Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Big Letdown
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.kimberlysealsallers.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlysealsallers/ * http://www.kimberlysealsallers.com/bio/ * http://mochamanual.com/kimberly/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Divorced; children: two.
EDUCATION:New York University, B.A., 1993; Columbia University, M.S., 2000.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Fortune, New York City, staff writer, 2002-05; Essence, New York City, senior editor, 2005-07; freelance writer and editor, 2006–. MochaManual.com (parenting and pregnancy Website), founder and blogger; Black Breastfeeding 360° (online multimedia content library), founder, 2012; SHIFT Health Communication Strategy, president and chief health communicator, 2015–. Kellogg Foundation, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy food and community fellow, 2011-13; First Food Friendly Community Initiative (pilot project; also known as 3FCI), project director, 2015-16; Level Playing Field Institute, former affiliate; U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, lead commentator for national Break Time for Nursing Mothers campaign; Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, member of advisory team. Advocate for issues related to women of color; commentator and public speaker, including numerous media appearances; workshop leader; consultant to VisitOrlando, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Avon.
AVOCATIONS:Zumba classes, bicycling.
WRITINGS
Regular commentator, Essence.com and LifetimeMoms.com; former business columnist, New York Post. Contributor to other sites, including MomLogic.com and Babycenter.com, and to periodicals, including Better Homes & Gardens, Daily Beast, Family Money, Ladies’ Home Journal, New York Daily News, Pregnancy, Real Simple, and Times (London, England). Past editorial director of “Black Maternal Health Project,” Women’s eNews.
SIDELIGHTS
Kimberly Seals Allers became a staff writer for Fortune magazine soon after completing her graduate studies at Columbia University. In 2005 she moved to Essence magazine as a senior editor. A year later she transitioned into the more flexible, if less predictable, career of freelance writer and editor. Along the way she became a first-time mother and discovered how few resources were relevant to her concerns as a woman of color pregnant with her first child. She told an interviewer at the Catalyst website: “I didn’t have any multi-generational support, and the experience was far different from what I had read in any magazine or book.”
The Mocha Manuals
Allers is the author of The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy. Her manual differs from typical pregnancy guides in several ways. Allers focuses on issues pertinent to African-American mothers-in-waiting; for example, hypertension, diabetes, the prevalence of low birth-weight babies, and the complications and anxieties related to sickle cell disease. She addresses cosmetic issues, such as fluctuations in hair texture and skin color, along with the typical frustrations that affect pregnant women of all ethnicities: single parenthood, work-life balance, and emotional stress, including postpartum depression.
Some readers felt overwhelmed by the graphic nature of certain content, but others appreciated anecdotes from a well-known women of color and examples from her own difficult journey to motherhood. Once Allers realized the size of this underserved audience, she expanded the scope of her mission. She added self-help Mocha guides on entrepreneurship–turning hobbies into profitable businesses–and on maneuvering through the protocols of military life. All of her manuals are addressed to women of color, both African-American and Latina, and filled with personal anecdotes from women with whom readers can identify.
Allers has launched a prolific career as writer, blogger, public speaker, and consultant. She created the parenting website MochaManual.com. Allers also became a vocal advocate for breastfeeding and founder of the online multimedia content library Breastfeeding 360°. She immersed herself in community-based projects in Detroit, Philadelphia, and elsewhere to eliminate what she calls first-food deserts, or areas that lack resources for mothers who want to breastfeed their infants. At the Kimberly Seals Allers Website, she described her mission “to question, challenge, disrupt and then reimagine how we talk about birth and breastfeeding and then [break] down the many structural barriers women face in these areas.”
The Big Letdown
Allers became increasingly alarmed about the roadblocks that nursing mothers face in their commitment to healthy parenting in general and breastfeeding in particular. When she recognized the extent of the marginalization, both incidental and intentional, she felt compelled to expose it. The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding is described at the Catalyst as “an in-depth analysis of the social, economic, and political influences of the American breastfeeding culture.” Allers told the interviewer that her book reveals “the systems and interests that often set women up to fail at breastfeeding before they even begin.” It is also a call to action.
