MEET OUR FAMILY

Nina graduated from the University of Arizona in 1997 with a Master of Science in Speech Language Pathology and became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in 2010. She is a dual certified Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist (English-Spanish), and an IBCLC, with over 20 years experience. She specializes in pediatric and infant feeding and swallowing disorders, with an emphasis on helping breastfeeding dyads meet their breastfeeding goals.  Nina also specializes in assisting infants struggling with bottle feeding, transitioning to solids and weaning off of feeding tubes. Nina is passionate about helping infants and their families whose feeding is impacted by prematurity, neurological deficits, anatomical issues (including tongue-tie/lip-tie and cleft lip/palate) as well as those babies who just got off to a difficult start. In addition to teaching and lecturing throughout Arizona, Nina has been invited to speak nationally and internationally to educate other healthcare professionals and families on topics such as low maternal milk supply, slow infant weight gain, tongue-tie, infant feeding, dysphagia, breastfeeding, and transitioning to solids.  When she's not working, Nina enjoys hiking, swimming, running and spending time with her three daughters, grand baby and two dogs.

Beth is an Occupational Therapist, International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and a Certified Neonatal Therapist who specializes in establishing oral feeding and development. After too many cold winters attending school in Chicago and St. Louis, she and her husband decided that Tucson would be a great place to live and start a family and have been here since 2008. She has been an OT since 2008, worked with children since 2014, and an IBCLC since 2017. Beth has worked in adult rehabilitation, acute care, pediatric intensive care and neonatal intensive care settings.  She has extensive experience with infants who have complex medical history including neurologic, cardiac, genetic, or a preterm diagnosis.  She is in awe of how intrinsically motivated babies are to develop and engage in learning new skills. She loves sharing the joy of helping families work toward their feeding and developmental goals.  She also loves swimming, yoga, reading, running, and trying to keep up with her two kids.  Beth is excited and delighted to be a part of the M&H team!

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Ceit is a Bilingual (English-Portuguese) International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and CAPPA Certified Childbirth Educator. Ceit is an native Tucsonan who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2003 from the University of Arizona. Ceit has worked in the field of Child and Maternal Services since 2011, specializing in pregnancy wellness, early childhood development, infant feeding, and childbirth education. Previous to joining Milk and Honey, Ceit worked extensively as a childbirth educator and lactation consultant for a youth-focused non-profit organization, with an emphasis on neurological development and high-risk clientele. Ceit has traveled the state of Arizona providing professional development to those working with pregnant and parenting teens. In 2016, she became a Capacitar Wellness Protocols Practitioner, enabling her to facilitate perinatal trauma healing in the Tucson Community. Ceit’s passion for assisting families through pregnancy, birth and postpartum periods continues to grow, with particular regard to the breastfeeding dyad. Her time outside of work is spent enjoying family time, getting outdoors and exercising.

Christina is an Occupational Therapist and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who specializes in infant and early childhood development and feeding skills. She has been practicing pediatric Occupational Therapy for over 10 years and received her lactation certification in 2015. Christina has extensive experience in the Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Early Intervention, and Outpatient settings. Her passion is working with feeding for all babies including breast, bottle, solids and tube feeding. She especially enjoys working with children with complex medical needs and varied diagnoses including genetic, neurologic, prematurity, craniofacial, swallowing and GI. She worked in the Tucson Community from 2012-2017 in both hospital and community settings before moving to Asheville, NC where she provided home based feeding therapy and developmental services to children birth-3 from 2017-2021.  Christina has now returned to Tucson, her forever home, and is very excited to return to the M&H team and provide feeding therapy and developmental services for Tucson families.

Loren has been practicing as an Occupational Therapist since 1995 after she graduated with a Master’s degree from Texas Woman’s University, Houston. She has had experience working in a variety of settings including acute care, outpatient and home health. Loren is passionate about working with infants and young children and has dedicated her practice to the NICU setting. At Milk and Honey, she focuses her specialty in feeding and developmental activity. Loren is a Certified Neonatal Therapist (CNT) and was one of the first Occupational Therapists to receive this certification in Arizona. She also has certification in Neonatal Touch and Massage and is in the process of pursuing certification as a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in order to provide the best-care available for infants and their families. When she isn’t working, Loren loves spending time with her family including her two very active dogs. She is an avid cyclist, a die-hard U of A Wildcat, and enjoys all the splendors of Arizona.

