Maureen and Adam have been together for 19 years and married for 13. They were both born and raised in Northeast Ohio. They have 2 daughters, Brennan (8) and Blake (5) and live in Greenville, South Carolina. Maureen is a Certified Nurse Midwife.
She is sharing her journey through infertility, IUI, domestic adoption, embryo adoption, IVF/FET and surrogacy!
Read MoreDr. Feinberg is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and serves as the REI Fellowship Program Director as well as the Medical Director for Northwestern Fertility and Reproductive Medicine. She is the Past-President of the Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and is an Editorial Editor for Fertility and Sterility and the creator and co-host of Fertility and Sterility On-Air podcast. Dr. Feinberg is a fierce advocate for women’s health and reproductive choice and has written opinion pieces have been published in the Washington Post, STATnews, Rewire, The Hill and Time magazine and she sits on the National Medical Committee of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Dr Feinberg is the founder and president of the Chicago Coalition for Family Building, a not for profit that awards grants for fertility treatment and adoption. She is passionate about her Peloton, running, reading fiction, playing Wordle and finding joy.
Read MoreEM•POWER with Moxi is an organization dedicated to empowering choice and fostering understanding for all stakeholders involved in embryo donation.
Maya is a California Licensed Clinical Social Worker and psychotherapist who specializes in supporting individuals and couples struggling to conceive or building their family in alternative ways. Additionally, her background in child welfare allows her to have a keen understanding of not only the needs of patients/parents but also the needs of children born through third party reproduction. Maya is also a documentary filmmaker and co-producer of One More Shot, a feature length film she produced with her husband documenting their tumultuous journey to parenthood.
Gina has been a genetic counselor in the field of reproductive medicine for over 17 years. Her company, Advocate Genetics, provides genetic counseling for fertility patients and those connected to third-party reproduction. She had been working in the field of infertility for 6 years before her own 3-1/2 year fertility journey began. Her story involved multiple surgeries and a heartbreaking miscarriage, but also resulted in the birth of her two amazing children via IVF. After she felt her family was complete, she also had 16 remaining embryos and some big decisions to make. Years later, she has donated her remaining embryos to two families, one of whom now has a beautiful and spunky daughter.
Jennifer is a Nationally Certified Counselor who founded Embryo Donation Support, a web-based community for embryo donors. Through facilitation of pre- and post-donation online support groups to women with frozen embryos, Jennifer has built a solid understanding of the questions, needs, fears, and challenges that patients face when considering embryo donation. Jennifer also advocates for embryo donation and donor support through podcasts, live events, social media outlets, and blog contributions. Jennifer is a proud mother of twins conceived through IVF, and proud donor of one embryo who is now a healthy boy.
These three women created EM•POWER to support the various complex elements of embryo donation and simplify the process for both patients and clinics. They created an education platform and a community platform that includes Moxi Matching, a private space where embryo donors can connect and match.
Read MoreWhere do Israeli intended parents go to for surrogacy? What specific hurdles do they have to overcome? Is surrogacy widely available within Israel? And what is so drastically different between the Israeli approach to genetic parentage -- whether through surrogacy or through reproduction technologies -- and the American one?
Victoria Gelfand (born and raised in Moscow, immigrated to Israel in her teens, educated in Tel Aviv and admitted to the Israeli bar in 2003) was the first attorney to provide legal assistance to Israeli couples and singles with respect to surrogacy procedures abroad back in 2006. In 2007, she achieved first recognition of surrogacy procedures carried out in India by the Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs, creating a process that has since been used for all – well over two thousand – babies born to Israeli intended parents via surrogacy abroad. In 2008 she started her own practice which specializes exclusively on family formation and fertility law, and has won various precedential cases related to foreign surrogacy for Israeli intended parents. Victoria Gelfand, Law Offices is the only law firm outside North America which is a member of all three major US-based professional groups and societies in the field: the ABA, the AAAA, and SEEDS.
Read MoreA year after getting married, Roxy Jenkins and her husband decided to grow their family. Little did they know, the next five years would be a bumpy, winding path navigating infertility. It took seven medicated cycles, two IUIs, three retrievals and fresh transfers, and one twin miscarriage until their little Coco finally made her way into the world.
The quest for a sibling has proven to be as difficult. For the past two and a half years, they have endured two retrievals, three miscarriages, one ectopic pregnancy, uterine testing, both tubes being removed, a Lupron Depot flare, and three back-to-back cycles being cancelled. Add to that a exploratory laparotomy with a resulting endo diagnosis. They have one tested embryo left on ice and that’s where their story pauses for now.
Inspired by her own family’s story and her love of art, Roxy decided to give color to a dark and painful journey. Each painting she does makes her feel less alone while navigating infertility. Every story shared of how each embryo came into existence is as unique as the embryo itself. All paths to parenthood are valid and worthy of sharing. Roxy feels honored that so many have entrusted the sweetest, most special part of their journey to her.
Read MoreAden is founder of the Plan A podcast. Plan A follows Aden’s journey into becoming an independent parent. She talks with experts about everything from choosing a donor and navigating insurance to whether you really need to take prenatal vitamins and the difference between IUI and IVF. Along the way Aden shares her actual experience from asking questions and preparing to, hopefully, pregnancy and beyond. She explores how choosing independent parenthood can be your Plan A.
