COBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
COBA Interim Chair
Becky Mannel, MPH, IBCLC, FILCA
Becky has worked in lactation for over 25 years. She developed and managed the hospital-wide lactation service at OU Medical Center for 15 years. She is currently Director of the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center in the Department of OB/GYN at OU Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) and Executive Director for the Oklahoma Mothers’ Milk Bank (OMMB). She leads the Becoming Baby-Friendly in Oklahoma project sponsored by the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH). Becky also developed and oversees the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Hotline and provides professional training/education to Oklahoma hospitals to improve their breastfeeding care and outcomes, both OSDH-funded projects.
As a faculty member at OUHSC, Becky has developed a variety of trainings for health care and public health providers including the first formal clinical training in Oklahoma for aspiring lactation consultants. She has presented extensively at state, national and international professional conferences. Becky served 4 years on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Human Lactation and has served as Lead Editor for two editions of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) textbook, Core Curriculum for Lactation Consultant Practice. She co-edited the new (2018) Core Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Lactation Care sponsored by the Lactation Education Accreditation and Approval Review Committee. Becky is past Chair of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) and past President of ILCA. She has represented the lactation consultant profession at national-level meetings, including those for the development of the 2011 U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding and at national strategy meetings sponsored by the CDC from 2010 to 2014. Becky currently represents IBLCE on the US Breastfeeding Committee and was elected as a full member in 2014 of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation.
In 2017, Becky was awarded the Warren Crosby Champion for Maternal and Infant Health Award by the Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative. This award is given for “championing efforts to improve outcomes for Oklahoma’s mothers and infants and going above and beyond to do what is right for the patients”.
Becky has been involved in COBA since its founding in 2000 and has served in various offices, including Chair 2006-2009 and 2012-2017.
She lives with her husband in Edmond, has 3 grown children and became a grandmother in 2018.
Contact Becky: chair@okbreastfeeding.org
Becky Mannel, MPH, IBCLC, FILCA
Becky has worked in lactation for over 25 years. She developed and managed the hospital-wide lactation service at OU Medical Center for 15 years. She is currently Director of the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Resource Center in the Department of OB/GYN at OU Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) and Executive Director for the Oklahoma Mothers’ Milk Bank (OMMB). She leads the Becoming Baby-Friendly in Oklahoma project sponsored by the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH). Becky also developed and oversees the Oklahoma Breastfeeding Hotline and provides professional training/education to Oklahoma hospitals to improve their breastfeeding care and outcomes, both OSDH-funded projects.
As a faculty member at OUHSC, Becky has developed a variety of trainings for health care and public health providers including the first formal clinical training in Oklahoma for aspiring lactation consultants. She has presented extensively at state, national and international professional conferences. Becky served 4 years on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Human Lactation and has served as Lead Editor for two editions of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) textbook, Core Curriculum for Lactation Consultant Practice. She co-edited the new (2018) Core Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Lactation Care sponsored by the Lactation Education Accreditation and Approval Review Committee. Becky is past Chair of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) and past President of ILCA. She has represented the lactation consultant profession at national-level meetings, including those for the development of the 2011 U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding and at national strategy meetings sponsored by the CDC from 2010 to 2014. Becky currently represents IBLCE on the US Breastfeeding Committee and was elected as a full member in 2014 of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation.
In 2017, Becky was awarded the Warren Crosby Champion for Maternal and Infant Health Award by the Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative. This award is given for “championing efforts to improve outcomes for Oklahoma’s mothers and infants and going above and beyond to do what is right for the patients”.
Becky has been involved in COBA since its founding in 2000 and has served in various offices, including Chair 2006-2009 and 2012-2017.
She lives with her husband in Edmond, has 3 grown children and became a grandmother in 2018.
Contact Becky: chair@okbreastfeeding.org
COBA Interim Vice Chair
Bio coming soon!
Bio coming soon!
