Krystal Duhaney, an African American entrepreneur and mother from San Bernadino County, California, is the founder and owner of Milky Mama, a popular lactation brand. After struggling to breastfeed her son, she was inspired to launch the brand in order to provide other mothers with nutritious food and drink products that would aid them in breastfeeding.
“I sought help from my healthcare provider and was told to ‘just give him formula,'” Duhaney told Ebony. “I was determined to breastfeed, so I educated myself and was able to breastfeed my son for two years.”
When Duhaney had her second child, she used her nursing skills as well as her love of baking to create a lactation-boosting cookie recipe. It was a success because it significantly increased her milk supply. Having struggled with breastfeeding herself, she felt compelled to share her discovery with other mothers in the same situation.
She launched Milky Mama in 2015, offering a variety of products to help breastfeeding mothers increase milk production, including cookies, brownies, drink mixes, and other herbal supplements. Aside from that, Duhaney’s company offers assistance through online breastfeeding courses, lactation consultations, Facebook support groups, and live Q&As.
Throughout her journey, Duhaney has also become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant which was important for her since Black women lack representation in the field. For this reason, Duhaney also created the Milky Mama Scholarship Fund which aims to increase diversity in the lactation field by encouraging more Black women to become certified lactation consultants.
“Due to this lack of representation, it’s more difficult for Black breastfeeding mothers to get assistance from someone that understands the unique struggles that Black breastfeeding mothers may face. By increasing the representation in the lactation field, I hope that will also contribute to greater breastfeeding rates within the Black community and better outcomes for Black maternal health,” she said.