Meet The MLCA Executive Board of Directors
Melanie Venuti, IBCLC - President
Melanie (she/her) is a private practice lactation consultant offering in home and telemedicine lactation care in the Boston area and surrounding suburbs. Melanie has worked in many aspects of maternal and child health including nutrition counseling and parental education over the last decade. She prides herself in offering a casual and laid back approach to counseling, offering families practical advice for breastfeeding and parenting success based on their individual goals.
After having her own children, Melanie continued to advocate for individual care plans realizing that infant feeding is not “one size fits all”, helping families make realistic expectations and define their own success.
Melanie has been on the MLCA Board since 2020 and is thrilled to continue on in the roll of President. Melanie lives in Dedham, MA with her husband, 2 busy, sports loving boys.
Lauren McVeigh, RN, IBCLC - Vice President
Lauren (she/her) is an RN IBCLC and general board member at MLCA. She provides in-home and teleheath lactation visits ranging from prenatal classes to weaning consults, and everything in between at her private practice based out of Franklin, Massachusetts.
Lauren felt compelled to support lactating families after earning her nursing degree and having her first daughter. After experiencing the positive effects of local, comprehensive, clinical quality lactation care she realized she wanted to be part of the resource system that improves care for all families. Lauren started her private practice, Families in Bloom, to better meet the needs of her community. She has led local feeding support groups for families, and frequently participates in education & outreach at local health fairs and community events. She strives to dismantle barriers to lactation care by advocating for families and IBCLCs at various levels both personally and via the Access Committee at MLCA.
Lauren has a BA in Spanish Language and Culture from Salve Regina University, and a Nursing Degree from Maurine Church Coburn School of Nursing in Monterey, California. She received her CLC in 2014, and earned her International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) credential in 2018 after working as a nurse in several settings since 2011. Lauren lives in Franklin with her husband and 3 school-aged children, and enjoys running, gardening, and creative projects of all kinds.
Megan Buchanan, RN, IBCLC - Secretary
Megan is a dedicated lactation consultant based on the South Shore. Megan offers in-home visits through her private practice, Dairy Fairy Lactation, MA. Megan has a diverse background in various healthcare settings including private practice, a pediatrician's office, and post partum/ labor and delivery. Her experience has brought families across Massachusetts support with navigating life with newborns. Megan has been part of the Boston Children’s Hospital lactation support program, where she supported families facing a range of complex challenges including cardiac conditions.
Megan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts Boston and is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She is passionate about prioritizing maternal mental health and recognizing its importance in fostering a supportive and nurturing environment for families during the transition into parenthood. Residing in Middleboro, Massachusetts, Megan enjoys life with her son Declan, 2 dogs Violet and Sammy, and Cat Whisper. Megan is committed to empowering families on their breastfeeding journeys for years to come.
Lynne Ricardo, BSN, RN, IBCLC - Treasurer
Lynne (she/her) is a private practice lactation consultant offering in home and in office (Marshfield) lactation care south of Boston. Lynne has worked in a variety of settings in maternal and child health over the last 34 years, 26 years as an IBCLC. As a 1989 graduate of St. Anselm College, she earned a BSN. In her senior year, she had a summer internship in the NICU at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. It was there that her interest in pediatrics was sparked. Lynne’s work experience as a RN has involved inpatient work on an infant toddler unit at RI Hospital caring for medically complex children and in the community at Quincy Visiting Nurse Association as a maternal-child health nurse.
Lynne has worked as an IBCLC at South Shore Hospital and Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital. At Brockton Hospital, she was active in policy changes, data collection and staff and patient education per the guidelines of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. While building her full-time private practice, Lynne provided lactation support to families at Bridgewater Pediatrics, working closely with pediatric providers to coordinate care and feeding plans. At Keeping Pace with Multiple Miracles in West Bridgewater, Lynne was lead facilitator at the Baby Cafe and helped in the set up of their Milk Bank Depot.
Lynne supports families in meeting their individual goals. She firmly believes that learning is lifelong as she continues to expand her knowledge to reflect current research. Lynne and her husband live in Whitman, MA and are the parents of two young adults. In her spare time, Lynne enjoys boating, fishing, spending time outdoors and with her family.
Tamar Winter, BSN, RN, IBCLC - General Board Member
Tamar (she/her) is an IBCLC in the Boston area. She works in private practice seeing families in their homes or virtually. Tamar is also a member of the Lactation Support Program at Boston Children's Hospital.
While working as a bedside nurse in the cardiology department at Boston Children’s Hospital, Tamar was drawn to lactation support. While there, she pursued her IBCLC training and was certified in 2009.
Tamar is the proud mother of two breastfed children, now ages 13 and 10. She lives in Brookline, MA with her husband, their two children and one cat.
When not supporting lactating parents, Tamar can be found in the kickboxing gym with her daughter.
Tamar fundamentally believes in the development of IBCLC as a profession and as an individual provider. She is thrilled to be able to work on this goal with the help of MLCA.
Christine Fischer Rothman, PHD, IBCLC - General Board Member
Christine is a clinical lactation consultant based in Boston, where for the last 10 years she provides compassionate and evidence-based lactation support through in-home consultations and telehealth. With a rich background working for more than 30years with new families, as a former NICU doctor in her native Germany and doing research about kangaroo care and individualized developmental care for prematurely born infants, Christine has a comprehensive understanding of maternal and infant health and is committed to practices that promote family bonding and healthy development. Christine is dedicated to empowering parents by helping them read and respond to their babies' cues, fostering stronger parent-infant connections and confidence.
Passionate about advancing the lactation consultant profession, Christine advocates for the essential integration of lactation consultants into perinatal care teams. She is especially committed to decreasing obstacles to accessing clinical lactation care, with emphasis on the importance of insurance coverage and reimbursement, striving to make high-quality lactation support accessible and affordable for all.
Kathleen Stern, PP Doula, CLC - General Board Member
Kathleen (she/her) is a certified birth and postpartum doula, infant feeding specialist, and founder of Boston Area Doulas--a doula agency that has provided care for over 700 families since 2021. She believes that all parents deserve to feel confident and supported with evidence-based and non-judgemental care. At Boston Area Doulas, she helps families connect with the best fit doula, and also does infant feeding consults, postpartum planning sessions, and teaches childbirth, infant feeding and newborn care classes. She is also a founding expert of One Huddle, an online platform for new and expecting parents to ask questions and receive same-day answers. Kathleen is currently enrolled in the Lactation Program at Arizona State University, working on IBCLC Pathway 3. She is thrilled to be closer to her goal of supporting families as an IBCLC.
Prior to entering the perinatal space, Kathleen was a public school teacher (middle and high school ELA) and had a rewarding 15-year education career— dedicating herself to teaching students, coaching teachers, and helping others recognize their own strengths. After the birth of her second child, it became crystal clear to Kathleen that supporting and educating families as they found their way as new parents was ultimately what she was put here to do. Her first postpartum experience was filled with exhaustion, self-doubt, and conflicting advice from well-meaning family and friends. For her second child, she worked with a postpartum doula and lactation consultant to provide her with the nonjudgmental, hands-on support she knew she would need. The immeasurable value, and the juxtaposition between her first and second experiences, prompted her to jump into the perinatal space. Her advice for expecting families is, “Reach out for help before you think you need it. You're not supposed to be able to do this by yourself.”
In her down time, she loves spending time with family and friends, gardening, being active, listening to podcasts and getting to the beach. She lives on the North Shore with her husband, two kids (ages 7 and 10) and enthusiastic labradoodle puppy.