Allers accuses infant-formula manufacturers of turning a life-saving solution for the few mothers incapable of breastfeeding into a mega-million-dollar cash cow. They did this, she writes, by co-opting the support of doctors, nurses, hospitals, even the American Academy of Pediatrics. They funded hospital construction projects that would isolate newborn babies away from nursing moms into centralized nurseries and supplied mothers with take-home gifts that included free samples of formula. They educated doctors to function as “marketing ambassadors” who encouraged the use of formula as a hedge against breastfeeding failure. At the same time, she observes, physicians received little or no formal training as lactation experts, while some actual lactation experts alienated prospective mothers through their aggressive promotion of the practice.
Allers also blames the American cultural bias against breastfeeding in public and the lack of a U.S. policy mandating paid maternity leave, factors that she finds rare among other developed nations. Among African-American women in particular, Allers points to the lingering negative association of breastfeeding with forced wet-nurse duties imposed by slave owners prior to the Civil War. Finally, Allerts asserts that even the trend toward “choice feminism” has played a role in discouraging breastfeeding by failing to support it as a worthy choice.
Theresa Muraski wrote in Library Journal: “Allers supports her conclusions by citing scientific research, statistics, and specific examples.” A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that many of the author’s statistics and anecdotes seem outdated, with the exception of her “unusual” focus on feminism as a contributor to negative perceptions of breastfeeding. Muraski predicted that The Big Letdown “will invite discussion and a reexamination of social and cultural practices.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2016, review of The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding.
Library Journal, January 1, 2017, Theresa Muraski, review of The Big Letdown, p. 117.
Publishers Weekly, December 5, 2016, review of The Big Letdown, p. 66.
ONLINE
Be First Food Friendly Website, http://befirstfoodfriendly.org/ (August 17, 2017), author profile.
Catalyst, http://www.catalyst.org/ (May 23, 2017), author interview.
Kimberly Seals Allers Website, http://www.kimberlysealsallers.com (August 17, 2017).
MochaManual.com, http://mochamanual.com/ (August 17, 2017), author profile.
About Kimberly Seals Allers
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, a trusted authority on issues relating to mothers of color, author of The Mocha Manual™ series of books and founder of www.MochaManual.com, a pregnancy and parenting lifestyle destination and blog for African Americans.
A leading consultant, commentator and public speaker, Kimberly’s thoughtful and provocative online commentaries on motherhood and the intersection of race, class and culture reach over 2 million monthly.
Kimberly is also a fiercely committed and highly respected advocate in the fight to reduce the racial disparities in breastfeeding rates and infant and maternal mortality rates.
In 2011, Kimberly was named an IATP Food and Community Fellow, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, with a mandate to increase awareness and engagement around “the first food”—breast milk, in vulnerable communities. She was also selected by the United States Breastfeeding Committee as a lead commentator for the nationwide “Break Time for Nursing Mothers” federal campaign. Kimberly recently signed a deal with St. Martin’s Press to write her fifth book, a groundbreaking analysis of the social, political and economic influences on the American breastfeeding culture, to be released next year.
In March 2012, she launched Black Breastfeeding 360°, a first of its-kind online multimedia content library for media professionals and the black community featuring resources and commentary on the black breastfeeding experience.
In addition to her popular blog on MochaManual.com, Kimberly writes about the African American parenting experience for MomLogic.com, Babycenter.com, and is a regular commentator for Essence.com and LifetimeMoms.com. She also served as editorial director of the Black Maternal Health Project of Women’s eNews, a project of the Kellogg Foundation and is an advisory team member of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute.
A former senior editor at Essence, Kimberly left her successful career in journalism to transform her life and create a multimedia brand for the under-served market of women of color. Along the way, she has become a trusted brand ambassador helping companies connect with this viable market, working with various clients including VisitOrlando, Johnson&Johnson, Procter&Gamble and Avon.
Her first book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy (Amistad/HarperCollins) a hip, funny and informative pregnancy guidebook for women of color put her on the map as a pregnancy and parenting expert with real-deal insights. The book was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and later turned into The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy DVD, available at Walmart.com.
