Meet your Board Certified Lactation Consultants and
Lavender Lactation® Team:
Dawnalea Robinson Kneese, BSN, RN, IBCLC
Dawnalea was born and raised in California and set down roots in Nashville. She is the Founder of Lavender Lactation® and has always had a calling to assist families in meeting their breastfeeding and lactation goals. Dawnalea is a Registered Nurse who holds a Bachelors degree in science. She has worked in many fields of nursing, including emergency medicine, critical care, and pediatrics.
why Lactation?
When my first child was born, I struggled with breastfeeding and this fueled my desire to pursue a career in human lactation. My passion grew and expanded as I began offering support both online and in clinical settings.
becoming an ibclc
The primary focus was to bridge the gap in family-based education around breastfeeding and human lactation. Five years her first breastfeeding journey began, she passed the exam to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, achieving the most rigorous credential for lactation care. Dawnalea is a mother to 3 children, owner of Lavender Lactation established in 2016, and has been Board Certified since 2018. Dawnalea has also assisted in the mentorship of new IBCLC’s and Pathway 3 interns.
Training: Dawnalea has completed the IBCLC Masterclass with advanced training in tethered oral tissues (tongue, lip, and buccal ties) and oral habilitation of the breastfeeding dyad. This includes training on oral motor exercises and pre and post care for release. Dawnalea has also taken advanced training in bottle refusal and the maternal to infant microbiome.
Jessica Neely: IBCLC, Childbirth Educator, AND Birth and Postpartum DOULA
Jess is a Nashville native born and raised here in middle Tennessee. She has been passionate about women’s health for as long as she can remember. For two and half years, she worked at Music City Health Center - a Chiropractic and Functional Medicine office. Here, she enjoyed serving families every season, from pediatric, prenatal, and beyond. She has enjoyed working to keep families healthy and educating them on holistic practices. After having her first child in 2023, her drive for this work flourished, and she is passionate about bridging the gap in breastfeeding education and supporting mothers and families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Jess is a birth and postpartum doula. Jess earned her IBCLC in 2025 after following pathway 3 with Lavender Lactation mentorship.
JOy Johnson, RN, BSN, IBCLC
Joy was born in California and spent most of her formative years in Chicago, later returning to California, where she earned her Bachelor of science in nursing. Joy spent 23 years working in maternal and child health. Joy has extensive experience in the NICU and postpartum/nursery. Joy has also worked as a certified lactation educator (CLE), teaching prenatal and breastfeeding classes. Joy spent 20 years of her career visiting NICU babies after hospital discharge and helping them return to the breast and feed better. This experience motivated her to become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and in 2019 she obtained the board certification. More than half of the twin mothers she has helped since became exclusively breastfeeding “Mother of Multiples.” Joy loves challenges and won't give up if you don't.
Why lactation?
In 1977, after bottle-feeding almost all the babies in the newborn nursery every night, Joy realized very few mothers even tried to breastfeed. We were a bottle-feeding culture. Helping mothers become successful at breastfeeding has been her passion since nursing her three children, even when it was not popular. She learned many things through personal experience, taking many courses, and guiding families to success.
Joy donates her time to local ministry at Long Hollow Church, where she helps expectant parents and single mothers. She has four grandchildren and resides in middle Tennessee.
Jillian Catchings, bsn, RNC-Mnn, IBCLC
Jillian is a native of Jackson, MS. She studied nursing at Mississippi University for Women and obtained her ADN in 2014 and her BSN in 2015. She began her nursing career in 2014 at UMMC in Jackson, MS, where she was one of the first nurses hired for couplet care. There she learned how to care for some of Mississippi’s most critical moms and babies and high-risk antepartum and GYN oncology patients. At UMMC, she was trained by some of Mississippi's most seasoned Lactation consultants with over 30 years of experience. There she discovered her love of breastfeeding and education. She then broadened her horizons through travel nursing, expanding her skill set exponentially. Post travel nursing, Jillian followed her truest heart and began the journey to obtaining her IBCLC credentials and was officially certified in 2018.
Jillian then moved to New Orleans, LA, where she continued to provide high-quality care to moms and babies. There, she obtained her board certification in Maternal Newborn Nursing in 2019. She expanded her nursing knowledge further in 2020 by working in a Psychiatric facility where her primary focus was Trauma and Eating disorders. She was also trained in general psych and detox. This particular experience makes her even more proficient in her care of Postpartum mothers, given the vast nature of emotional rollercoasters that take place after birth and through all stages of breastfeeding.
Jillian has now made Nashville, TN, her new home. She is excited to continue caring for moms and babies and share her 11 years of experience with our community.