Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Summer Friedmann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Summer, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I’m going to tell the story of how I got my first paying job in my field. I worked first in the field as an Accredited La Leche League Leader (LLL) for 5 years which is an international organization and made up of all volunteers. This work was in the community after discharge, quite different than the clinical setting a office or hospital offers where you are working with inpatient families. I was incredibly honored to be doing this work, knowing it was my calling and never ever felt like a job or work. I was also very aware that 5 years of Leadership with LLL would gain me the clinical hours necessary to quality to sit for the international board exam to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC).

After my first son’s birth and having a poor experience with an IBCLC, I knew some day I wanted to be one of the ones giving GREAT care in a hospital and be a part of the solution to women’s postpartum health care. I went on to have an amazing breastfeeding experience with my oldest son despite my poor IBCLC care, and purely bc of the book, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, by La Leche League International, my mother’s guidance, and the community I found in a support group.

In this moment back in 2002, I wasn’t sure if becoming an IBCLC would become a reality or not, but the only thing I was certain about was that I had to move towards that goal. Fast forward to 2009 and I was super close to having obtained all of my clinical lactation hours and my LLL colleague, Jenny Walters, was working in one of the best teaching hospitals in Kansas City and looking to find talent. Yes, I said talent! Plenty of people can obtain a credential and do the job. But that was not my aspiration and she knew this. I wanted to be great. Why? Women deserved it and I wanted to help be the one to give them everything they deserve with great postpartum lactation care.

Extremely nervously, I applied for the job as a Infant Nutrition Educator, an inclusive title the hospital prided themselves on, for the job an IBCLC would be performing. A key point I need make is that I am not an RN, nor is Jenny, and many of my other LLL colleague who also went on to become IBCLCs. Many think it is necessary to be an RN, but this is not the case. At the time in Kansas City, being a non-RN IBCLC working in a hospital was almost unheard of. Now in 2022, many of “us” non-RN IBCLCs have taken over as the majority and the one with the most experience and senior leadership.

I was hired as an Infant Nutrition Educator with my only credential being an LLL Leader at the time. They knew I was IBCLC bound, and had my date set for my board exam and the hiring was dependent on the assumption I would, in fact, pass my boards and have the credential of IBCLC. Shortly after my hiring in 2010 I passed my boards with flying colors and was over the moon.

Here I was, an IBCLC and LLL Leader, a non-RN and working in the clinical setting as I had aspired to be a mere 8 years before. And of course 2 more children at this point, and having an extensive amount of personal experience breastfeeding and pumping between all three boys of mine.

Jenny was and remains pivotal to my formally stepping into my career. Unlike me, her background was in science, micro-biology to be specific…leads well into lactation and all the cellular workings of milk making. She helped bridged the gap from community lactation care to clinical lactation care for me. I was extremely green in working with premature babies and families, micro-preemies, sick babies, sick moms and at risk dyads. I was very experienced with working with healthy thriving dyads and lactation from the first week into the toddler and preschool days. The grace, hand holding and mentorship she provided me was pivotal for me. She will always remain a person in my world that I admire, look up to and hold the highest regard. She helped awaken the clinical side of me, which at the time was my weakness. She remains in the clinical setting and a deare friend and colleague that I couldn’t do this work without.

I spent 10 years in the clinical hospital setting between the two top teaching hospitals in Kansas City. I loved my time gaining experience working with the at-risk population. To this day, I miss working with my NICU families that I spent months building relationships and still remain in touch. Seeing these families graduate from the NICU, seeing how far they’ve come through obstacles that most can’t imagine how difficult, that kind of relationship is second to none.

After 10 years I felt another pull. I needed something new. So in 2019 I took a leap and left the hospital setting and decided to work full-time private practice. This meant I would see families in their homes, and work with families outside of my direct area using tele-medicine. I couldn’t be happier. I have clients that represent 34 states in the U.S, 9 countries and span 4 continents. Being able to broaden my reach to families outside of my direct area is very rewarding!

I am beyond grateful for how my story played out, for Jenny, for La Leche League and that feeling in my gut that I have always listened to, no matter how scary or outside of the comfortable box our minds tend to create.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Well, HEY! I’m Summer and parents and babies are my everything and the fuel that keep me going! I certainly didn’t grow up thinking I would be a Lactation Consultant. I grew up as a singer and actress and wanted eventually to be teacher. It was my son’s birth and breastfeeding experience with him that awakened something I knew I couldn’t ignore. I knew I needed to be in women’s health and more specifically postpartum care.

I travel to parents homes and virtually using tele and zoom and help them with any aspect of their lactation journey from the prenatal nerves, to the first week postpartum, to introducing solids, pumping for returning to work, toddler breastfeeding and weaning.