The series also includes The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit—How to Find & Grow Your Side Hustle in Any Economy (Amistad/HarperCollins) and The Mocha Manual to Military Life—A Savvy Guide for Wives, Girlfriends and Female Service Members, both released in 2009.
Kimberly has appeared in various international, national and local media outlets including CNN, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Fox News, U.S. News & World Report, The Guardian (UK), Essence, Black Enterprise, Pregnancy and various web outlets, including Celebrity Baby Blog and The New York Times.
A divorced mom of two, Kimberly is a card-toting native of Queens, New York and a graduate of New York University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her previous positions include serving as a staff writer for Fortune magazine, a business columnist for the New York Post, and as a business writer for The Times of London.
Her freelance work has appeared in Ladies Home Journal, The New York Daily News, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens Family Money, The Independent (London), Fortune, Pregnancy and others. She is also a co-author of Giving Notice: Why the Best and Brightest are Leaving the Workplace, published by Josey Bass. [from sketchwriter: Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 2007, with Martha Mendoza and Freada Kapor Klein]
When Kimberly is not writing, taking Zumba classes, riding bikes with her kids or making people laugh with her witty takes on life, Kimberly is quite frankly, working, and creating new dreams. Follow her on Twitter @iamKSealsAllers.
K
imberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author and a nationally recognized media commentator, consultant and advocate for breastfeeding and infant health. A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine, Kimberly is widely considered a leading voice in the counterculture movement in infant feeding. Last year, her online commentaries on the social, structural and racial complexities of maternal and child health issues received over 10 million page views. Kimberly’s fifth book, The Big Let Down—How Medicine, Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding, published by St. Martin’s Press, is available everywhere starting January 24th, 2017.
A
s a consultant, Kimberly has led innovative community-based projects in New Orleans, Birmingham, Detroit and Philadelphia that explore the impact of “first food deserts”—communities that severely lack accessible resources to support mothers who choose to breastfeed—and developing community-partnered strategies to transform these areas into more breastfeeding supportive environments. She is currently the project director for The First Food Friendly Community Initiative (3FCI), a W.K. Kellogg-funded pilot project in Detroit and Philadelphia to create a national accreditation process for breastfeeding-friendly communities.
Kimberly is the former editorial director of The Black Maternal Health Project of Women’s eNews. In 2011, Kimberly was named an IATP Food and Community Fellow focused on reframing breastfeeding disparities as a food systems issue. She currently leads nationwide workshops for health care professionals on cultural competency and breastfeeding and is a prominent speaker on community-based strategies to reduce the racial disparities in breastfeeding and infant mortality rates. Kimberly also provides strategic communication services to hospitals, non-profits and other public health-related organizations looking to more effectively engage communities of color.
Kimberly is also the author of The Mocha Manual series of books, published by HarperCollins. The first book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy was nominated for a NAACP Image Award and turned into a DVD sold at Wal-mart. The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit and The Mocha Manual to Military Life round out the top-selling series. MochaManual.com is an award-winning pregnancy and parenting destination for African Americans.
Kimberly has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Anderson Cooper, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Fox News and has been featured in various international and national media outlets, including The Guardian (U.K.), U.S. News & World Report, Essence, Black Enterprise, Pregnancy and in various online media properties.
Kimberly is a graduate of New York University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A divorced mother of two, she lives in Long Island, NY with her children. Follow her on Twitter @iamKSealsAllers
From an early age, words have fascinated me. As a child, I struggled with a speech impediment and lost myself in reading books and writing poems. Finding my voice in a world where my spoken words often failed me gave me a keen sensibility about the nuances of communication. Today, I bring my unique understanding of the power of effective communication both in written and verbal platforms and my decades of experience as journalist to my passion for maternal and child health.
I
am on a mission: <
In fact, it was my birth experience and early days of motherhood that inspired me to take on this journey. At the hospital, I felt disrespected and voiceless, weeks later I struggled to find support when all I wanted to do was give my baby the most nutritious first food possible. If that wasn’t enough, I suffered with post-partum depression. Like far too many women, I found myself lost in the gaping hole between the idyllic images of motherhood and breastfeeding and my own personal experience. I felt isolated and alone and vowed to make sure fewer women have to suffer the same fate. So here I am–sharing my journey with you and hoping that you share yours with me. Together, let’s make it an experience we can be proud of.
