Milk&You Northamptonshire

Michelle

Operations Manager

Michelle, as Operations Manager, plays a key leadership role in the development and delivery of the project ensuring the service is effective, compliant and responsive to the needs of families across Northamptonshire. She leads on service planning and continuous improvement, working closely with NHS and Local Authority commissioners, infant feeding leads and children’s service managers to align delivery with local priorities and standards.

With her professional background as a registered midwife, certified peer supporter, UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Trainer and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Michelle provides expert oversight of service quality. Her responsibilities include monitoring performance against funding requirements, managing stakeholder relationships and contributing to the development of local infant feeding strategies and policies. She also ensures that current research and best practice are embedded into service delivery. In addition, Michelle provides direct support to families where needed, ensuring the service remains grounded in practical, person-centred care.

She is also a mother of four, bringing valuable lived experience to her role and enhancing her understanding of the needs and challenges faced by families accessing the service.

Emma

Team Leader

Emma is the Team Leader for Staff and Volunteers, with responsibility for the effective coordination, development and support of the workforce across the project. She leads on the recruitment, onboarding and induction of both staff and volunteers, ensuring all team members are well-prepared, confident and aligned with the values and standards of the service.

She oversees ongoing training and professional development, identifying learning needs and creating opportunities to build skills, knowledge and confidence. Emma ensures that staff and volunteers are equipped to deliver high-quality, consistent and evidence-based support to families.

A key aspect of her role is providing regular supervision and performance oversight, offering guidance, feedback and support to maintain strong standards of delivery. She also plays an important role in fostering a positive and inclusive team culture, supporting staff and volunteer wellbeing, motivation and retention.

Emma is a mother of four, including experience of breastfeeding twins, bringing valuable lived experience to her role. She first joined the organisation as a volunteer in 2019 before becoming a staff member in 2022. This progression gives her a strong understanding of the volunteer journey, enabling her to effectively support, mentor and develop others within the team.

Bethany

Peer Support Coordinator

Bethany is the Peer Support Coordinator, covering the county. She is responsible for coordinating and supporting the peer support offer, ensuring that families receive timely, appropriate and consistent support from volunteers.

Bethany mentors and oversees volunteers, coordinating their roles across group settings and one-to-one support with families. She ensures volunteers feel confident and well-supported in their roles, while also maintaining a high standard of service delivery. As part of this, she delivers ongoing training to volunteers, keeping them up to date with current guidance and best practice.

She plays a key role in connecting parents to wider services, ensuring they are aware of and able to access additional support such as the specialist infant feeding teams and breast pump loans.

Bethany has been a peer supporter since 2015, bringing extensive experience and a strong understanding of the needs of local families. She is currently studying towards becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, further strengthening her knowledge and expertise. As a mother of two, she also brings valuable lived experience to her role, enabling her to build strong, trusting relationships with the families she supports.

Santana

Data Assistant

Santana plays a vital role in the ongoing development and success of the project, bringing both professional insight and lived experience to her work. She leads on collecting and collating feedback from parents, ensuring that their voices are at the heart of everything we do. This feedback is carefully analysed and used to shape the project, as well as being presented in detailed reports to the management team to inform future planning and improvements.

In addition to her evaluation work, Santana is passionate about celebrating and sharing the impact of the project. She regularly communicates the positive outcomes, stories and achievements with both staff and volunteer teams, helping to build a strong sense of community and shared purpose across the organisation.

Santana is also a mum of five and has breastfed all of her children, giving her a deep, personal understanding of the challenges and experiences faced by the families we support. She originally joined the project as a Peer Support Coordinator, where she worked directly with parents to provide guidance, encouragement and practical support. This hands-on experience continues to shape her approach today, ensuring that her work remains compassionate, relatable and rooted in real-life experience.

Santana is also a trained Baby Wearing (sling) consultant and provides her time to the project to help parents learn how to feed their babies safely in a sling/carrier. 

Izzie

Family Wellbeing Coordinator

Izzie is the Family Wellbeing Coordinator, supporting pregnant women and new parents, including young parents, across the county. Her role focuses on improving wellbeing through providing opportunties for parents to access social connections, perinatal mental health support, smoking cessation, relationship challenges and stress management..She works directly with families, offering guidance, encouragement and informal peer support tailored to individual needs.

Support is delivered in a flexible and accessible way, including café meet-ups, buggy walks, phone calls, text support, attending groups and accessing the donation bank. Izzie also coordinates peer support by linking parents with trained MUM Support volunteers for ongoing one-to-one support and companionship.

Piror to her career with Milk and You, Izzie had been a peer supporter for four years, bringing both experience and a strong understanding of the challenges faced by local families. Her approach is centred on building trusting relationships, reducing isolation and empowering parents to improve their wellbeing.

She is also a mother to two daughters, having been a young mum herself, which adds valuable lived experience to her role and supports her ability to build strong, trusting relationships with families.

Nichole

Admin/Project Support

Nichole provides essential administrative and project support, playing a key role in ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the service. She is often the first point of contact for parents seeking support, offering a welcoming and responsive first interaction that helps families feel comfortable and confident in accessing the service.

She manages the registration and referral process, ensuring that families are triaged appropriately and can access feeding support within 72 hours. This timely response is critical in meeting the needs of parents during the early stages of their feeding journey.

In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Nichole supports the delivery of the project by assisting with group sessions where required, helping to ensure sessions run effectively and that families receive a positive experience. She also contributes to event planning and wider community engagement, supporting outreach and helping to raise awareness of the service.

Nichole is a mother of three and was a peer supporter for five years before joining the staff team. This experience gives her a strong understanding of the needs of families accessing the service and enhances her ability to provide a supportive and empathetic first point of contact