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Get acquainted with our staff. They have been chosen for their knowledge, expertise and experience. We are proud of every one of them!

Kirra Brandon, MD

Kirra Brandon is a physician and, like so many of us in the field, inspired by her own breastfeeding experience. She nursed all five of her children for a total of one hundred and forty five months! She has over a decade of experience in providing online education for health professionals. As LER’s Medical Director, Kirra is focused on expanding access to exceptional lactation education around the globe, for all types of healthcare professionals.

Sekeita Lewis-Johnson, DNP, FNP-BC, IBCLC

Dr. Sekeita Lewis-Johnson is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and Birth Doula. She is the Accredited Provider Program Director and an Instructor for Lactation Education Resources.

For the past 25 years, her primary focus has been labor and delivery and maternal-child nursing. She has experience as a Nursing Instructor teaching clinical skills at various hospitals within the Metro-Detroit area. In 2019, Dr. Lewis-Johnson graduated from Wayne State University where she earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree and a Post-Graduate Nursing Education Certificate.

Dr. Lewis-Johnson has received multiple awards during her career. Most notably she received “The Award of Excellence” from the United States Lactation Consultant Association and “The Alumni Service Award” from The College of Nursing at Michigan State University.

Dr. Lewis-Johnson is an avid advocate for equitable and just policies and practice, especially related to black maternal-child health inequities. Passionate about maternal-child health and breastfeeding, she provides lactation and doula services within Metro-Detroit and surrounding areas. Her main goals are to prevent obstetrical harm, and to assist families to achieve their desired feeding goals. She believes that breastfeeding self-efficacy, along with skilled and timely lactation support are key to breastfeeding success. Dr. Lewis-Johnson is married to her college sweetheart and she is a proud mother of 3 breastfed children.

Angela Love-Zaranka, BA, IBCLC, RLC

For nearly 3 decades, Angela’s contributions in lactation support, education, and leadership have been shaping the profession and impacting families worldwide. 

Since becoming a La Leche League Leader in 1990 and a Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 1997, Angela has been a compassionate, innovative leader in the field. Her leadership includes serving on the boards of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) and the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA). She has consulted for numerous non-profit organizations, hospitals, and governmental agencies, inside and outside of the United States, pioneering new ideas to expand access to lactation care and advocate for policy change. In all these roles, she draws on deep lived experience meeting the needs of lactating families — she has developed lactation programs for military hospitals, led the accreditation and redesignation of Baby-Friendly Hospitals, and provided clinical lactation support to thousands of families.

Committed to supporting culturally matched, skilled lactation care, support, and advocacy, Angela strives to enhance lactation management knowledge and skills for everyone, from breastfeeding counselors to advanced practitioners, empowering communities worldwide.

Sonja Kueppers, MS, BA

Sonja holds an MS in Computer Systems Management, and has over 30 years' professional experience in Information Technology. She has overall responsibility for LER's IT infrastructure, with a particular focus on our web and database servers.

Sonja nursed her own children and was a La Leche League Leader for many years, so the opportunity to help bring breastfeeding/chestfeeding education to more people is especially meaningful for her. In her spare time, Sonja is a Scout leader and enjoys playing board games.

Juanita Spears

Skilled and dedicated with experience in project management, account operations, efficient workflow, and administrative functions, Juanita’s extensive background in these areas for more than 30 years, is behind the zeal she has in delivering outstanding customer service to our clients. She joined Lactation Education Resources in 2013 and since that time, has been your point of contact for all things related to the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative and the FirstLatch website, which supports the online training courses.

Aside from working on the BFHI project, Juanita is a Business Consultant and Professional Life Coach in the area of Management and Leadership. She is active in her local church and is currently taking piano lessons.

Contact Juanita at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Annette Nash

Annette is the right-hand assistant to Juanita Spears for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Program. She brings over 12 years of experience and organizational skills from her earlier career in Airline Carrier Operations. Annette joined LER in 2016 and has been an integral part of the BFHI program by providing customer service and group manager support. One of her many supportive roles is student enrollments.

In addition to her beliefs and dedication to LER’s Core Values, she serves her local church by volunteering. When she left her job in the Airline industry to become a stay-at-home mom of two breastfed children, she started a Backpack Weekend Food Program for local school children which is still thriving today!

Contact Annette at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Nickole Unterzuber Bowman

Nickole (Nickie) is responsible for the business operations of Lactation Education Resources, FirstLatch, and CEL. Her experience includes human resources, operations, and project management. Nickole is from Monterey, California, where she attended school, receiving her degree and starting and establishing her carrier in business; which has now been for the last 25 years. Nickole moved to the DC Metro area working in human resources, business, and within the defense industry; with a clearance of a TS-SCI FS. Nickole understands the importance of urgency, communication, detail, inclusion, and belonging.

Nickole is a mother of two daughters who were breastfed, and Nickole understands the challenges and rewards of breastfeeding. Nickole treasures and has a deep affection and devotion to LER and has been with the company for ten years within the same role.

Wendy Lawrence

Wendy manages our Lactation Consultant Training program. She may likely be the friendly voice you hear on the phone when calling our office. She holds an Associate degree in Education and is the mother of two smart, strong, beautiful (and breastfed!) growing girls.

Contact Wendy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Julie Grimes

Julie has been supporting lactation since 2009, first as a La Leche League Leader and now also as an IBCLC. She plays various roles at LER—instructor, content reviewer, and even customer support! Working at LER helps keep her knowledge honed as she engages with students' inquiries and reviews and gathers research both for her own and other instructors' lessons. In her spare time, she is reading at least four books at once, cooking, playing board games, or listening to literary and pop-culture podcasts. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband, son, and three cats.

Amy Black

Amy coordinates our Clinical Internship Program. Amy is a mother of three happily breastfed children, has a degree in finance and German and spends her "spare time" working at a local Virginia hospital as a NICU and Mother Baby Unit IBCLC.

Contact Amy at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Becky Nield

Becky holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Biology from Idaho State University. She studied gender expression and early ovule development in angiosperms (flowering plants) for her Master's thesis. Did you know that flowering plants have both male and female reproductive organs?

Becky's career at Lactation Education Resources of managing all aspects of content for three websites, Lactation Education Resources, Capacitación en lactancia and First Latch is made easy because of the extremely hard-working, dedicated and talented team working in her department.

Becky is the proud parent of 3 breastfed daughters. While breastfeeding seemed 'on track' and 'successful' for her, knowing what she knows now makes her wish that she had sought out some anticipatory guidance pre or postnatally. There is always something new to learn!

In her free time, you will likely see Becky on a turf field cheering on her soccer stars. Becky also enjoys birding and gardening.

Jeanette McCulloch

Jeanette is a board certified lactation consultant in private practice with Birthswell in Ithaca, New York. Jeanette has been combining communications work and women's health advocacy for more than 20 years. She brings together strategic communication skills with a love of social media and a real-world knowledge of birth business and activism.

As LER's Former Program Director, Vergie Hughes brought a long history of experience in Maternal Child Health including labor and delivery, postpartum and pediatrics, and 30 years of involvement in lactation management.

We are grateful for her critical role in establishing and growing LER's stellar community of educators, staff, and students. We continue to look to the mission, vision, and core values that were established during her leadership.

We wish her well in enjoying her much deserved retirement, alongside her husband and LER's former Chief Technical Officer, Doug Thom.