COBA Interim Secretary
Ruth Piatak, BA, MS, LLLL, IBCLC
Breastfeeding has been an integral element of Ruth’s experience of mothering her four children since she joined La Leche League in April 1985 and gave birth to her first son in September 1985. She read breastfeeding information voraciously, and when her life aligned to facilitate community service, she became a La Leche League Leader in 2001. She has been a Baby Cafe fan and COBA member since 2010, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2011, and Area Professional Liaison for La Leche League of Kansas and Oklahoma since 2014. Ruth has also spent time as the spouse of an immigrant, a WIC client, a teaching assistant, a research technician, a single mother, a foster mother, a member of breastfeeding coalitions in California and Texas, a doula, and a WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. The help she received from family, La Leche League and WIC made her conscious of how well-supported breastfeeding sets an enduring pattern of maternal empowerment.
Ruth’s other COBA roles have included Communications Coordinator from 2012 to 2017, United States Breastfeeding Committee Conference Designated Attendee August 2012, Best Fed Beginnings Continuity of Care Connections Project co-Director 2013-2014, and website co-architect 2015-2016. She is currently Chair of the Website/Visibility Committee and serves on the Workplace/Public Committee.
Ruth lives in Tulsa with her husband, a few miles from their third son and his family of four breastfeeding enthusiasts.
Contact Ruth: secretary@okbreastfeeding.org, visibilitychair@okbreastfeeding.org
Ruth Piatak, BA, MS, LLLL, IBCLC
Breastfeeding has been an integral element of Ruth’s experience of mothering her four children since she joined La Leche League in April 1985 and gave birth to her first son in September 1985. She read breastfeeding information voraciously, and when her life aligned to facilitate community service, she became a La Leche League Leader in 2001. She has been a Baby Cafe fan and COBA member since 2010, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2011, and Area Professional Liaison for La Leche League of Kansas and Oklahoma since 2014. Ruth has also spent time as the spouse of an immigrant, a WIC client, a teaching assistant, a research technician, a single mother, a foster mother, a member of breastfeeding coalitions in California and Texas, a doula, and a WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. The help she received from family, La Leche League and WIC made her conscious of how well-supported breastfeeding sets an enduring pattern of maternal empowerment.
Ruth’s other COBA roles have included Communications Coordinator from 2012 to 2017, United States Breastfeeding Committee Conference Designated Attendee August 2012, Best Fed Beginnings Continuity of Care Connections Project co-Director 2013-2014, and website co-architect 2015-2016. She is currently Chair of the Website/Visibility Committee and serves on the Workplace/Public Committee.
Ruth lives in Tulsa with her husband, a few miles from their third son and his family of four breastfeeding enthusiasts.
Contact Ruth: secretary@okbreastfeeding.org, visibilitychair@okbreastfeeding.org
COBA Interim Treasurer
(Position open -- please write to governance@okbreastfeeding.org with nominations!)
(Position open -- please write to governance@okbreastfeeding.org with nominations!)
COBA Board Member at Large
Karen Palumbo, MEd, AdvCD/BDT(DONA), CBE, CCE
Karen has worked with families during pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period since 1988 in both the class and hospital setting, and has extensive experience in curriculum development. She has been a Certified Breastfeeding Educator since 1998, a Certified Childbirth Educator since 1990, a DONA Certified Birth Doula since 2001, a DONA Birth Doula Trainer since 2007, and a DONA Advanced Certified Doula since 2015.
Karen received an Associate of Science degree in Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counseling from OSU-Oklahoma City in 1996, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from University of Central Oklahoma in 1998, and a Master of Education in Adult Education from University of Central Oklahoma in 2003. Karen's 2014 publication, Early Childhood Nutrition in an American Indian Community: Educational Strategy for Obesity Prevention, depicts her study through OU Health Sciences Center of a set of educational interventions with Native American families in Southwest Oklahoma about breastfeeding and toddler feeding practices.
