Featured Guest Speakers
Marian Tompson is one of the co-Founders of La Leche League International and was its president for the first 24 years. Wife of the late Clement Tompson, she is the mother of seven children,grandmother to 16 and great grandmother to five, so far. Marian developed LLLI's Continuing Education breastfeeding seminars for physicians which have been held annually since 1973. She was the first editor of what is now New Beginnings and has traveled the world speaking up for breastfeeding mothers and babies. In 2001 Marian founded Another Look, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to gathering information, raising critical questions, and stimulating needed research about breastfeeding in the context of HIV and AIDS.
Diana West is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in private practice, co-author with Teresa Pitman and Diane Wiessinger of the 8th edition of La Leche League International's "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding." She is also co-author with Lisa Marasco of "The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk" and Dr. Elliot Hirsch of "Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures." She is the author of the "Clinician's Breastfeeding Triage Tool" and "Defining Your Own Success: Breastfeeding After Breast Reduction Surgery." She has a bachelor's degree in psychology, is a La Leche League Leader, a website developer, and administrator of the popular BFAR.org, LowMilkSupply.org, and LactSpeak.com websites. Diana has been a member of the Board of Directors for the International Lactation Consultant Association. She lives with her three sons and husband Brad in the picturesque mountains of western New Jersey.
Kathryn Leeper, MD IBCLC is a graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She completed her pediatric residency in Minneapolis and spent four years in a private pediatric practice in Lincoln. After the birth of her second child, she was home with her children for almost five years. Dr. Leeper is a founder of MilkWorks and currently serves as its Medical Director. Dr. Leeper is the only breastfeeding medicine specialist in the state of Nebraska. Her knowledge of lactation and her compassion for mothers make her a leader in her field! When she is not helping mothers and babies, she enjoys singing in her church choir, gardening and driving her two kids around town.
La Leche League Leader Speakers
LLL EUS Representative
Sara Dodder Furr, MA, IBCLC has been a La Leche League Leader for ten years. Sara and her husband KC are the parents of three breastfed children: Nat, age 14; Abby, age 12 and Nora, age nine. Sara has been involved in child advocacy volunteer work for over 20 years, including volunteer work prior to becoming a mother. Sara co-Leads a LLL Group in Lincoln, Nebraska and is a Professional Liaison Administrator for the Eastern US La Leche League. Sara works as an IBCLC at MilkWorks, a nonprofit breastfeeding center in Lincoln.
Laura Chisholm is the proud mother of five children ranging in age from sixteen to one. Laura has been a La Leche League Leader for seven years and also serves as an Attachment Parenting International Leader. Laura currently serves as Coordinator of Leader Accreditation for La Leche League of Georgia and serves as Assistant Leader Applicant Liason for Attachment Parenting International. Laura loves spending time with her family on their small farm, reading, and unschooling her children. Nutrition and positive parenting are two of her favorite topics and she is thrilled to be a part of this conference!
Lisa Cooper-Ohm and her husband Brian are the hoomeschooling parents of three in Council Bluffs. She has been an LLL Leader for 7 years, following in the footsteps of her mother. She is currently working on her certification to become a post-partum doula. In her free time, such as it is, she likes to read, tries to exercise, and weeds the gardens Brian likes to start.
Suzy Landreth has been an La Leche League Leader since January 1995. She co-Leads with the Lincoln Thursday South Group and is the Rural District, District Advisor for Nebraska. She and her husband, Tim, have eight children ranging in age from 21 to two. Suzy has been pregnant and/or nursing for 22 years and has tandem nursed three different sets of her children!
Kim Moss-Allen is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. After High Schol and several years of working small jobs she joined the Air Force in 1984 and was a Satellite Communications Operator and Technician stationed at Warner Robins, Geogia and then Frankfurt, Germany. It was there she joined a local Volksmarching (hiking) Club met another walker, future husband, Dudley. They were married in 1990, and Kim left the Air Force that same year when she found out they were expecting a baby in September. Her mother sent her a copy of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and it helped get life with new baby, Jocelyn Marie, off to a great start. Two other things helped Kim work into her new role as a "mom," forming a playgroup (at the suggestion of the local Mental Health Office!) and finding other moms at La Leche League of Bitburg. She trained to be a Leader and was accredited in Oct. '93 when 2nd daughter Kelsey Elisabeth was just 2 weeks old. The family came to Nebraska in 1994 and has been here ever since, with one more child, Eric Hogan born in 1998. Kim desribes her job as "homemaker" and works (albeit without pay) for LLL of Bellevue, Offutt Chapel, Omaha Astronomical Society, and most recently, the US Census (actually, that last one was for pay.) Her latest challenge is helping fisrt born "babe" Jocelyn as she settles into college at Blair, Nebraska. Yes, they really do wean.
Brooke Runyan grew up in South Dakota around animals and a mother who nursed all her children. She understood nursing as the norm. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln drew her to Nebraska where she met and married her husband, Jeff, and graduated with an agricultural degree. A few years later, her daughter, Chantelle changed her life and welcomed her into this club of motherhood. She found support for those tough early months at the LLL Breastfeeding Cafe in Lincoln, and became a Leader to help provide that kind of support to other mothers. Brooke currently spends her days with three-year-old Chantelle and eagerly awaiting her second daughter. She enjoys spending time with her family, puttering in her yard, taking pictures, and occasionally performing in church musicals. Her goal as an La Leche League Leader is to encourage mothers where they are and help them find their own way on this journey of motherhood.
Guest Speakers
Brian Cooper-Ohm works from home for Wells Fargo as a risk management consultant... chances are if a collections agent from Wells gives you a call, Brian had something to do with it (sorry). Brian and his wife Lisa live on an acreage in Council Bluffs and have three children ages nine, six, four and an equal number of adopted cats. Lisa is a La Leche League Leader and the kids and cats are homeschooled. Since everyone in the family is home all the time, the house more often than not looks like a tornado has hit. For entertainment, Brian likes to dig holes in the yard, where occasionally things other than weeds end up growing.
Troy Easterday is the husband of Anne Easterday, a La Leche League Leader since 1992 (although married a little bit longer than that). He is the father of seven children ranging in age from 20 to three and has never bottle-fed one of his kids or felt a need to nurture a child “in that way”. In his professional “pay the bills” life, Troy is a software developer who has worked from home for the last 11 years. This means that he now has a legitimate excuse to play toys with his co-workers.
Yvonne Fenoglio (pronounced Fin-O-Leo) is a Licensed Massage Therapist with the State of Nebraska. She is certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Body Works and a member of the American Massage Therapy Association. She is a graduate of Omaha School of Massage Therapy and is currently working on her Associated of Science degree in Massage Therapy. She is also a mother of two wonderful children, Emily and Charles.
Rachel Porter is the mother of five, she is a Certified Childbirth Educator and DONA trained Birth Doula. Rachel has over ten years of experience working with expectant moms and their families. She feels passionately that a healthy pregnancy and birth can have a profound effect on how a woman deals with the life changing experience of motherhood. Rachel is currently on staff at Essental Pregnancy Services, a not for profit pregnancy support agency, where she facilitates a breastfeeding support group.
Dave Thomas is married to La Leche League Leader Missy Thomas. Together they have three children, Ayden six, Zoe three, and Lilah one. He is a Captain in the Air Force and spends a lot of time traveling. In his free time, he loves to spend time with his family, read, and watch college football.