A
s a consultant, I have been honored to lead innovative projects that explore the impact of community environment as a social determinant of breastfeeding initiation and duration. I’ve walked through communities in New Orleans, Jackson, Mississippi and Birmingham, Alabama to explore the scope of what I call, “first food deserts”—communities that severely lack or have inaccessible resources to support mothers who choose to breastfeed. I’ve also walked the streets of the Upper East Side of New York City to better understand the structural barriers that all women, regardless of income, face when it comes to feeding their babies.
I’m particularly proud of being selected as IATP Food and Community Fellow in 2011 to do the important work of creating more awareness of the social and cultural barriers to breastfeeding in vulnerable communities.
These days, I’m excited about leading the First Food Friendly Community Initiative (3FCI), an innovative pilot project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, designed to create multi-pronged community support for breastfeeding in communities of need.
O
f course, nothing in my work even comes close to my most important role as mother to my two beautiful children. They inspire to be my best self and live my best life. It was my early days of motherhood, and my own personal struggles with breastfeeding that led me to ask myself, “Is this the best we can do for moms?” I knew something wasn’t right and I didn’t want other women to experience the anguish and isolation that I experienced. Years later, surviving divorce and embracing single motherhood helped me find my true inner strength and the courage to pursue my passion.
So that’s me in a nutshell: a life of overcoming obstacles, finding my voice and empowering mothers. Oh and p.s. as a Queens, New York native and a graduate of NYU and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, I rep New York City hard.
Kimberly Seals-Allers
Working Mother Family Expert
SPEAKING TOPICS
Work/Life Balance for Women/Working Mothers
Career Success Strategies for Women/Working Mothers
Pregnancy: Health, Style, Fitness, Financial Family Planning
Pregnancy and Family Seminars for African-American Women
TRAVELS FROM
New York
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning business journalist, former writer at Fortune magazine and author of The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit (Amistad/HarperCollins), a must-read guidebook for aspiring entrep
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist and a leading commentator, public speaker and consultant on motherhood and breastfeeding issues.
A former writer at FORTUNE and senior editor at Essence magazine, Kimberly’s thoughtful and provocative online commentaries on motherhood, breastfeeding disparities and infant health and the intersection of race, class and culture, received over 10 million page views last year.
In 2011, Kimberly was named an IATP Food and Community Fellow, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, with a mandate to increase awareness and engagement around “the first food”—breast milk, in vulnerable communities. She was also selected by the United States Breastfeeding Committee as a lead commentator for the upcoming nationwide “Break Time for Nursing Mothers” federal campaign. Kimberly recently signed a deal with St. Martin’s Press to write a groundbreaking book on the social, political and economic influences on the American breastfeeding culture to be released in 2013.
Kimberly is also the author of The Mocha Manual™ series of books and founder of MochaManual.com, a daily parenting and lifestyle destination and blog for African American moms and moms-to-be.
In March 2012, she launched Black Breastfeeding 360°, a first of its-kind online multi-media content library for media professionals and the black community featuring resources, news, voices and analysis on the black breastfeeding experience. She also previously served as editorial director of the Black Maternal Health Project of Women’s eNews, a project of the Kellogg Foundation.
Kimberly has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Anderson Cooper, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Fox News and featured in various international, national and local media outlets, including The Guardian (U.K.), U.S. News & World Report, Essence, Black Enterprise, Pregnancy and web outlets such as Celebrity Baby Blog and The New York Times.
In addition to her popular blog on MochaManual.com, Kimberly writes about parenting for Babycenter.com, and is a regular commentator for Essence.com and LifetimeMoms.com.
Her first book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy (Amistad/HarperCollins) a hip, funny and informative pregnancy guidebook put her on the map as an African American pregnancy and parenting expert with real-deal insights. The book was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and later turned into The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy DVD, available at Walmart.com.
She has since expanded her popular book series, writing The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit—How to Find & Grow Your Side Hustle in Any Economy (Amistad/HarperCollins) and then The Mocha Manual to Military Life—A Savvy Guide for Wives, Girlfriends and Female Service Members, both released in 2009. She is also a co-author of Giving Notice: Why the Best and Brightest are Leaving the Workplace, published by Josey Bass.