Karen belongs to the Doula Association of Central Oklahoma (DACO) where she has served as President, Vice President and Secretary. She is currently serving as Southwestern Regional Director for DONA International. She is also a member of the Oklahoma Lactation Consultant Association and Daughters of the American Revolution. Karen has participated in COBA since 2002, and assisted with both the development of COBA’s Model Hospital Policy and its recent revision. She served as Secretary from 2012 to 2017, and was instrumental in COBA's drafting of Bylaws and achievement of 501(c)(3) status in 2014.
Karen lives in Warr Acres with her husband of 40+ years. She enjoys spending time with him, their 3 sons and their wives, and their two treasured grandchildren.
Contact Karen: karenp@okbreastfeeding.org
COBA Board Member at Large
Montika Collins, BS, BSN, RN, CLC, IBCLC
Montika serves as an international board certified lactation consultant, a resource nurse, an activist, and an avid supporter of everything breastfeeding. She has worked with both premature and full term dyads to help them successfully breastfeed. Montika is passionate about expanding and improving breastfeeding support in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. Her research interests and experience include holistic breastfeeding, gut health, craniosacral fascial therapy, ankyloglossia (tongue-tie), socioeconomic disparities in birth outcomes, development of healthcare models to improve breastfeeding outcomes in African American women, development of healthcare models to lower African American women's pregnancy mortality rates and African American infant mortality rates.
Montika holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from Northeastern State University. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Oral Roberts University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is currently attending graduate school in wellness coaching at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. In addition to COBA, Montika is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing (STTI), La Leche League International (LLLI), Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA). She served as COBA Chair from January 2017 to May 2018.
In 2011/2012 Montika was honored to receive the Every Day Hero award from Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) and the Save a Life Hero award from The Red Cross for saving the life of a four year old boy. In June 2016 she was instrumental in the rescue of her own son from a severe choking incident -- another great testimony to her courage and readiness in caring for children!
Montika is the wife of her amazingly supportive husband Paul and the mother of their three superhero children, who were all extended breastfeeders. Montika lives in Broken Arrow and offers lactation support for women who live in the surrounding areas.
Contact Montika: montikac@okbreastfeeding.org
Montika Collins, BS, BSN, RN, CLC, IBCLC
Montika serves as an international board certified lactation consultant, a resource nurse, an activist, and an avid supporter of everything breastfeeding. She has worked with both premature and full term dyads to help them successfully breastfeed. Montika is passionate about expanding and improving breastfeeding support in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. Her research interests and experience include holistic breastfeeding, gut health, craniosacral fascial therapy, ankyloglossia (tongue-tie), socioeconomic disparities in birth outcomes, development of healthcare models to improve breastfeeding outcomes in African American women, development of healthcare models to lower African American women's pregnancy mortality rates and African American infant mortality rates.
Montika holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Chemistry from Northeastern State University. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Oral Roberts University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is currently attending graduate school in wellness coaching at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. In addition to COBA, Montika is an active member of Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing (STTI), La Leche League International (LLLI), Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), and International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA). She served as COBA Chair from January 2017 to May 2018.
In 2011/2012 Montika was honored to receive the Every Day Hero award from Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) and the Save a Life Hero award from The Red Cross for saving the life of a four year old boy. In June 2016 she was instrumental in the rescue of her own son from a severe choking incident -- another great testimony to her courage and readiness in caring for children!
Montika is the wife of her amazingly supportive husband Paul and the mother of their three superhero children, who were all extended breastfeeders. Montika lives in Broken Arrow and offers lactation support for women who live in the surrounding areas.
Contact Montika: montikac@okbreastfeeding.org
COBA Board Member at Large
Julia Profit-Johnson, RN, BSN
Julia “JP” Profit-Johnson has been a nurse since 1998, and received her bachelor’s degree with honors in nursing from Oklahoma City University in 2016. She is a member of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) and serves as Legislative Representative and a Director at Large with Region 2 of the Oklahoma Nurses Association (ONA).
