Board of Directors
President
Rebecca Jimenez
Hi, my name is Becca. I’m a mama to a beautiful baby girl. I became a certified breastfeeding counselor during my own breastfeeding journey. Like many first time moms, I faced my own struggles and had to learn to navigate through new experiences. As a CBC, my main goal is to provide individualized guidance and education for mothers during their own breastfeeding journeys. It’s a very common misconception that breastfeeding is simply physical, rather than a spiritual, emotional, and mental experience. I hope to bring every mother the confidence to trust their own intuition in raising their families.
Vice-President
Maria Palapa
Maria is a recent graduate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. She is a Community Health Worker, CPR Basic Life Support Instructor, and serves as the board secretary for the Flavors for Life non-profit organization. She is currently a graduate assistant for the School of Public Health supporting a project involving household food insecurity and breastfeeding amongst mothers and infants. In this systematic review, she reviewed the literature for inclusion and exclusion data, extracted data from included studies, and assisted with the manuscript. She will also be supporting the EARN-FS project assisting with data collection.
Maria's passion is to educate, inform, and empower our communities to have opportunities for a healthier, better life. Her interests are to work with initiatives targeting childhood obesity, breastfeeding, and chronic disease.
Treasurer
Cristina Hernandez, MPH
Cristina Hernandez (ella/she/her), was born and raised in Las Vegas and her people come from Mexico and Cuba. She graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2005, graduate certificate in Women's Studies in 2012, and in 2020 received her Master’s degree in Public Health. She has been a doula since 2017, certified as a full spectrum doula via Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (BADT) and recently received her certification in Full Spectrum Lactation Education from BADT 2025. Currently, she is a Project Manager for EARN-FS (Early Responsive Nurturing Care for Food Security) at the UNLV School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Health. This project is researching maternal and child health & nutrition within the West Las Vegas Promise Neighborhood.
She is active in her community by being on the board for Heart and Sol Collective and the Treasurer for the Nevada Breastfeeding Coalition.
Secretary
Rojina Shrestha, MBBS, CBS
Rojina is a medical graduate from Nepal with clinical experience in neonatal intensive care and a strong interest in supporting families through breastfeeding education and maternal wellness. As a member of the Nevada Breastfeeding Coalition, she is grateful to be part of a community working to promote breastfeeding support and equity. Rojina is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a focus on Healthcare Administration and Policy. She is also a Nevada Lactation Hub Scholarship recipient and has completed the CBS lactation education course. She is currently completing clinical hours toward becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.
With her background in medicine and public health, Rojina hopes to contribute to improving health outcomes and strengthening support for families in the community.