A graduate of New York University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Kimberly is a divorced mother of two, who lives in Queens, New York with her children and two turtles.
KIMBERLY SEALS ALLERS is an award-winning journalist, and leading breastfeeding commentator. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, CNN.com, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Daily News, Real Simple, Fortune, Pregnancy and many others. She has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Anderson Cooper, Fox News and the Huckabee Show and NPR. Kimberly worked at Fortune, Essence, New York Post and The Times (of London), before turning to freelance work. She is the author of The Mocha Manual® series of books and the co-author of Giving Notice: Why the Best and Brightest are Leaving the Workplace.
Q&A With Award-Winning Author and Journalist Kimberly Seals Allers on Her Recent Book, The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding
Catalyzing
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by Kimberly Seals Allers
May 23, 2017 — Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist and founder of www.MochaManual.com, a pregnancy and parenting blog specifically geared toward Black parents. Her new book, The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding, is <
Below are Kimberly’s thoughts about her book and how women’s health and wellness impacts our nation, particularly in the workplace.
1. What inspired you to begin exploring the topic of breastfeeding and ultimately write "The Big Letdown"?
I was mostly inspired by my own struggles. As a first-time mom I really wanted to breastfeed but found it incredibly difficult. I was a first-generation breast-feeder, so <> As a writer I started sharing my story, and I realized so many women were having similar struggles. I thought, “Hmm, something is not right here. Why are so many women having challenges to fulfill their biological norm?” I mean breastfeeding has sustained humankind for millions of years, and now it is becoming an endangered activity. And I wanted to know why. Why in a country where we boast of American exceptionalism, do we literally suck at breastfeeding? If there is some collective failure among women, is it biological or psychological? Or biological because of a psychological trigger? Why has breastfeeding become so politicized and polarizing? There were so many questions about something that women uniquely do and that impacts the health of our nation, so I wanted to know more. The Big Letdown is the result of five years of reporting and research to reveal <
2. Breast milk contains essential nutrients for a growing infant—how did a simple act like feeding our children become so controversial? What are some of the stereotypes and stigmas surrounding women and breastfeeding?
So much shifted for women when companies figured out that there was money to be made by substituting mother’s milk with formula—which began as a necessary product for the relatively few infants whose mothers could not breastfeed. Formula grew into a highly profitable, commercial product to replace breastmilk as often as possible. The profit-driven model of infant formula companies flies in the face of what every medical association says is the optimal nutrition for infants. And what companies do to maintain those profits—from engaging everyone around the mother, including doctors and nurses, to funding the American Academy of Pediatrics—is part of how many of those stigmas survive.
Another powerful stigma is around nursing in public. In this country women’s breasts are used every day as marketing tools, for example to sell chicken wings or beer, but when women use them for their biological purpose in public they are shamed, told to cover up, or asked to leave public places. This is a cultural problem that is mostly unique to the United States. On top of that, we live in the only developed country that does not offer a paid maternity leave, therefore mothers are returning to work two to three weeks after birth. There’s so much pressure on women, it makes lactation really hard.
3. What can examining different cultures’ relationships to breastfeeding tell us?
If we take a historical look at different cultural relationships to breastfeeding, we can see starkly different experiences that have contributed to the disparities we see today. For example, during slavery Black women were forced to stop breastfeeding their own children in order to feed the children of their slave owners. Many historical records show that often the slaves’ own children grew sick or died because the mother had to feed the master’s children. This disrupted breastfeeding experience has often led to a negative association of breastfeeding with something Black women did for other people or were forced to do. Today, there remains a 40-year-old racial disparity in breastfeeding rates between white women and Black women. Either way, we know that social acceptance and cultural acceptance of breastfeeding does not happen in a vacuum—it is shaped by historical events, women’s work patterns, evolving feminist ideals, and even women’s perceptions of their own bodies.
