming, I began my own breastfeeding journey with my daughter. To say it was hard would be an understatement. Physical challenges led me to exclusively pump. It felt like we had obstacle after obstacle to overcome with breastfeeding/pumping, all while recovering physically and emotionally from a stressful birth experience. By that point, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to learn more and pursue my IBCLC certification. I now feel incredibly blessed that I have the privilege of getting to wake up and LOVE what I do each day! I am so PASSIONATE about continually learning and growing as a Lactation Consultant, in order to provide families with the best information and resources they need wherever they are at in their journey.

I grew up in a household that always put health as a high priority. My mother being a dietitian, she always believed preventative health was the key to a happy home. In 2015, I graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. I always knew that healthcare was my passion but wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. I always believed in the importance of wholistic, preventative health. When I was pregnant with my son, then after he was born, I felt empowered by what my body was capable of achieving. As I spoke with other parents, I found that their experiences weren’t as triumphant. They felt discouraged, critiqued, and confused by breastfeeding/infant feeding experiences and information given. I felt like families deserved better. I decided to become an IBCLC to empower parents to have the best infant feeding experience of their choice though evidence-based practice and information.

Being a mom myself, I have over 3 years of personal breastfeeding experience. In addition, I did the initial portion of my breastfeeding education in New York City, serving communities in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Through my experience, I became passionate about helping all families such as those that identify as LGBTQIA. I moved to Kansas City in the middle of COVID-19. I continued my education and gained knowledge of the breastfeeding/infant feeding journey from newborn babies, to pumping and returning to work, all the way to breastfeeding toddlers and weaning. I feel so blessed to be a part of the first important moments of a child’s life, helping parents realize and achieve their goals.

My passion for supporting mothers to reach their feeding goals first started with my own complicated experience. As an NICU nurse, I had experienced firsthand the many nourishing benefits of breastfeeding, so I was determined to overcome the challenges to establish a successful nursing relationship.

I faced repeated breast infections due to my daughter’s tongue tie and feeding strategy mismanagement. Navigating the healthcare system and attempting to find providers that were supportive of my desire to continue to breastfeed my child after surgical treatment for a severe infection was very difficult.

After finding support from an IBCLC I was able to continue nursing my daughter well into her toddlerhood. I’ve since then successfully navigated breastfeeding my two younger children and have invested in building a skillset to support other mothers in their breastfeeding goals.

I first became a Certified Breastfeeding Educator out of my desire to be more helpful to the mothers in the NICU, and eventually became an IBCLC. With a total of 10 years NICU RN experience and 7 years of personal breastfeeding experience, I have the training and experience to come alongside families to guide them through their breastfeeding journey regardless of what difficulties or challenges they may be facing. I recognize every family has specific desires and goals aligning with their lifestyle and values. My objective as a Lactation Consultant is to guide and empower families to establish an effective and fulfilling breastfeeding dynamic.