Importance of Cultural & Community Strengths & Practices
Objectives
Topics include workforce representation, culturally healing practices, culturally-centered programs/services/resources, family roles, gender roles, and engagement.
Speaker Bio
Ruta Lauleva Lua’iufi Aiono, IBCLC
Director & Co-founder of M.A.N.A. Pasefika, Traditional Birth Attendant, Lactation Consultant, Childbirth Educator, Full-Spectrum Doula
Maile Chand
Program Manager of Teine Toa Girls’ Group, Co-founder of M.A.N.A. Pasefika, Full-Spectrum Doula, Lactation Educator
Tonya Lang, MPH, CHES, IBCLC
Co-founder of AANHPI Lactation Collaborative
Tonya Lang is a co-founder of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Lactation Collaborative. She received her MPH in Health Promotion/Disease Prevention from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and a Certified Health Education Specialist. As a result of her work in uplifting AANHPI communities, she has received several awards, including the 2023 United States Lactation Consultant Association’s (USLCA) Terry Jo Curtis Award, and the 2022 United States Breastfeeding Committee’s (USBC) Cultural Changemaker Award. Tonya partners with breastfeeding, chestfeeding, and human milk feeding families as a private practice lactation consultant, and has supported families as a La Leche League Leader in Oakland, California, for two decades. She is a passionate advocate for systemic change at the national, state, and local levels so that AANHPI communities are seen, heard, represented, understood, and included.
Jeannie E. Celestial, Ph.D., M.S.W. (Moderator)
Licensed Psychologist, Trauma, Grief, & Loss Counselor of RAMS Wellness Programs
Jeannie E. Celestial, Ph.D., M.S.W. is a licensed psychologist and the Trauma, Grief, & Loss Counselor for RAMS Wellness Programs in the SF public high schools. She specializes in trauma recovery and posttraumatic growth with Filipina, Asian, and Pacific Islander women. She is a co-editor/co-author of “Clinical Interventions for Internalized Oppression”. She has a forthcoming children’s book “Tata Efren’s Forever Laughter” with Eileen Tabios & Mel Vera Cruz (May 2026). Connect at drcelestial.com.
Continuing Education: RAMS is approved by the California Psychological Association (CPA) to provide continuing professional education hours for psychologists. For this event, RAMS is offering 3 hours of continuing education for psychologists, LMFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs. RAMS maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. In order to receive CE credit, participants must attend the entire training. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credit. Sign in and out will be required.
