Interim Executive Director

After being a part of the Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition in some capacity since 2016 and two years on the board, it is my honor to serve as the Interim Executive Director. My priority is ensuring that MBC is sustainable not only financially, but by engaging its most valuable resource—its member coalitions and volunteers. In addition to this role, I am a postdoctoral researcher studying breastfeeding support and health equity at the University of Minnesota, and have been an IBCLC since 2015.

Support for breastfeeding and pumping parents and their children needs to be promoted and protected at the individual, family, community, government, and societal levels. I'm proud to be a part of an organization that brings together an incredible variety of people and groups working at all of these levels, and who come together to share resources, ideas, and a commitment to equity and inclusion within the lactation profession.

Chair

My name is Sarah Miller and I am excited to serve as your current Chair of the MBC! I have worked in different areas of nursing since 2010, but mostly in Women's Health/Labor and Delivery/Prenatal Education and Lactation services. I have my BSN and doula certification and am currently working as a Prenatal Educator and IBCLC for Essentia Health. I own Whispering Willow Photography, and also offer Doula/Lactation support for my Birth clients and am also a member of MN Birth Photographers. I also remain an active member of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep offering bereavement photography for loss families. My husband and I have 5 children, all of which I breastfed for at least 1+ year and had a wide range of personal experience with breastfeeding/pumping. My husband and I also experienced a 15 week pregnancy loss in 2020, and I am currently working on my certification as a stillbirth doula. I have a great passion for caring for the mother/baby dyad, and love that so much of my work intertwines creativity and advocacy in supporting women through their lactation journey!

Chair Elect

My name is Gracen McDougall and I am excited and honored to join MBC as the Chairperson-Elect. I live in Minneapolis and am Anishinaabe from White Earth Nation. I am a sister, daughter and a Full-Spectrum Indigenous Doula who is passionate about providing advocacy and support for Native Momma’s and families. There is a need for support, advocacy and protection for breastfeeding individuals across Minnesota and I am driven by MBC’s mission. Providing and having culturally specific resources for families is something I am big in advocating for and having that representation for each of our communities is something I believe to be very important and what helps move the needle. Milk is medicine!

Treasurer

I joined the Minnesota Breastfeeding coalition because I know firsthand breastfeeding can difficult, however with the right resources and a great deal of support, it can be done. This is especially important when you are a woman of color, we need culturally appropriate resources and champions throughout our breastfeeding journey. I cannot stress the importance of having meaningful conversations with all our families early in pregnancy and often about the plan for feeding baby then priorities those with the highest needs. We have all seen the statistics and if we want to work on reducing the gap in lactation, it is very important to understand the cultures and barriers in the communities we serve. I am very excited to use experience to better the outcome of women that look like me.

Secretary

Hi there! I'm Virginia Pollock, a passionate public health professional and lactation consultant on a mission to make sure all families have access to the support and resources they need to meet their feeding goals. With two children of my own, I understand firsthand the joys and challenges that come with breastfeeding, triple feeding, exclusive pumping, and bottle feeding. With MBC, I am dedicated to building bridges between community leaders and advocates so that we can shape a world filled with empowered caregivers.

Next Gen Coordinator & At-Large Director

My name is Zabracca Baldwin and I am a current IBCLC, MBC Board member and also Next Gen coordinator for the MBC. I just completed my first 2-year term on the MBC board of directors, and I am looking forward to staying on as an At-Large member to continue pushing the MBC to higher heights. I have a strong passion for breastfeeding and assisting others on their breastfeeding journey. This passion was developed while breastfeeding my own children, during which I began to understand the health benefits and disparities among many people and cultures. This information drove me to commit to helping those in my community foster and create empowerment among the people and foster healthy babies, healthy families and in turn healthy communities which is in alignment with the MBC's mission. It would be an honor to serve another term and see some of the good things we started blossom and evolve along the way. 

At-Large Director

My name is Nicole Lopez and I am excited and honored to join MBC as a chair elect. I am a mother of 2 wonderful children and wife to an amazing husband. My background is mostly hospital nursing, the last 5 years with a focus on maternal child/OB some NICU. I became interested in breastfeeding after my own breastfeeding journey and the support I received from an IBCLC. Breastfeeding is not easy and my hope is to help families bridge the gap from immediately post partum and beyond. I think it's important to recognize that their are cultural and racial disparities and to also bridge that gap. It's important to show up as representatives from the communities that we serve. I look forward to working with you and learning from each other.

At-Large Director

I live in central Minnesota and am a proud mom of three, a nurse, certified lactation specialist & indigenous doula currently on the path to becoming an IBCLC. I am Anishinaabe & deeply passionate about milk medicine, having breastfed all my babies for a total of 40+ months.

There is a big need for greater support, advocacy, and protection for breastfeeding in MN, which is why I am so excited to join MBC as an At-Large Director, driven by its mission. 

My goal is to advance breastfeeding advocacy and support in Minnesota, especially in underserved communities.

Event Coordinator

For two decades, Mark worked as the Coordinator of Perinatal and Pediatric Support Projects at Fairview Health Services and M Health Fairview Masonic Children's Hospital, where he supported families and staff with lactation, perinatal loss, and pediatric bereavement. Mark established four milk collection depots for the Minnesota Milk Bank for Babies and facilitated a dispensary arrangement for pasteurized donor human milk. He participated in the local effort involving MBC and others facilitating the first U.S. fatwa authorizing the use of donor milk.  Mark does lecture writing and PR work for Evergreen Perinatal Education, producing learning modules on milk banking, milk sharing and lactation after loss.  Mark formerly served on the MBC Board of Directors as an At-Large Director and Secretary. He is also a church musician and educator and rents a house from two cats.