I am unlike many IBCLCs that is best said by a client of mine, “Once you are Summer’s, you will always be hers. She will never leave you.” Outside of our consult, you are on my mind. And you will keep hearing from me and I expect my families to text me and ask questions and that never expires. My clients know that after the call ends, or I leave your house, I don’t really leave. If they text me at night, weekend or anytime, I will answer. Many questions are tough for the families but quite quickly answered for me and that continuity of care is a huge part of success for these families.

I offer free in-person monthly support groups where anyone is welcome, even older siblings, support persons and someone expecting. I joke, but am serious, that frazzled is expected, jammies welcome and tears and laughter will always happen. I also host a FaceBook Support Group that I am quite proud and protective of, called Done Naturally Support Group. This group is invitation only to keep everyone vetted by someone inside the group. I only allow loving support, evidenced based information shared, and is a judgment free and safe zone. I work hard to keep it this way along with my amazing, choice fully elected 11 moderators to mamang this 6k+ worldwide member group.

And one of my favorite things I do for more community outreach is my YouTube channel, Done Naturally. I created this around 2018, with the simple idea that families needed a qualified IBCLC to provided information 24/7 that they can quickly digest while up in the middle of the night. Each of my videos is short and bite-sized and quick to the point for the very tired new families who don’t have time to read a book or watch a 1-2 hour video. To date, I have over 175 videos all surrounding lactation, parenting, birth, postpartum, and raising babies.

My goals are to help families where they are, without any pre-conceived notions of my own and certainly no agenda other than yours. I listen to you and find out what you need, want and also what you don’t want and isn’t within your personality or wiring and together we craft a special plan that will bring you the feeling of success that is different than anyone else’s.

I’m just a normal gal, mom, wife and have 4 sons who are young adults now, ranging from 14-23. I have three boys I gave birth to and one step-son who are each their own personality and the best of brothers in all the perfect rivalry, love, and spitfire ways brothers are. I live in Kansas City with my husband and the boys always coming and going with their own socials lives and two dogs, a cat and a guinea pig.

I’ve had many clients say, “Summer will feel like an old best friend within moments of her walking into your home or talking on the phone/video with her.”. I pride myself in being able to hear you, listen and give you all the time you need and much more beyond our actual visit. I truly do care about you and your feeling confident makes me feel good and keeps me going.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Referrals, referrals, referrals. Having been a childbirth educator for 14 years (2004-2018), I was well known in the birth world with doulas, midwives, physicians, parents, masseuse, chiropractors, bodyworkers, and other natural healthcare professionals. This assisted my name recognition as I transitioned into the lactation world. Then while working my 10 years in the hospital world, I gained priceless relationships with Pediatricians, Obstetricians, Midwives and RNs that have continued to refer their patients to me. My work as an LLL Leader also gave me a step up as these LLL Leaders came across families that needed more care than their scope of practice would allow and they could send them my way. And then of course, as you work with a family, they mention my name to their friends, family and colleagues and the domino effect of referral business is born.

So for me, this was a very organic transition and I was very blessed with being known in the birth world prior to my IBCLC work and then again as I transitioned away from the hospital and into the private practice world.

I am every so grateful to my friendly colleagues and families and the families they send to me.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I am going to speak to my Done Naturally Team (DN Team) which includes my very carefully selected moderators of my FaceBook Group. These 11 women are incredibly valuable to me and my DN (Done Naturally) community. These women are all volunteer and do this because they are passionate, like me, about getting the correct information out there, dispelling myths surrounding lactation and providing support to help families reach their goals. Each of these women have something special to offer from their own personal experience, to their disposition, attitude, spitfire, credentials and the way they have with their words to basically be a HUG that reaches out from the screen.

We have a constant running thread of just us where we discuss threads and posts that have come up and need a consensus on how to handle tough topics with grace, and also lots of laughs and mentorship. I have 2 IBCLCs in my DN Team, RNs, all are mothers, some working out of the home, some staying home full-time, some part-time, and many of them who aspire to become an IBCLC one day. This work they are doing is definitely similar to work as an LLL Leader by providing support, education and information and resources for families. And I will help each of these amazing women in their path to IBCLC in any way I can, and each know this.

I hosted our first DN Team Weekend Retreat in January 2022. We had mental health aspects, speakers and activities, food, laughs, tears and tail about personal life as well as how we can better ourselves or better our DN Family, as we call our community of 6k+ members.

I have the utmost respect for these women and everything they contribute to my DN Family and the love and passion they bring to the family.

Without these 11 women, there is no way I could maintain the close eye my FaceBook Group requires to stay high quality and unlike any other FaceBook Group out there. For that I couldn’t be more proud that they are a part of my world and that we’ve built something very special and will do everything to keep that going strong.

In fact if you were to ask them if they are team members or sisters, I bet they’d said we are all sisters.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.donenaturally.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donenaturally
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donenaturally
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/summer-jade-friedmann-ibclc-0a77412a
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/DoneNaturally