Contributors

Editor-in-Chief				Serrin M. Foster
Editor and Media Coordinator				Damian Geminder
Webmaster				Brian Heffley
Website Coordinator				Bethanie Ryan
Contributors				Kathryn Baker, Havens Clark, Madeline Davin, Meagan Devlin, Tatiana Federoff, Hope Gallagher, Emma Hackett, Elise Huntley, Molly Pannell, Kara Sorenson, Amanda Stirone, Lauren Sumners

Experts and Voices

		Cheryl Blake is a mother of four grown children and the grandmother of three girls and a boy. She is a retired high school teacher, an adjunct professor, and a published freelance writer with some experience on a small newspaper covering town council meetings. As a volunteer tutor, she has prepared adults for the high school equivalency test and is currently helping some Burmese refugees meet the challenges of the English language. She holds a master’s in English from the University of Houston and master’s of public administration from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
		Eric Hollenbeck is a graduate of Stockton College with a bachelor’s degree in teacher education. He has worked with Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Trenton and has experience teaching high school students. Eric enjoys acting, the performing arts and classical literature, and volunteering as a writer for Feminists for Life.
		Joyce McCauley-Benner has worked for over 15 years with low-income and vulnerable populations, including sex trafficking and domestic violence victims. As a speaker for Feminists for Life, Joyce shares her story, “Pregnant by Rape? Victory Over Violence.” She also presents “Slaves Among Us: Sex Trafficking in the U.S.” and speaks about poverty issues internationally.
		Kathy Parkes is a registered nurse, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and a Fellow of the International Lactation Consultant Association. She has a master’s degree in nursing education and a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Breastfeeding Perspectives, Kathy’s private practice, focuses on local, national, and international speaking, writing, and online classes and consultations, especially specializing in low milk supply and nipple trauma. Her first book, Perspectives in Lactation: Is Private Practice for Me? was published in 2015 by Hale Publishing. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband of over 40 years and multiple rescue cats and dogs.
		Laura Ricketts is a wife and mother, a birth and bereavement doula, and a student midwife. Certified in psychological first aid and trauma, Laura uses her personal experience as a bereaved mother and her professional experience as a birth and bereavement doula to serve women and families through her nonprofit, FiLumena Birth and Bereavement, including those who are low-income. She is equipped to support women through the full range of birth experiences: happy, uncomplicated, scary, sad, high-risk, and traumatic. Laura offers hope, practical tools to help mothers and families heal from loss or traumatic birth, and concrete ways for others to support and assist those who seek this healing. Laura resides in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her amazing husband and four living children—and just a few cats.
		Ingrid Pfanstiel Skop, M.D. attended Oklahoma State University and the Washington University School of Medicine, and she trained in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She has been caring for women and delivering babies for 25 years in San Antonio. Dr. Skop is married to Brian, a psychiatrist, and has three children: Ian, Eli, and Sophie.
		Danica R. Vassigh holds a bachelor’s in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University and ran her own private investigation practice for nearly a decade. Her most cherished role, however, is mom to her two children, Esabella and Reagan. Esabella was diagnosed with complicated heart and digestive malformations, but she has defied many medical odds and one would never know of her conditions just by looking at her. Danica has given presentations on the patient perspective at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and participated in many congenital heart defects conferences and symposiums. Danica resides in the Houston area and is currently writing a book she hopes will inspire women who receive difficult prenatal diagnoses.
		Vicki Whitelaw is a retired consumer credit executive. She enjoyed a 35-year career in the consumer credit industry with Sears, American Express, and AT&T Credit Corp. Since 2007, she has served on the board of trustees of InCharge Debt Solutions, a not-for-profit organization that provides credit education and counseling, debt management programs, housing, bankruptcy, and student loan counseling to consumers throughout the United States. She earned a bachelor’s in economics from Wheeling Jesuit University.