Meet the Authors
BARBARA WILSON-CLAY, BS Ed, IBCLC, FILCA became a La Leche League Leader in 1981 and served as Professional Liaison Leader for the Western United States. She qualified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 1987 and was recognized as a Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association in 2008. Barbara maintained a busy private practice in Austin, Texas for 30 years and continues to consult on specialized cases. She has served on national and international coalitions to promote breastfeeding. A volunteer citizen-lobbyist at the Texas Legislature since 1990, Barbara advocates for breastfeeding as a health policy issue and helped pass a landmark law protecting the civil rights of nursing mothers in Texas. She helped found and served on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Mothers Milk Bank at Austin, retiring as Vice President of the Board in 2011. Barbara’s commentaries on practice ethics, case studies, and original research have been widely published. She serves on the editorial review boards of several lactation journals. Her clinical photographs appear in textbooks and lactation training programs. She and her late husband, David, raised three daughters in Austin. Two grandchildren, Ellie and Oliver, have joined the family.
Kay Hoover, M Ed, IBCLC, FILCA retired from her hospital job as a lactation consultant at the end of 2019. During the pandemic she provided many on-line presentations to maintain her career-long commitment to educating the next generation of lactation consultants. Kay became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 1985 and was recognized as a Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association in 2008. During her career she served as a lactation consultant for four different hospitals. Kay was also employed as a lactation consultant by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for the Breastfeeding Awareness and Support Program, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in the Division of Maternal, Child and Family Health, and the Center of Childhood Obesity Research at the Pennsylvania State University. In addition, she maintained a private practice for over 20 years. Kay has an international reputation as a lecturer, author, and clinical photographer. Since 1971 she has been a La Leche League Leader and a member of the Pennsylvania Breastfeeding Coalition since its inception in 1992. She served for six years on the Board of Directors of the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. Kay and Charlie, her husband of 55 years, raised their sons, Douglas, Steven, and David, in the Philadelphia area and are the grandparents of Daniel, Eric, and Robert.