Website Coordinator
Semaj Bruce, IBCLC
Semaj Bruce, IBCLC is a wife and mother of two. She has been employed by the Las Vegas Urban League as the Breastfeeding Program Coordinator. She became a CLC in 2009, a CLE in 2015 and an IBCLC in 2019. In 2015, under her leadership, the program was awarded the WIC Loving Support Award of Excellence – Gold Level by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
Semaj keeps her mind spinning about developing ways to increase breastfeeding rates among African American/Black women. Black Mother’s Breastfeeding Association pioneered Black Breastfeeding Week in 2014. Once she found out about a celebration to uplift her community, Semaj took notice and activated Nevada’s first Black Breastfeeding Week celebrations in 2015. She has continued to celebrate this week with the support of community partners such as Southern Nevada Breastfeeding Coalition, Kijiji Sisterhood, Las Vegas Urban League WIC and many others.
Semaj has also volunteered as the Director for the Las Vegas Milk Depot for San Jose Mothers’ Milk Bank since 2015, donating thousands of ounces of human milk to infants in critical care and families in need.
Semaj Bruce was born in Culver City, California, raised in San Bernardino, California. She now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada since 2002. She enjoys doing makeup, family barbecues and fun in the sun with hikes or visiting the beach.
Swag Coordinator
Colette Moore BSN, RN, IBCLC
Colette has been a member of SNBC since 2006. She assumed her SNBC board position in January 2017. She wholly supports the mission of the coalition, the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in our community. A Registered Nurse and Program Coordinator at the Healthy Living Institute at UMC and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), Colette has been working with newborns and their families in the Las Vegas community for over 30 years. With a background in newborn intensive care, her passion has always been helping families to get off to a healthy start. She first became certified in Lactation in 2005. Whether teaching prenatal breastfeeding class, working in community outreach, counseling families in the hospital or visiting them at home, Colette believes that providing education and support helps families build confidence in their journey toward meeting their breastfeeding goals.
Community Outreach & Liaison Between Coalitions
Suzette Cruz, BSN, RN, IBCLC
Suzette is a Board Member of Southern Nevada Breastfeeding Coalition. Suzette is a graduate of Nevada State College, with Major in Nursing and an emphasis in Psychology. Suzette has been helping mothers, babies, and families to breastfeed since 2007. She has many years of experience counseling mothers in person and mother to mother in support groups, and mothers and infants in a hospital setting, including NICU preemies, late preterm infants, infants that are small for their gestational age, and many other unique needs. Suzette became an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, (IBCLC) in 2019.
On a personal note, while residing on the island of Oahu, Suzette’s deeper interest in Lactation came with the birth of her son. It was with guidance and compassion of an amazing friend at the time who inspired her own journey to breastfeed her son. Her name is Terri Rae Cardona. Suzette will forever cherish the time she gave her and her son Kalani, while Terri and her husband were on their Honeymoon in Hawaii.
Nurturing Naturally Coordinator
Kayla Kirk, Doula, IBCLC
Kayla is an IBCLC, postpartum doula, and infant massage educator serving the greater Las Vegas valley. She is passionate about supporting early postpartum families through bodyfeeding challenges and helping them focus on the joyful aspects of parenthood. She also supports families at the systemic level by educating companies and other healthcare providers on the benefits of supporting bodyfeeding parents. Kayla is Las Vegas born and raised and currently resides in Boulder City, NV with her husband and two children.
Education Meeting Planner
Anita Momodu, CPC
Anita travels the world gathering communities, uplifting experiences and demolishing shame. Her passion is helping birthing individuals and their families redefine what parenthood looks like for them while helping them take back their power from shame in their journey to and through parenthood, and cultivating conversations that have been silenced for too long. Anita is a Clinical Professional Counselor, author, speaker, sleep consultant, full spectrum doula, and currently serves as the southern Nevada breastfeeding coalitions educational planner and marketing coordinator.
Anita currently works in her own mental health private practice, co-facilitates a black moms in loss group through Postpartum Support International, and is the central florida regional co-chair for the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for POC.
Member at large
Dawn Lipkin
I am a Certified Registered Nurse in Maternal Newborn Nursing with many years of experience with new mothers and new babies. I am a firm believer in the importance of breastfeeding for mother and for baby and I breastfed all my own children. Having done so, I know that sometimes things are not always easy, and I love teaching and supporting others to meet their breastfeeding goals.