4. In what ways—both obvious and insidious—are big businesses influencing women when it comes to breastfeeding?
There are so many ways. Throughout history, big business has insinuated itself into disrupting breastfeeding. For years, infant formula companies paid big money to hospitals around the world for the rights to design or renovate their newborn facilities. Of course, these designs included centrally located nurseries that placed mothers far away from babies, a practice that disrupts the natural rhythm of breastfeeding. They have courted physicians with direct payments or invitations to fancy “ski and learn” conferences, or funded scientific research to skew outcomes. Much like the tobacco companies, they create “institutes” that sound reputable, and then fund faux science that supports their agenda.
The obvious way is that they peddle fear and doubt. They are willing to concede breastmilk is best, but offer you formula “just in case,” planting a seed of doubt in the minds of mothers. They use physicians as marketing ambassadors and make multi-million dollar, back-door deals with hospitals to buy the right to market their formula to every mom who delivers there. Moms have no say-so and no cut of the deal.
Ultimately, public health and private profit are at odds because the formula industry profits from the failure of breastfeeding. And the failure of breastfeeding among a generation of women is a fatal blow to the health and wellness of future generations.
5. As you did research for your book, what surprised you most?
I think I was most surprised by listening to many of the calls the infant formula company CEOs have with Wall Street analysts where they openly discuss their business strategy. There’s very little talk of improving the nutritional quality of formula but much talk about new marketing angles —tweaking a product to claim it can help with colic, allergies, etc. At the end of the day, these companies are accountable to shareholders and are not champions of infant health. The CEO of Mead Johnson Nutritian (the maker of Enfamil) openly stated that he didn’t see any difference in marketing strategies at a consumer products company, “whether you sell infant formula or you sell beer.” I’d like to think those strategies should be very different.
I was also surprised and saddened by how much women have accepted in this area of our lives—the pumping experience still feels dehumanizing, and we accept that our physicians don’t receive much lactation training in medical school but get “educated” by the infant formula companies. We’ve allowed marketing campaigns to create the so-called “mommy wars” that divide women just to sell us products. We haven’t fought for a feminist movement to include protections for all the roles and identities women choose to play in their lives—including motherhood—which leaves birth and breastfeeding without much feminist support. The fact is, we deserve better.
6. What are "first food deserts," and how do they impact breastfeeding trends across the country?
Just as we have come to understand the concept of “food deserts”—that is, that there are some places where there are no easily accessible fresh fruits and vegetables—we also know there are “first food deserts,” places where mothers struggle to get the support and resources they need to effectively feed their babies the healthiest first food—breastmilk. The same way that we believe everyone should have easily accessible healthy food, infants have the same rights and need the same protections, and that means making sure mothers have hyper-local support in their communities. We know there are places in the country where there is a great environment for supporting breastfeeding and lots of resources to do it well, but in many other places, women report receiving little to no breastfeeding information. These desert-like areas also have some of the highest rates of infant mortality, childhood obesity, and other diet-related diseases, so there is a correlation between decreased breastfeeding and infant and child health outcomes. For the past three years, I’ve been leading a pilot project in Detroit and Philadelphia, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to help create a national accreditation for breastfeeding-supportive communities, to make sure communities create and maintain a standard commitment to their youngest residents. We hope this, and other efforts, will help level the playing field for all mothers across the country.
7. You talk about “shifting the culture”—are there any ways in which you are already seeing this happen? Please tell us how your work is making waves toward shifting the discourse surrounding women, motherhood, and breastfeeding.
One of the things I have been passionately working on is removing the individualistic approach of breastfeeding. I often say, women don’t breastfeed, cultures do. So we have to start talking about cultural shifts. We have allowed breastfeeding to remain an individual issue when it is really a structural issue, a community issue, and a public health issue. Instead, the burden is on the mother, and if she fails she feels tremendous personal guilt, when in fact there is a system designed to set her up for failure before she even begins. We have to start attacking the structural barriers and bad policies that don’t allow women to have true choice in infant feeding, and see those issues as the “enemy” —not battling each other. This is all so much bigger than any one of us.