Julia is Birthing Center Manager at Bailey Medical Center in Owasso, where she strives to empower her staff to take care of their patients and prepare her patients to take care of their babies. When JP wanted to help mothers stay close to home preparing for birth, she developed the curriculum, trained staff and launched a community-based childbirth education program so mothers wouldn’t have to drive to Tulsa to get the education they needed. In 2015, Julia received a Spirit of Achieving Cost Savings Award from the Oklahoma Hospital Association for a training program partnership with Hillcrest Medical Center which strengthened the Birthing Center staff’s involvement and flexibility.
Julia enjoys spending time with her husband and family, including Dayton and Hunter -- her beautiful grandchildren and the joy of her life.
Julia is Chair of the Governance Committee.
Contact Julia: juliap@okbreastfeeding.org
Julia Profit-Johnson, RN, BSN
Julia “JP” Profit-Johnson has been a nurse since 1998, and received her bachelor’s degree with honors in nursing from Oklahoma City University in 2016. She is a member of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) and serves as Legislative Representative and a Director at Large with Region 2 of the Oklahoma Nurses Association (ONA).
Julia is Birthing Center Manager at Bailey Medical Center in Owasso, where she strives to empower her staff to take care of their patients and prepare her patients to take care of their babies. When JP wanted to help mothers stay close to home preparing for birth, she developed the curriculum, trained staff and launched a community-based childbirth education program so mothers wouldn’t have to drive to Tulsa to get the education they needed. In 2015, Julia received a Spirit of Achieving Cost Savings Award from the Oklahoma Hospital Association for a training program partnership with Hillcrest Medical Center which strengthened the Birthing Center staff’s involvement and flexibility.
Julia enjoys spending time with her husband and family, including Dayton and Hunter -- her beautiful grandchildren and the joy of her life.
Julia is Chair of the Governance Committee.
Contact Julia: juliap@okbreastfeeding.org
COBA Board Member at Large
April Stuart, BA, MPH
April’s passion and professional background is in nonprofit program management, development, and fundraising. Over the past 10 years she has worked for Goodwill Industries of Tulsa, Up With Trees, and American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation. She served on the Board of Up With Trees from 2014-2016. Most recently she has accepted a position with Presbyterian Health Foundation, a private foundation based in Oklahoma City’s Research Park. Her new role with PHF includes assisting with communications and program development, disseminating information about cutting edge biotechnological and medical advancements right here in Oklahoma.
April aims to serve her community in a public health capacity. She completed the Master of Public Health program at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2015. While earning her MPH degree, April realized the importance of advocating for maternal and child health in Oklahoma. Bearing children in 2015 and 2017 gave her insight into the critical nature of the perinatal period. She had access to breastfeeding resources but still struggled to nurse her own children. The experience helped her appreciate the support families need during the perinatal period and the myriad of barriers they often face in accessing resources. Her return to the workforce following the birth of her first child revealed the challenges involved with juggling breastfeeding and pumping while trying to balance work and family life.
April hopes that her experience positions her to make a difference in the lives of breastfeeding families in Oklahoma by assisting with COBA's development and providing program support for outreach strategies to empower families to successfully breastfeed their children. She is co-Chair of the Fundraising Committee.
April and her husband, Zach, recently moved from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. She is enjoying getting to know the city and finding activities for their young children, taking them to the library for music and art classes, to explore at the Science Museum, and to area parks. In her spare time she enjoys discovering new favorite places in Oklahoma City with her husband, reading, and being outdoors. Together they enjoy lots of family time in their living room and dream of traveling internationally.
Contact April: aprils@okbreastfeeding.org
April Stuart, BA, MPH
April’s passion and professional background is in nonprofit program management, development, and fundraising. Over the past 10 years she has worked for Goodwill Industries of Tulsa, Up With Trees, and American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation. She served on the Board of Up With Trees from 2014-2016. Most recently she has accepted a position with Presbyterian Health Foundation, a private foundation based in Oklahoma City’s Research Park. Her new role with PHF includes assisting with communications and program development, disseminating information about cutting edge biotechnological and medical advancements right here in Oklahoma.
