BestforBabes.org
Beating the Booby Traps® that prevent moms from
achieving their personal breastfeeding goals

Our Board of Directors

Founding Board of Directors

Farley Boyle, Jay Gordon, MD, IBCLC, Marilu Henner, Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC, Amy Sestito, Alise Kreditor, Maria Grant.

Marilu Henner is a well-known actress and NY Times bestselling author who has starred on stage (Grease, Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife) in several hit TV series, (Taxi, Evening Shade, the Marilu show, and now, Shape Up Your Life on Discovery’s FitTV network), films (Blood Brothers, Between the Lines, Hammett, LA Story, Johnny Dangerously, Perfect, The Man Who Loved Women, Rustler’s Rhapsody and Noises Off, among many others), commercials, television movies and specials, including movies that shed light on “deadbeat” dads and moms, and on the issue of women who are stalked and battered. Her New York Times and national bestselling books include “Marilu Henner’s Total Health Makeover” and” The 30-Day Total Health Makeover”, “I Refuse to Raise a Brat”, “Healthy Life Kitchen, Healthy Kids, Healthy Holidays”, and “By All Means Keep on Moving”. For seven years, people have been able to log on to www.marilu.com and get the complete Total Health Makeover(R) experience, including information, message boards, and even live chats with Marilu and her team of experienced coaches. For more than twenty years she has championed a vigorous, healthy lifestyle and has inspired millions of people along the way. She is the mother of two breastfed boys.

Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP, IBCLC is intensely interested in infant nutrition and breastfeeding, and is the first male physician to sit for and pass the International Board of Lactation Certification Exam. Dr. Gordon is a highly influential expert and leader in the arena of breastfeeding advocacy while maintaining a very successful private practice in Santa Monica, California-a practice sought after by many of Hollywood’s leading new mothers! Dr. Gordon is an associate professor at UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and lectures all over the world, promoting breastfeeding, infant nutrition, attachment parenting, infant massage and all behaviors that lead to happy, healthy children and families. Named by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Television and the Media as “the most influential doctor in America,” Dr. Gordon is also CBS TV’s Medical Consultant for Children’s programming, and continues to consult regularly for television and movies. He has appeared on “Good Morning America”-alongside Cindy Crawford. Dr. Gordon contributes to AOL with the Ask the Pediatrician weekly chat, writes a monthly column for “Fit Pregnancy” magazine and has recently contributed to “New York Parent,” “Parenting” magazine and has been quoted in the L.A. Times, New York Times, London Times . . . and many other times. His books include “Good Food Today, Great Kids Tomorrow,” “Brighter Baby,” “Good Night! The Parents’ Guide to the Family Bed,” “Hug Your Baby,” and “Listening To Your Baby: A New Approach to Parenting Your Newborn” He also wrote the forward to “Smart Medicine for a Healthy Child” and “The Encyclopedia of Vitamins and Supplements” (both published in 1999). Dr. Gordon is married with a teenage daughter.

Marsha Walker is a registered nurse and international board certified lactation consultant. Her 30 years of work with and for breastfeeding families encompasses both the clinical setting and the legislative and policy arenas. Previously she has held the position of President of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), Director of the Breastfeeding Support Program at Harvard Community Health Plan in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and served on the Leadership Team of the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC). She is currently president of Lactation Associates, a private practice that provides education and consultation to health care professionals and is the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy, Research, Education and Legal Branch (NABA REAL) which advocates for breastfeeding at the state and federal levels. She is ILCA’s representative to the US Department of Agriculture’s Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium and NABA REAL’s representative to the US Breastfeeding Committee. She serves on the Board of Directors of Baby Friendly USA and the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition. She is a frequent speaker on breastfeeding issues and a published author. She is married with two breastfed children and two grandchildren.

