LIVE Welcome & Keynote: Ending the Big Letdown: Policy Gaps, Commercial Influences & Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding. Where do we go from here?

Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author of five books, and maternal and infant health strategist. She is the founder of Irth, as in Birth but without the B for bias, a doctor and hospital review and rating app for Black and brown parents, designed to address racism and bias in maternity and infant care. Kimberly is also the host of Birthright, a podcast about joy and healing in Black birth. A former senior editor at Essence magazine, her most recent book, The Big Letdown--How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding was published by St. Martin's Press in 2017. Kimberly's upcoming book, Birthing in Colour: The Black Mother's Guide to Pregnancy, Birth & Breastfeeding will be published by Pinter & Martin in 2022.

Elena Carrillo, President of DONA International.2021, is the proud mother of four and grandmother to eight. Ms. Carrillo has been a certified advanced DONA doula & trainer, Lamaze childbirth educator & trainer, lactation educator, and counselor for 40+ years. She is the Director of International Certifications of the postgraduate program “Perinatal Specialist” at Anahuac University (Mexico) and has trained doulas, childbirth educators, and lactation educators teaching and traveling around the world. 2,500 + attended births and 4,000 couples taught, confirm that childbirth education, labor, and postpartum support ensure the best outcome for mothers and babies, regardless of where the birth occurs.

Denise Bolds is Bold Doula; she holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work degree and is experienced in case-managing high-risk pregnancies. Denise comes from a lineage of matriarchal healers from South Carolina. She’s a DONA International Advanced Certified Birth Doula with 202 births of experience since 2014. Denise will be serving as President of DONA International in 2022. She is certified as an Evidence-Based Birth® Childbirth Instructor. Ms. Bolds is also a CLC providing breastfeeding support and education. She mentors birth doulas and is known for her advocacy and empowerment in Black birth work. Ms. Bolds is a noted public speaker, podcast producer/host, and self-published author. She is a native New Yorker born in Harlem, NY, and is a successful single mom of her 31-year-old son. Denise likes skydiving, algebra, beaches, collecting stones, her Kindle, and of course all things birth.