Sarah is a certified nurse-midwife specializing in breastfeeding and lactation medicine and perinatal mental health. Her first degree was in biology from U.C. Berkeley, and she trained in midwifery at Oregon Health and Science University. After becoming a midwife in 2014, she caught babies both in and out of the hospital, and has lived and worked in rural and urban New Mexico and Arizona. Sarah has always been drawn to midwifery’s potential for advocacy, addressing health inequity, “being with” families, and engaging in true shared decision making and informed consent. Sarah loves supporting the community, providing evidence-based lactation care, and providing comprehensive and collaborative care for lactation complications and complex lactation concerns. She brings the midwifery model of care to lactation, and loves working collaboratively with her team of multidisciplinary lactation experts at Milk & Honey. Sarah is involved in lactation efforts at the national level through the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), is involved in the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM), and is the co-chair of the AZ ACNM advocacy committee. She is also adjunct faculty at the University of Rochester’s lactation fellowship program (LILAC), and is working on a PhD at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. Sarah is a mama to a small 5-year-old boy with a big personality and their three opinionated cats. Yoga and laughter keep her grounded.  

Rodin is a certified nurse midwife (CNM) who has been working in perinatal health since 2009. In that time, she has worked as a doula, prenatal educator, home birth assistant, hospital nurse, home visit nurse, perinatal support group facilitator, and midwife. She received her Bachelor of Nursing degree from Northern Arizona University in 2016 and her Master of Nursing degree from Frontier Nursing University in 2022. She is certified in perinatal mental health through Postpartum Support International. Her passion is serving families in Tucson through their childbearing years and beyond through truly collaborative care and centering shared decision making. She considers Tucson her forever home and has two daughters of her own. Running, reading and rock climbing are some of her favorite things. Rodin is thrilled to be part of the Milk and Honey family!

Rylee is an ASHA certified Speech, Language Pathologist who recently moved back to her hometown of Tucson, AZ after living in Charlotte, NC for the past 3 years. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences at Clemson University in 2017 and went on to receive a Master of Science degree in Speech, Language Pathology from the University of Arizona in 2021. Rylee has experience working with infants and children with a variety of
speech, language, feeding, and swallowing disorders in early intervention, home health, and pediatric private practice. Rylee is certified in the SOS Approach to Feeding, the CAN-EAT Approach to Feeding, and Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) therapy for dysphagia. After working alongside Nina Isaac as a graduate student, Rylee discovered a passion for lactation, infant feeding, and supporting breastfeeding dyads. She is thrilled to be back at Milk & Honey working toward her IBCLC certification. Outside of work, Rylee enjoys spending time outside, with her friends, running, and reading.

Siri is an Occupational Therapist (OT), Certified Yoga Teacher and John F Barnes Myofascial Release Therapist. Siri grew up in Tucson, received a BA in Economics from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, then studied yoga, meditation and bodywork before becoming an OT in 2015. She has worked in acute care, inpatient psychiatry, home health and inpatient rehabilitation care settings. Siri became interested in pelvic health and postpartum recovery after the birth of her first child in 2018. She trained in prenatal and postnatal yoga and began teaching prenatal and mommy/baby yoga as she pursued the study of pelvic health therapy. Siri has a passion for supporting mamas’ bodies through the pregnancy and postpartum journey, empowering women to restore their pelvic health and heal through all the challenges of the transition to motherhood. Siri also loves making art, dancing, hiking and camping with her two kids.

Mandy is a physical therapist specializing in pediatric and orthopedic physical therapy. She received her Bachelor of Science in Physiology at the University of Arizona, and her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Northern Arizona University. 

Mandy’s career has included experience in the pediatric and adult populations. Mandy loves working with children with developmental, neurologic and orthopedic concerns and empowering their families to help their children meet their goals. She also enjoys treating a myriad of orthopedic concerns with adults. She is thrilled to help serve more of the Tucson community as part of the Milk & Honey family, and hopes to work toward her IBCLC certification while doing so. Mandy is a native Tucsonan who loves her desert home, as well as all the outdoor fun it has to offer. 

Michele was born and raised in New York but moved to Tucson with her family in 2021 for the quiet, space, vast skies and endless mountains! She graduated Cornell University in Nutritional Sciences in 2008 and from Columbia University with a BSN/MSN in Midwifery in 2012 and is currently training to become an IBCLC. As a midwife she has worked at home and in birth centers but the majority of her work has been based in a hospital setting in the Bronx, NYC caring for pregnant and lactating folks from quite literally every continent (apart from Antarctica!) In Tucson she has primarily worked in a high risk OB clinic providing midwifery care for those that would otherwise only see high risk obstetric providers. Michele truly believes every person, no matter one's demographics, deserves a midwife and deserves nurturing, holistic, evidenced based and trauma informed care. Michele also believes that "postpartum is forever," and ongoing support and continuity of care with a safe provider is essential to the peace of a growing family. In her free time, Michele enjoys spending time with her two kids and partner in nature, hiking, baking, lifting weights, laughing with friends and dancing. She is so excited to be a part of the Milk and Honey family! 

Alice has lived in Tucson nearly her whole life, She has three amazing grown children – Lindsey, Grace, and Steven, who she could not be more proud of. She also has a beloved golden retriever named Peyton, who is very naughty but brings her great joy at the same time. She loves the ocean, being outdoors, hiking, and exercising. She has worked with insurance billing for many years, and is very grateful to part of this awesome community, surrounded by strong, beautiful women.