Become a Member
The Houston Area Lactation Consultant and Educator Association (HALCEA) offers several types of membership.
If you are an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), you can join us as a Lactation Professional IBCLC Member. The highest tier (Gold level) allows you to put a listing on our website, as long as your membership is valid and you remain an IBCLC in good standing.
Not an IBCLC? HALCEA still has a place for you. If you are aspiring to become an IBCLC, please join as a Student/Intern. If you support breastfeeding families in some other professional or a volunteer capacity, please join us as a Supporting Professional (non-IBCLC) member.
Student/Intern: $25/year
Supporting Professional (Non-IBCLC): $30/year
Retired IBCLC (no directory listing): $25/year
Lactation Professional Silver membership (IBCLC without directory listing): $30/year
Lactation Professional Gold membership (IBCLC WITH directory listing): $60/year
All HALCEA members receive discounts on HALCEA events and may post their group classes, support groups, and clinics on our website and receive CEs for attending HALCEA educational events. Gold Level IBCLC members may also list contact information for their one-on-one home and office consults or telehealth/virtual consults. Only IBCLC members may hold board positions or chair committees, but our affiliates are welcome on all our committees.
Volunteer with HALCEA
Join a Committee
Committees are formed based on interest and need and approved by the officers of the Executive Board. Committee Chairs and Members are voluntary positions. A committee chair or committee member must also be a member of the Houston Area Lactation Consultant and Educator Association (HALCEA).
Become a Coordinator
Coordinators are appointed by the officers of the Executive Board to fulfill specific long-term tasks that require a substantial time commitment.
Please contact the Executive Board if you have ideas about creating additional coordinator positions and/or creating a revenue source to sustain such positions.
HALCEA Board
The officers of the Executive Board of the Houston Area Lactation Consultant and Educator Association voluntarily serve a two-year commitment. An officer must be a member of the Houston Area Lactation Consultant and Educator Association (HALCEA) and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). HALCEA members can vote for candidates for the positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer at the Annual General Meetings.
Suzanne Juel IBCLC
President
Suzanne Juel is an IBCLC working in private practice. She has been helping families with breastfeeding since 2003. She founded the group practice Bayou City Breastfeeding, which provides comprehensive lactation support to the greater Houston Area. Suzanne became president of HALCEA in 2019. Her vision for the Houston Area Lactation Consultant and Educators Association is to expand the membership to include the full range of professionals that support breastfeeding families, provide networking and continuing educational opportunities for these professionals, promote breastfeeding to families, and ensure that all breastfeeding families are aware of the full completement of support resources available to them in the greater Houston area.
Marlene Wark RN IBCLC
Vice President
Marlene Wark is a native Houstonian, married to her husband Pat for 31 years and mother of two exclusively breastfed children. She is a Registered Nurse and IBCLC first certified in 1993. She has worked for most of her career in hospitals with newborns helping mothers and babies start their breastfeeding journeys on solid ground. She also spent 4 years working with a variety of mother and baby breastfeeding issues at the Lactation Foundation. She is a past president and past Vice President of HALCEA, and is happy to share her experience to keep the organization moving forward.
Megan Smith RN IBCLC
Recording Secretary and Acting Treasurer
Nicole Kerbow RN IBCLC
Co-Corresponding Secretary
Nicole Kerbow has always had a passion for caring for others. She has dedicated that last 12 years of her career working with new parents both inside the hospital and in her community. Her education includes both a degree in Psychology from Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Arlington. She dedicated to growing our community of HALCEA members. She currently lives in Houston with her husband and two daughters.
Maureen Rooney MS, APRN, IBCLC, RNC-OB
Past HALCEA President
I have been helping families achieve their breastfeeding goals for over 35 years, and I have loved every minute! I was very fortunate to be mentored and to be a part of one of the first Baby Friendly Hospitals in the USA, this instilled my love for breastfeeding.
Presently, I am the past President (President from 2012-19) of the Houston Area Lactation Consultants and Educators Association (HALCEA) and am currently on the Board of Directors. I authored many policies and procedures in the field of lactation, and I have been published in journal articles - ("Successful Breastfeeding in a Motivated One-Arm Amputee " published in the February/March 2016 edition of the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice).
Leah Jolly IBCLC
Co-Corresponding Secretary
Leah has been supporting breastfeeding families for over 15 years. She is the owner of BABE (Bay Area Breastfeeding and Education) a group practice serving the greater Houston area and runs a lactation clinic through a pediatric office in Pearland. She has launched corporate lactation programs in several large corporations in the Houston area. Leah is dedicated to advocating for the role of IBCLCs in our community. She is the mother of 4 boys ages 19-10.
Elena Nicolaou RN IBCLC
Sergeant at Arms
Become an IBCLC
Education + Mentorship = Certification
If you’re interested in becoming an IBCLC, then contact us to find a HALCEA IBCLC who is able to take on students for mentorship. Learn more about the requirements to become an IBCLC here.