Brandi Jordan, MSW, IBCLC
County: Los Angeles
Affiliation: The Cradle Company, National Association for Birth Workers of Color (NABWOC)

What programs are working to increase breastfeeding support and awareness in Black communities?

Training, mentoring, and educating more black lactation professionals in our communities and social spaces where black breastfeeding mothers can find community and spaces to normalize breastfeeding.

What does it mean to innovate and liberate the Black Breastfeeding experience?

To innovate our experience lies in using all that we have at our fingertips with technology to create community and normalization of black breastfeeding mothers. Not only within our communities, but also in the dominant culture that these mothers exist in.

In 2019 black breastfeeding liberation means no longer being the "other." It means being at the "center," being "mainstream." I imagine a world that assumes every black mother who is able and wants to breastfeed can do so with ease, with an abundance of support, and with a community cheering her on.

Imagine a world where Black women and families were truly listened to, supported and invested in. How would this impact the Black breastfeeding experience?

As both a lactation consultant and social worker one thing I know FOR SURE is that everybody wants to feel seen, heard, and validated. By simply taking the time to understand another person's' lived experience it can be one the most powerful tools for healing. Our history in this country and with breastfeeding as black women is one that is layered and complex. Investing in generational healing through breastfeeding will return us to ourselves, create connection and love of our own bodies and our babies. It will erase the shame and replace it with confidence, love, and connection.

What can we do to ensure that all Black women and birthing individuals meet their infant feeding goals?

Foster support from conception until weaning. Train, mentor, and hire black lactation consultants to be a part of your interdisciplinary infant feeding teams.