CHEER 2023 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: CATHY CAROTHERS, BLA, IBCLC, FILCA!

CHEER is honored to present the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award to Cathy Carothers, BLA, IBCLC, FILCA. Cathy is a national breastfeeding promotion and support expert and Co-Director of Every Mother, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing counseling and lactation training for health professionals across the United States. We celebrate her lifelong dedication to providing breastfeeding support, education, and inspiration.

Cathy is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 1996, past President and Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association, past Chair of the United States Breastfeeding Committee, and current North American representative to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) Steering Committee. She has provided more than 1,000 lactation workshops and trainings in every US state and territory and many countries. Cathy has been a CHAMPS consultant, trainer, and hospital coach since 2015.

“I love to teach people and hopefully inspire them about the importance of breastfeeding,” Cathy shares. “If folks don’t remember anything else when leaving a training, I hope they leave feeling inspired – with the idea that breastfeeding matters, what they do matters, and they can make a profound difference in the lives of their patients.”

Cathy’s infectious passion for breastfeeding comes from a childhood watching her mother breastfeed 10 of her younger siblings. She recalls sitting in a small rocking chair, holding her baby doll, and imitating her mother breastfeeding her little brother.

“I watched my little brother looking at my mother, gazing up at her with such admiration. I remember having an overwhelming feeling that when I grow up, I want to breastfeed my children like this, too.”

“It wasn’t until many years later when I had given birth to my oldest child, sitting in my adult-sized rocking chair and nursing my baby, that those memories came flooding back. I realized what a legacy my mother had given to me and my siblings. I think that experience growing up and seeing breastfeeding normalized has led to the passion that I have today.”

Despite Cathy’s early fascination with breastfeeding, her professional career began in marketing and public relations. A first-time visit to the Women, Infants, & Children Nutrition Program (WIC) office jump-started Cathy’s impressive career in lactation. After meeting with the nutritionist – and refusing formula – she was immediately offered a job as a peer counselor.

“Getting on the phone and talking to mothers about breastfeeding? I was already doing that in the grocery store! Whenever I saw pregnant people, I would say ‘Congratulations on your pregnancy; have you thought about breastfeeding?’ I would talk about my experience and how wonderful it was, and that I would be available to support them if they wanted to call me.”

Cathy served as a WIC peer counselor, lactation specialist, and district-wide breastfeeding coordinator before becoming the State WIC Breastfeeding Coordinator for the Mississippi State Department of Health. She later worked for a national social marketing firm where she assisted USDA and state WIC programs with implementing statewide breastfeeding initiatives. During that time, Cathy identified a need for an organization that provided training for healthcare professionals to create transformed communities.

“The biggest gap I saw was in the people who served new families. I could work with each individual mom – and I loved doing that in my work at WIC – but I could only make a difference with one person at a time. To enact true change, we have to support the people who support the families.”

Cathy and fellow lactation consultant Kendall Cox founded Every Mother, Inc. in 2006 to fill this gap and help every new parent reach their lactation goals through training, technical assistance, and breastfeeding resources for healthcare professionals, educators, and families.

In her work with Every Mother, Cathy was the national project director for numerous USDA Women, Infants, and Children curriculum development projects, including the project director for the new WIC Breastfeeding Curriculum for WIC staff. She developed the national WIC peer counseling program training curricula and management materials. Additionally, she worked with the HHS Office on Women’s Health and Maternal Child Health Bureau to develop national resources for supporting breastfeeding employees and their employers. She collaborated with national business organizations, the US Surgeon General, and hundreds of businesses to work toward changing the landscape for employee lactation support.

For nearly a decade, Cathy has also served as an invaluable member of the Communities and Hospitals Advancing Maternity Practices (CHAMPS) team. She coaches hospitals and leads trainings for the CHAMPS National initiative, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Mississippi CHAMPS initiative, which increased the number of Baby-Friendly hospitals from 0 to 30 of the state’s 39 delivering hospitals. Cathy has led over 120 CHAMPS training events, educating, energizing, and inspiring thousands of staff members and providers.

Best of all, Cathy is currently a mother to 5 healthy breastfed children who are all adults with families of their own. She is ‘Nana’ to 11 breastfed grandchildren.

Cathy also attributes her personal breastfeeding and professional success to her husband of 47 years. “Davis has stood by me every step of the way, encouraging me to venture beyond my comfort zone sometimes and seize opportunities to make a difference. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when your partner is beside you offering support to make your dreams come true.”

Join us in celebrating Cathy’s lifelong dedication and remarkable achievements during the Mississippi CHAMPS Virtual Conference on December 12! Find out more information here.