During the weeks leading up to the 2012 ILCA Conference, we will be highlighting a number of conference speakers.  Watch this space every Friday for more profiles.

Lisa Ann Marasco, MA, IBCLC, FILCA

Lisa Marasco has been working with breastfeeding mothers for over 20 year, first as a La Leche League Leader and then as an IBCLC since 1993.  She holds a Master’s degree in Human Development with specialization in Lactation, is a designated Fellow of ILCA, and co-authored The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk. Lisa is currently employed by WIC of Santa Barbara County and serves on the board of the Breastfeeding Coalition of Santa Barbara County.

Solving breastfeeding mysteries has always been a passion for Lisa, who is known for her inquisitiveness and tenacity. Her specialization in milk production was born when, after a resurgence in scheduled feeding began to sabotage unwitting mother’s milk supplies, she discovered that there was no comprehensive, referenced source to explain milk production to parents. The process of researching and writing such a document laid the foundation upon which her later work was built. Lisa also personally experienced a mysterious loss of milk supply with her fourth child, the cause of which only became clear to her years later as her research into milk production issues deepened. As a result of her own experience, she has great empathy for her clients and a renewed desire to understand the mysterious and difficult. This led to her eventual master’s thesis on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and its possible relationship to milk production problems, and other clinical situations have led to new areas of research. A born teacher, Lisa enjoys sharing what she has learned as much as the process itself. Her passion for her topics comes through clearly in her dynamic presentations, and she takes a personal interest in answering the needs and questions of any and all attendees. It is her desire that attendees not only go home with “what to do’s,” but more importantly, have a deeper understanding of the topics so that they can think through the unique situations that they face and develop better strategies targeted to the problems.

You can hear Lisa speak in a concurrent session on Friday, July 27 from 3:30-4:30pm on the topic “What about next time? Helping a mother with low milk production plan for the next baby”.

ILCA looks forward to welcoming Lisa Marasco.