Jessica has been invested in looking deeper into lasting outcomes for breastfeeding challenges for 20 years. "Medically complicated", herself, she has an appreciation for seeking answers for her favorite question: "Why?". She started her career as a birth and postpartum doula, in 2003, and that background provided an appreciation for the importance of whole person, whole family approaches.

Jessica went on to earn her IBCLC credential in 2009 and has, since then, had a private practice in the Triangle area of North Carolina where she provides home and virtual visits. She also works in a team to provide integrative care through the North Carolina Tongue Tie Center using a model she developed based on the Centering Model of care. She also loves educating other doulas about breastfeeding and mentoring other people who are working to become IBCLCs. Growing community among professionals in her area has become a passion for her. Additionally, she serves on the board for multiple not-for-profit professional organizations, working toward better evidence based, collaborative care for tongue tie treatment and equity in the field of lactation.

Bridge to Breastfeeding is a culmination of Jessica’s doula background and passion for holistic support of breastfeeding as an experienced Lactation Consultant. She’s found approaches that utilize babyled latching and biologically normal behavior to be game changers for most of the families she sees in her practice, who often express appreciation for the space she provides surrounding mental and emotional processing. Through these many collaborative efforts, Jessica hopes to see families more fully supported in all their postpartum needs. She also enjoys time with her husband and 4 children, ranging in age from 21 to 11, all of whom were breastfed, but none easily. In addition to being a dedicated Whovian, she also loves traveling, culinary adventures, and time in nature.

Julie was born in Chile, but raised in the US in a community of families from different Spanish speaking countries. The one thing that really carried over was the importance of family and community. Julie was exposed to a community of women supporting women, through breastfeeding difficulties, newborn sleep patterns, and more. As they made food or sat and enjoyed tea, none the less the conversation was always centered on parenting and encouraging self care.

From this Julie understood the need for having the support of a community throughout the fruitful years. It wasn't until her breastfeeding difficulties with her first child in the year 2000 that she began to build community. Julie fondly recalls her first LLL group in the mountains of NC, the support and community resources it lent to help her move through her breastfeeding challenges were irreplaceable. Julie breastfed all 3 children, each with their own unique challenges: tongue and lip ties, reflux, and sensory and coordination imbalances.

The birth of Julie's first born created a passion for a holistic approach to birth and postpartum. This led to her becoming a birth doula in 2005, studying further the birthing process and early postpartum period. In 2007, after a second difficult breastfeeding experience, Julie became passionate about the birth-breastfeeding continuum and sought out more education and experience in supporting breastfeeding. After working to support clients in preparation for birth and postpartum support, while collaborating with IBCLCs for clinical care needs, Julie started to realize a need for different preparation. Bridge to Breastfeeding (Bodyfeeding) is the beginning of that journey.

Julie resides in Raleigh, NC. Where she enjoys the time spent with her family playing games, D&D, going to concerts, and watching Anime and movies; as well as traveling with her husband to see live music. They all love discovering good recipes, curling up with a warm drink, and relaxing on the couch with their sweet dog.