Our Values
We are inclusive and intersectional.
We believe the best solutions are found when a variety of voices are at the table together. We see how race, class, gender, and other aspects of identity create overlapping and intersecting systems of oppression and privilege. Our work is centered around supporting the breastfeeding relationship between mothers, parents and their babies, specifically among low-income women, women of color, and queer and trans parents. We believe these parents have unique expertise in prioritizing their needs and identifying viable solutions for themselves and their communities. With that in mind, we seek to uplift and center their voices in our design process. Learn more about our Community Innovation Teams →
We design for equity.
Historically and today, brown and black women, women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and queer and trans parents have many more barriers to feeding their infants breast milk. Designing for equity means recognizing these structural disadvantages, and ensuring that our partners and participants have full and equal access to helping their children flourish in the world. To ensure that this event is inclusive of all parents, it is important to work hard to address the barriers that the most vulnerable among us face. As such, we work hard to identify and extend the supports that women and trans parents say they need to engage. To solve for equity, we have to do more, build more, work harder, go farther for the communities that need it most. See how members of our Advisory Board are doing this in their work →
We hack pumps and hack systems.
There is an opportunity to imbue the breastfeeding ecosystem with fresh thinking, creative approaches, and non-traditional solutions. It's not just about better pumps (although that can certainly help!). Mothers and parents need time, support, and love from their communities to give their babies the best possible start in life. We purposely work to legitimize breastfeeding innovation in research, design and policy interventions. We also connect different stakeholders in the system around a common desire to create healthier communities. We believe that parents are imaginative and creative, and we want to adopt that same spirit in our multidisciplinary approach. See our plans for the 2018 Hackathon and Policy Summit →
We are collaborative.
To innovate effectively with the women, parents and communities we seek to serve, it is imperative that we collaborate with a variety of stakeholders. We want to ensure that all stakeholders – including mothers, parents, designers, policy makers, caregivers and companies, among others – contribute to the dialogue around this issue. This may mean working across lines that some may choose not to cross. We do this because we believe that multi-sector collaborations will create lasting solutions for the parents and families at the center of our work. You can read about our values here and our statement on our goals, our partners, and the WHO Code here.
We are authentic.
We strive to be genuine and vulnerable in our work. As mothers and allies who are passionate about maternal well-being, we work to remember our own reasons for doing this work, while increasing our awareness of our own biases and blindspots. Authenticity also requires us to create a safe space to challenge and redirect behaviors or viewpoints that are destructive, rooted in our biases, or counter to our values. We listen deeply and keep an open mind. We find the truths and speak the truths, as intersectional and complicated as they may be, because we believe our work will be more impactful as a result. See more about who we are →