Contact: chair@lcgb.org

Zoe Faulkner IBCLC, has been Chair of Lactation Consultants of Great Britain (LCGB) since 2015, representing the organisation nationally and internationally with a keen interest in equality and diversity issues.   Prior to this, she was Chair of the Communications team and led the development of the LCGB website.  Zoe is co-author of ‘The role and practice of the IBCLC in GB’ research project. Other work includes co-writing a number of articles for Midirs.   From 2015 to 2017 Zoe was also involved in the Lactation Equity Action Committee.

Zoe teaches breastfeeding to NHS colleagues and is a visiting lecturer at the University of Brighton. She has also spoken at a number of national and international conferences, such as ILCA, MAINN, and iLactation, where she has presented on ‘The role and practice of the IBCLC in GB’ and topics relating to Breastfeeding Peer Support. She is also a former NICE Guideline committee member.

Since 2008 Zoe has been working as a Breastfeeding Peer Support Coordinator for Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust in Brighton and Hove, managing, training and supervising around 40 volunteers at any one time. In addition to jointly coordinating the peer support programme, she is co-coordinator of the busy IBCLC led specialist breastfeeding drop-in, in Brighton.   Zoe has a small private practice as an IBCLC in her local area.

Contact: treasurer@lcgb.org

Linda Brownlie IBCLC is a mum of three daughters and grandmother of two grandsons. She qualified as an IBCLC in 2016 and has a private clinic in Hull. She has volunteered for an award-winning breastfeeding peer support and volunteer doula project for the last 10 years and has volunteered extensively in the local maternity hospital and community also working with many families with challenging backgrounds throughout the perinatal period of their live. Linda had a pivotal role in saving the project from decommissioning when it was threatened in 2017. Currently, she supervises a group of local peer supporters in Hull and runs a successful online breastfeeding group that has been supporting mums virtually for 7 years. Linda also set up an online global study support group for aspiring IBCLCs in 2013 and a group for new IBCLCs to support each other and regularly supports candidates one to one in the lead up to the exam. Linda is also a qualified accountant of 25 years and has extensive experience with financial management of both corporates and charities.

Contact: membership@lcgb.org

Vikki Kidd IBCLC has a passion to normalising breastfeeding and support breastfeeding women.  Coming from a nursing/midwifery background she has worked as a senior midwife in both in England and overseas.  After becoming a mother she trained as an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor, qualifying in 2008.

When living in Canada, she qualified as an IBCLC in 2011 and worked as a hospital lactation consultant and became involved in Baby Friendly (BFI) organisations to promote and support breastfeeding. Having returned to England in 2015, she now lives and practices as an independent IBCLC and NCT BFC in South Warwickshire.  Becoming involved in LCGB as the Minutes Secretary, she is now the Membership Secretary and also a member of the Events Team.

Sophie Burrows IBCLC joined LCGB in 2018.  Sophie was the photographer at the 2018 LCGB Conference and became involved in filming the founders of LCGB for the organisation's 2019 Conference in celebration of 25 years.

Sophie has helped in many areas of LCGB with design and technical skills.  In 2020 Sophie teamed up with the Online Education team to produce and deliver LCGB's first online education offering and subsequently LCGB OWL supporting Clare Watson, Arielle Ball and team.  Sophie managed the design and move to a new membership system for LCGB in 2020 and a refresh of the LCGB website with the oversight of the membership secretary.

Sophie became Communications Lead in June 2020.  Her role involves overseeing all of LCGB communications including; social media, website management and development along with many other aspects.

Sophie became an IBCLC in 2019 she is also a La Leche League Leader. As a mother to two young boys, Sophie fits in supporting mothers independently and within her volunteer roles wherever possible.

Sophie values teamwork and is motivated to work alongside others on projects that advance knowledge and awareness of breastfeeding. She is excited and grateful to be part of the global picture of breastfeeding support.

Contact: edi@lcgb.org

Zurina Ali IBCLC has a background in teaching and academia. She gained her IBCLC certification after nearly a decade facilitating breastfeeding groups supporting women from diverse backgrounds as a trained La Leche League Peer Counsellor within the Public Health Initiative in Manchester in 2011. Zurina joined LCGB as a committee member in 2012 and coordinated the 2013 Conference in Manchester. In 2015, she was elected as the first LCGB Equality and Diversity Lead. She has represented LCGB internationally as part of the Lactation Equity Action Committee (LEAC), and currently sits on the International Lactation Consultants Association (ILCA)’s Equity Committee, which links in with her role as LCGB Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead. Her work in advocating, promoting, supporting and sustaining breastfeeding internationally, nationally and locally are mostly within the voluntary sector, although she has the experience working within the local government and public health initiatives. She has remained committed to areas of equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion in relation to maternal and infant health and wellbeing.  She has a special interest in issues of milk-kinship and donor human milk banking from the Islamic perspective and family-centred care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Zurina has been facilitating and collaborating on issues of milk-kinship and donor human milk banking between the United Kingdom and Malaysia since 2016.

Contact: hnowalany@lcgb.org

Heidi Nowalany IBCLC qualified as an IBCLC in 2015 and attended her first LCGB Committee meeting in September 2016 when she was immediately interested in getting more involved. Heidi planned the Mothers and Depression Study Day in November 2016. She has taken a leading role on the Advancing the IBCLC subcommittee. Coming from a corporate background, her interest in helping breastfeeding mothers came about after she had her first son in 2008. She began volunteering at a breastfeeding drop-in in Chicago, USA and started her own drop-in when she moved to Fulham. In addition to the weekly drop-in, she has a small private practice.

Contact: info@lcgb.org

Marion Jones IBCLC has been an LLL Leader, active at national level for over 20 years. Originally trained as a nurse and midwife, she qualified as an IBCLC in 1993 and was one of the founders of LCGB in 1994.

For several years she helped to run the IBLCE exam in the UK together with study days leading to it. Marion has organised or helped with many LCGB conferences. She has been very much involved with breastfeeding peer support for about 20 years and is a director of Breastfeeding LENS Ltd. She is currently LCGB’s stall coordinator, and offers valuable help with various other LCGB tasks, including membership of the Communications Team.

Contact: hgray@lcgb.org

Helen Gray MPhil IBCLC is LCGB’s Policy and Advocacy Lead. She has been part of LCGB’s liaison with outside organisations including 1001 Critical Days, Best Beginnings, and the Baby Feeding Law Group. She also organises LCGB’s responses to national consultations and evidence reviews.

Outside LCGB, Helen is Joint Coordinator of the UK Steering Group for the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi), a project which is supported by LCGB. Her special areas of interest are the protection of breastfeeding families in emergencies, and through the International Code. She is also a La Leche League Leader and leads a breastfeeding mothers’ group in South London.

Contact: henglish@lcgb.org

Hilary English IBCLC qualified as a breastfeeding counsellor with the NCT in 1983, and was a tutor, training both breastfeeding counsellors and health professionals for 20 years, during which time she qualified as an IBCLC lactation consultant (with encouragement from LCGB members). She now practises privately in addition to her voluntary work.

She was part of the group which revised the latest edition of the Royal College of Midwives handbook, ‘Successful Breastfeeding’, and her graphics have been used to illustrate a wide variety of books, articles and educational materials on breastfeeding.

Hilary has been an active member of LCGB, helping with the Annual Conference over many years, and also as a member of the Communications Team, as Deputy Chair, a member of the Executive Team for several years and latterly a Trustee.