We are also shifting the discourse by telling the truth. We have to dispel the image of breastfeeding as idyllic and comparable to running through a meadow of daisies. We have to tell women the truth about breastfeeding—that the act may be biologically natural, but the experience is very difficult when you live in a country where women are returning to work too soon, are under economic pressures, don’t have physicians who are knowledgeable about lactation science, or are being shamed and forced out of public places simply for nursing. When we focus on the experience women are having while breastfeeding instead of talking about the act or the benefits of breastmilk, we can transform the experience for all women. That is my dream. And then I will be obsolete in this work and will find a new dream to chase.
8. How has your experience as a journalist contributed to your work in supporting families and infant health?
I think being a journalist is a wonderful foundation for research and intellectual rigor, and I try to always bring that to my work. Many of my book reviews speak to the research and storytelling in The Big Letdown, and this is important because supporting families and infant health must be rooted in facts—especially when covering such an emotional issue and even more so at a time when facts are under attack. Being a journalist also allows me to step outside of the story and honestly discuss how even breastfeeding advocates have had missteps and failed mothers along the way. Many people were surprised by that candor because I am also an advocate, but being able to shine a light on all the traps is what any good journalist would do. Personally, I feel extremely honored and blessed to use the craft that I love in service of a cause that I love. To me, this is my dream life.
9. What is the most important message you hope readers will take away from your book?
Whether you are a formula feeder or a breast feeder, women deserve a level playing field for decision-making that hasn’t been corrupted by commercial interests and upside down social norms. We don’t have that. And as women, we should all be concerned, whether we have children or not.
10. Where can interested readers or mothers go to learn more and get support around breastfeeding? Particularly mothers of color, such as Blacks, Latinas, and Asian Americans?
There are so many great organizations providing on-the-ground breastfeeding support, such as Breastfeeding USA, La Leche League International, and the United States Breastfeeding Committee. Specifically for women of color there are great resources online and on social media, including the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association, Black Breastfeeding Week, Latina Breastfeeding Coalition, and the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum.
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Author
Company Name The Big Letdown--How Medicine, Big Business & Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding (St.Martin's Press)
Dates Employed Jan 2017 – Present
Employment Duration 8 mos
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President and Chief Health Communicator
Company Name SHIFT Health Communication Strategy
Dates Employed Aug 2015 – Present
Employment Duration 2 yrs 1 mo
Location Greater New York City Area
We create high-impact health communication and messaging strategies for non-profits, hospitals, public health organizations and businesses looking to increase programmatic outcomes or launch amazing health and wellness-related campaigns. Our team of innovative thinkers and storytellers specialize in initiatives that targets moms and dads to improve health outcomes or eliminate health disparities. We uniquely understand the parenting experience and the cultural nuances of language. At Shift Strategies, we are rewriting America's health story, one message at a time.
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Freelance Writer and Editor
Company Name Self-Employed
Dates Employed Mar 2006 – Present
Employment Duration 11 yrs 6 mos
Location Greater New York City Area
As a freelance writer my pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Fortune.com and other outlets. I write primarily on the complexities of modern motherhood and parenting-related issues. As a commentator, I have appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, NPR and other international outlets.
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Project Director, First Food Friendly Community Initiative (3FCI)
Company Name W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Dates Employed Jun 2015 – Dec 2016
Employment Duration 1 yr 7 mos
As Director of this Kellogg Foundation-funded pilot project in Detroit and Philadelphia, I managed a team of five consultants to create a model for a national accreditation process for healthier communities. The model, designed to improve infant and maternal health in vulnerable communities, uses a community-partnered approach and an immersive work experience to empower residents to design and implement interventions in their own neighborhood.
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Food & Community Fellow
Company Name Insitute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Dates Employed May 2011 – May 2013
Employment Duration 2 yrs 1 mo
IATP Food and Community Fellows are innovative change makers who advocate for a just, equitable and healthy food system. My work involves including communication and media messaging to increase awareness of the "first food"--breast milk--and ensuring fair and equitable access to breastfeeding support in African American communities so infants can receive their most nutritious food and therefore get the healthiest possible start in life.
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Senior Editor
Company Name Essence Magazine
Dates Employed Nov 2005 – Apr 2007
Employment Duration 1 yr 6 mos
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Writer
Company Name Fortune Magazine
Dates Employed Jul 2002 – Dec 2005
Employment Duration 3 yrs 6 mos
Wrote feature stories covering dynamic companies, investment trends, and power players of the business world, particularly in the banking and Wall Street industries.
