About Us

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Board Chair: 

Nahal is a licensed speech-language pathologist, certified breastfeeding specialist and founder at Coo, Babble, and Talk pediatric services. She devotes her time serving families of infants and toddlers up through age five within Ventura County. Integrating lactation and postpartum support into her practice, believes that that the foundations of communication starts with skin to skin and early feeding and bonding interactions. She was drawn to BCVC because every family should feel supported to breastfeed and have access to a wide variety of local and diverse resources that make those early days, weeks, and months just a little bit easier.  Nahal’s favorite part of mothering was breastfeeding her two boys. Together with her husband they are raising two energetic boys who play sports and love to travel. 

BOARD SECRETARY :

 “Over 40 years experience in Maternal Child Health. She enjoys working  with new families in Ventura County. She is also the founder and manager  of the CMH New Parent Resource Center in Ventura." .

BOARD TREASURER:

 CPA and partner at Vance, Thrift and Biller, LLP . Mother of two  breastfed boys (tandem at one point) now 11 and 9. Passionate about women's reproductive rights and supporting families to breastfeed. Love spending my time outside of work outdoors: beach, hiking, biking,  camping. 

Andrea was instrumental in helping the BCVC obtain and maintain their 501c3 NonProfit Status. 

Outreach Director/Imm. past Board Chair: 

Heather currently serves as the Outreach Director for BCVC and has served as a Board Member and/or Board  Chair over the past 10 years. Professionally, she has worked with new mothers and babies for over 20 years in both hospital and outpatient settings. She is passionate about helping new families navigate the  early postpartum period and achieve their breastfeeding or breast pumping goals. She currently works for the Ventura County WIC program as  the Breastfeeding Coordinator and Regional Breastfeeding Liaison.  Heather lives with her three children and husband, John. In her free time, Heather thinks about what resources she can add to the  Breastfeeding Coalition Website and drinks coffee 

EDUCATION Co-CHAIR: 

 Doctor Benton retired from Ventura County Public Health as the Maternal Child Adolescent Health (MCAH) and public health nursing home visitation programs manager. In addition, she coordinated MCAH, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and the Fetal Infant Mortality Review. She has been a nurse since 1989, with national and international experience in Colombia, South America, and the United States. She speaks Spanish and has years of experience and expertise as a public health nurse and manager, working with individuals, families, and communities and as a nursing faculty and researcher. She has been involved with the Breastfeeding Coalition of Ventura County since 2001 after receiving her CLC certification. Since 2008, she has been a board member with roles as treasurer and lately, on the education committee. She has a passion for maternal, infant, child, and adolescent health issues, advocacy, health promotion, and health prevention, in which breastfeeding is a priority for a healthy start for every child. She is very family oriented and enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband, adult children, and granddaughter. 

EDUCATION Co-CHAIR:

 Mimi recently retired from Ventura County Public Health, where she was the Perinatal Services, SIDS and Fetal Infant Mortality Review Coordinator for Ventura County Public Health and the co-chair of the Perinatal Substance Use Taskforce of Ventura County. Her background is in Pediatric nursing with extensive experience in caring for NICU babies with Neonatal abstinence syndrome and children with prenatal substance use exposure. As a case carrying Public Health Nurse, she specialized in providing case management for pregnant and parenting women with SUD and recruiting and training perinatal providers in the California Department of Public Health Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program, prenatal substance use screening and referral process as well as lactation support. She has provided skilled lactation support since 1998 and obtained her IBCLC in 2014. She exclusively breastfed all 5 of her children and joyfully provided lactation support for her eleven grandchildren. She is a board member for the Ventura County Breastfeeding Coalition and looks forward to continuing to provide lactation support to members of her community. 

Physician Liaison: Local Family Practice Physician at Las Posas Clinic and passionate about helping new mothers.  

Member at Large: 

IBCLC at the CMH New Parent Resource Center IBCLC

Member at Large/ East County Rep:  Sharlena has been working with new mothers and their families in the East County for over 15 years with Ventura County Healthcare Agency at Sierra Vista Family Medical Clinic, leading the program Comprehensive Perinatal Service Program. She is a Certified Lactation Counselor and Child Passenger Safety Seat Technician. She has a passion for the Fourth Trimester, and always looking for ways to enrich her knowledge to offer that support. Sharlena lives with her 4 children, and husband, Hector. In her free time you will find her at a high school baseball game or at a soccer game.