Farley Boyle is the founder and Executive Director of C.H.A.S.E. for Life, a not-for-profit dedicated to saving children’s lives by making the education of infant/child CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver free and readily available to the community, as well as to promoting that all first-time parents learn the basics of C.H.A.S.E. (CPR, Heimlich & Awareness Safety and Education) before being discharged from hospitals with their newborns. Ms. Boyle’s 15 year modeling career includes shows, commercials, catalogues, covers, campaigns and commercial advertising for Gap, Old Navy, L’Oréal, St. John, Levi, Donna Karan & Avon. Formerly represented by Wilhelmina Models, she is now represented by Images Modeling Agency and is a familiar face at Liz Lange (having modeled through three pregnancies), and has also worked for other leading pregnancy, maternity and nursingwear clients such as Target, Motherhood, Motherwear, Me & b, Lamaze, American Baby, Parents, Baby Talk, Plum and Bundle magazines. Ms. Boyle recently starred in an episode of the series Runway Moms on the Discovery Health Network. She has a B.A. in communications from Jacksonville University and is married with three breastfed young children.

Amy Beth Sestito is co-Founder, CEO & Publisher of THE FAMILY GROOVE, the first-of-its kind national, online magazine aiming to provide a modern-day coffee klatsch in the Internet’s global village. Created to be the smartest, hippest place in cyberspace, TFG is for parents who like to ‘Think Global, GET IT Local.’ THE FAMILY GROOVE is one of the fastest growing online parenting magazines: over one million savvy, in-the-know people across the world have logged onto http://www.thefamilygroove.com to see how Groovy Parents GET IT. Prior to launching TFG, Amy managed a multi-million dollar stock portfolio by day trading, with an average return of 17 percent per year. Amy also worked in the investment banking arena where she specialized in public shells. After her time in corporate America, Amy spent three years traveling the world until her two sons were born. Amy attended Universitaire Francois-Rabelais in Tours, France, and graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in finance.

Alise Kreditor has spent more than two decades in the business of public relations, with a concentration in the juvenile category. Alise’s expertise stems from her ability to grasp many aspects of a client’s business quickly and then to present that business in alternative formats geared to the interest of the media outlet. She currently represents several U.S. subsidiaries of foreign mega-brands such as Mustela and Stokke, as well as U.S. based category leaders including Kalencom diaper bags and Halo SleepSack, and has represented the entertainment, luxury and OTC categories (i.e., Lightyear Entertainment; Omega and Rado Watches; Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch; Rolls Royce Moscow,and pHisoDerm.) Her concentration in the juvenile market grew as her family did, and in fact her children often served as guinea pigs to try new products. Alise graduated from Cornell University with a degree in French literature and history of art and also studied at La Sorbonne, Paris. She has served as president of Great Neck Community Concerts and is currently a Vice President at Temple Israel of Great Neck. She resides in Great Neck with her husband and their three children.

Maria Grant spent twelve years as a finance professional at Goldman Sachs before leaving recently to spend more time with her family.  During her time at Goldman Sachs, Maria spent several years running their Equity Derivatives research team, which was consistently ranked #1 or #2 on Wall Street from 2003-2007.  She also served as Deputy Director of the firm’s Americas Investment Research Division and sat on their Investment Review Committee.  While at Goldman Sachs, Maria nursed and pumped for two babies and mentored many women through the nursing and working experience.  She also served on the Board of Directors for La Leche League International and was part of the technical review committee for the eighth edition of “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding”, a national bestseller, published in July 2010.  Maria’s work has been regularly featured in the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, and Bloomberg, and she has discussed investment strategies on CNBC.  After her time in corporate America, Maria is spending some time traveling the country with her husband and two young children, including a nursing baby, and is running marathons to raise funds for Best for Babes in her new role with Team BfB!  Maria graduated from Davidson College, Magna Cum Laude, with Honors in Mathematics and earned a M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Past Directors

Eden Abrahams is an executive coach specializing in business-focused skill building and leadership development for senior managers and executives. She excels in helping executives establish clearly defined goals, and develop a game plan to achieve them. She has a particular expertise in helping executives communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, whether responding to routine business challenges or in situations involving significant organizational change and uncertainty, including corporate crises, mergers and acquisitions and restructurings. She has worked with individuals and corporations in a broad range of sectors including financial services, biotech, consumer products, energy services, fashion and publishing. A former partner in a leading investor relations and financial public relations firm, Eden has more than 15 years of corporate communications experience, including senior strategy and communications positions at Medley Global Advisors, Merrill Lynch, The G7 Group and The Frick Art & Historical Center. Eden has a B.A. from Northwestern University in political science and Italian and an M.A. in European studies and economics from The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Hetrick Martin Institute. Eden is married with two children.

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