April aims to serve her community in a public health capacity. She completed the Master of Public Health program at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2015. While earning her MPH degree, April realized the importance of advocating for maternal and child health in Oklahoma. Bearing children in 2015 and 2017 gave her insight into the critical nature of the perinatal period. She had access to breastfeeding resources but still struggled to nurse her own children. The experience helped her appreciate the support families need during the perinatal period and the myriad of barriers they often face in accessing resources. Her return to the workforce following the birth of her first child revealed the challenges involved with juggling breastfeeding and pumping while trying to balance work and family life.
April hopes that her experience positions her to make a difference in the lives of breastfeeding families in Oklahoma by assisting with COBA's development and providing program support for outreach strategies to empower families to successfully breastfeed their children. She is co-Chair of the Fundraising Committee.
April and her husband, Zach, recently moved from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. She is enjoying getting to know the city and finding activities for their young children, taking them to the library for music and art classes, to explore at the Science Museum, and to area parks. In her spare time she enjoys discovering new favorite places in Oklahoma City with her husband, reading, and being outdoors. Together they enjoy lots of family time in their living room and dream of traveling internationally.
Contact April: aprils@okbreastfeeding.org
COBA Board Member at Large
Rachel Nelson, USAF Staff Sergeant
Rachel is a Black Stay-at-Home Mom to Gabrielle Sophia Nelson, born in September 2017 seven weeks before her due date. Rachel serves in the United States Air Force Reserves. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, she moved to Missouri in 2015, where she met her husband Scott Nelson. The Nelsons moved to Oklahoma in December of 2017. Rachel got involved in Oklahoma City’s Milk Moms support group right away, joined COBA, volunteered to serve on the COBA Board of Directors, and was elected with Gabrielle on her lap at our January 2018 meeting in Tulsa!
Rachel and Scott discussed breastfeeding prior to becoming pregnant. Rachel did a ton of research about it and discovered breastfeeding support as her passion. Gabrielle was due in November, but in August Rachel was hospitalized with a large chorioangioma, a tumor on the placenta raising risks for complications such as hydrops (extra fluid) and anemia. Gabrielle was born 3 weeks later and remained in the NICU for 24 days -- the hardest of the Nelsons’ lives! Rachel pumped around the clock and lived at Ronald McDonald house while Gabrielle matured, receiving her milk by nasogastric tube. When Gabrielle started showing hunger cues, they started practice feeds. She would latch on perfectly but would quickly get winded. When Gabrielle was able to take full feeds by mouth it was the most amazing feeling in the world!
Rachel is Chair of the Baby Cafe Committee.
Contact Rachel: racheln@okbreastfeeding.org
Rachel Nelson, USAF Staff Sergeant
Rachel is a Black Stay-at-Home Mom to Gabrielle Sophia Nelson, born in September 2017 seven weeks before her due date. Rachel serves in the United States Air Force Reserves. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, she moved to Missouri in 2015, where she met her husband Scott Nelson. The Nelsons moved to Oklahoma in December of 2017. Rachel got involved in Oklahoma City’s Milk Moms support group right away, joined COBA, volunteered to serve on the COBA Board of Directors, and was elected with Gabrielle on her lap at our January 2018 meeting in Tulsa!
Rachel and Scott discussed breastfeeding prior to becoming pregnant. Rachel did a ton of research about it and discovered breastfeeding support as her passion. Gabrielle was due in November, but in August Rachel was hospitalized with a large chorioangioma, a tumor on the placenta raising risks for complications such as hydrops (extra fluid) and anemia. Gabrielle was born 3 weeks later and remained in the NICU for 24 days -- the hardest of the Nelsons’ lives! Rachel pumped around the clock and lived at Ronald McDonald house while Gabrielle matured, receiving her milk by nasogastric tube. When Gabrielle started showing hunger cues, they started practice feeds. She would latch on perfectly but would quickly get winded. When Gabrielle was able to take full feeds by mouth it was the most amazing feeling in the world!
Rachel is Chair of the Baby Cafe Committee.
Contact Rachel: racheln@okbreastfeeding.org
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This page last updated 8/25/18 by RMP.