Education
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Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism
Degree Name MS
Field Of Study Journalism/Business Journalism
Dates attended or expected graduation 1999 – 2000
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New York University
Degree Name BA
Field Of Study Journalism
Dates attended or expected graduation 1989 – 1993
Allers, Kimberly Seals. The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding
Theresa Muraski
142.1 (Jan. 1, 2017): p117.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Allers, Kimberly Seals.The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding. St. Martin's. Jan. 2017.304p. notes, index. ISBN 9781250026965. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250026972. SOC SCI
Breastfeeding is one of many polarizing issues facing women today. Allers, a recognized breastfeeding advocate, director of the First Food Friendly Community Initiative, and author of the "Mocha Manual" series, presents an in-depth examination of the structural, economic, and cultural barriers to breastfeeding. In the first chapters, Allers reviews the scientific support for breastfeeding and how the corporate world, motivated by profit, has undermined "good science" and created confusion and doubt. She then tackles structural and cultural barriers such as workplace biases, the lack of sufficient maternity leave and physician training, and even the quality of breast pumps. <
Muraski, Theresa
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Muraski, Theresa. "Allers, Kimberly Seals. The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding." Library Journal, 1 Jan. 2017, p. 117. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA476562424&it=r&asid=440c58127025201106cf0bb4a3408e20. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476562424
Allers, Kimberly Seals: THE BIG LETDOWN
(Nov. 15, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Allers, Kimberly Seals THE BIG LETDOWN St. Martin's (Adult Nonfiction) $25.99 2, 1 ISBN: 978-1-250-02696-5
Why breast-feeding is often frowned upon in the United States despite the well-documented health benefits for both mother and child.Even though breast-feeding is recommended by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations, and many other international organizations, the topic of breast-feeding is controversial, especially in the U.S. With abundant research to back her narrative, journalist Allers (The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion into Profit: How to Find and Grow Your Side Hustle in Any Economy, 2009, etc.), who has two children, shows how and why American women have been made to feel ashamed of breast-feeding. "The breastfeeding narrative, both historical and present-day, is a cautionary tale about maternal bodies, good or bad mothers, and how our bodies are measured and assessed," she writes. "Breastfeeding shows us all the ways, as women, that we have been imagined, constructed, created, and controlled by economics, science, the media, and other so-called authoritative sources." Allers chronicles the evolution of infant care from breast-feeding and the use of wet nurses to the introduction of mass-produced infant formulas to the return of breast-feeding activism, with all its inherent problems as women continue to work while still providing the nourishment their children need. The author also examines the role big corporations play in controlling this highly personal act, the problems breast-feeding creates when breasts are so widely representative of a woman's sexuality, and how feminists have actually hindered the recently revived breast-feeding movement. Allers makes the message loud and clear: since breast-feeding provides the most benefits for mother and child, for those who are capable of doing so, it should be the feeding method of choice. Easily digested research and personal stories in support of breast-feeding and its importance to mothers and their children.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Allers, Kimberly Seals: THE BIG LETDOWN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469865828&it=r&asid=27ea273a8312a3df97c7caf03d7aa3e0. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469865828
The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding
263.50 (Dec. 5, 2016): p66.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding
Kimberly Seals Allers. St. Martin's, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-02696-5
Journalist Allers (coauthor of The Mocha Manual to Military Life) thinks the slogan "Breast Is Best" should really be "Breast Is Complicated" as she comes out swinging against simplistic probreastfeeding arguments. Though some background is necessary, too much of Allers's focus is on examples over a decade old, including a controversial advertising campaign from 2002, a controlled trial from 2001, and infant growth charts that were based on formula-fed babies until 2006. The resulting impression is that she doesn't have much new to say about 21st-century trends. Allers does have one <
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding." Publishers Weekly, 5 Dec. 2016, p. 66. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475224917&it=r&asid=d201aa17b66609ebb27b65b41f75bd10. Accessed 10 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475224917