Read MoreMaryJane is a business professor and creator of The Biggest Ask, an educational website and blog dedicated to surrogacy.
Read MoreDr. Julie Bindeman graduated from the George Washington University and is the co-owner of Integrative Therapy of Greater Washington in Rockville, Maryland. Her specialty is in the field of Reproductive Psychology, where she actively writes, lectures, and presents. She is a consultant in training in EMDR through EMDRIA. She has served on several committees within the Mental Health Professional Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and was recently elected to its Executive Committee. She served as a Board Member of the Maryland Psychological Association for over 10 years. Dr. Bindeman is a member of multiple organizations focused on Maternal and Reproductive Mental Health and was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to serve on its Maternal Mental Health Task Force. She was recently awarded the Karl Heiser Award for her legislative efforts on behalf of psychology. Dr. Bindeman has published several chapters and articles pertaining to Reproductive Psychology.
Read MoreDr. Carol Lynn Curchoe, TS (ABB) is a reproductive physiologist. Her PhD research focused on animal cloning and her postdoctoral fellowship focused on human embryonic stem cell research. Her previous startup experience includes being the founder and CEO of 32ATPs, where she applied her knowledge of biochemistry and biotechnology to the field of renewable energy, creating a patented biological supercapacitor. She is the founder of ART Compass, www.artcompass.io, a software platform for IVF lab management and staff related quality assurance. She is the author of numerous publications and The Thin Pink Line (Nova Science publishers, 2021), a critical exploration of historical perspectives and controversial topics in modern gynecology from birth control to sterilization, to episiotomies and the “husband stitch,” to “educational” pelvic exams, shackling laboring convicts, gender affirming surgery, human embryo research, assisted reproduction and more.
Read MoreTrystan Reese is a transgender parent and educator based out of Portland, Oregon. He is the author of How We Do Family: From Adoption to Trans Pregnancy, What We Learned about Love and LGBTQ Parenthood, as well as co-author of the children’s book, The Light Of You.
Read MoreSteven J. Miller obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology at Northern Michigan University and is currently in the part-time MSW program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s been in social work since 2009, working with youth and families. Steven is an advocate for more discussion among social workers and other helping professionals about the impact of infertility on one’s mental health. Steven and his wife struggled with infertility for seven years before being successful using IVF, resulting in now three-year-old twin boys. After his MSW, Steven plans to work in Reproductive Mental Health and continue advocacy for discussion about this topic in the classroom to help better prepare students and clinicians to support those coming to them for support.
Read MoreKathleen (“Casey”) Copps DiPaola, Esq. is a partner of Copps DiPaola Silverman, PLLC in Albany, New York where she focuses her practice on Adoption, Assisted Reproduction and Estate Planning & Probate. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, the President of New York Attorneys for Adoption & Family Formation and also an active member of various bar associations. She has worked tirelessly over the last several years to help draft the New York Child Parent Security Act and advocate for its enactment by the legislature. She is also a frequent lecturer to attorneys, judges, fertility clinics and other organizations on the topics of adoption, assisted reproduction/surrogacy and the intersection of estate planning and family formation. Ms. DiPaola is also the founder of the New York Surrogacy Center, a licensed surrogacy matching program that operates primarily in New York, Vermont and New Jersey. She is licensed to practice in state courts in New York, New Jersey and Vermont as well as various federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Ms. DiPaola is also an active volunteer in her community in both a legal and non-legal capacity. She previously graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with highest honors and as the salutatorian from Albany Law School in 2009. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children.
Joseph R. Williams practices primarily in the fields of matrimonial, family, and adoption law. Joe represents individuals in the negotiation and litigation of separation, divorce, child custody, support and domestic violence matters, as well as all areas of adoption law, including private adoptions, voluntary agency adoptions, foster care adoptions and step/second parent adoptions. Joe also practices in the related area of assisted reproductive technology law (egg/sperm/embryo donation and surrogacy/gestational carrier agreements) and kinship guardianship (kinGAP).
Read MorePaige is a cancer survivor turned cancer advocate and mother to an energetic two-year-old son. Married in 2012, she never anticipated having to overcome a variety of obstacles to have a family. When unexplained infertility forced her to undergo multiple rounds of IVF, she never wavered. When leukemia unexpectedly struck three weeks before an embryo transfer, she kept her eye on recovering so she could one day pursue parenthood. And when the cancer treatments eliminated her ability to carry a child, she matched with a selfless surrogate to carry the embryo she dreamed about for years.
Today, Paige dedicates her life to helping other young adult cancer patients fight their diagnoses, knowing that a caring support system and documented bucket list are as strong as any medicine. In her spare time, she and her family alternate completing her personal bucket list created in the hospital with typical two-year-old activities like digging in dirt and memorizing construction vehicles. She lives in Denver with her husband, Jeff, and son, Bradley, whom she named after the bone marrow donor that gave her a second chance at life, and given the opportunity, she would love to grow their family by one more through another surrogacy journey.
Read MoreJessica McGaugh is an award-winning independent film director, cinematographer and editor working out of Denver, Colorado. Her work has been screened internationally including the Mumbai International Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, NDTV and Rocky Mountain PBS. Her feature films Red Pearl and Three Worlds, One Stage are distributed internationally on VOD and SVOD platforms. Jessica received an MFA in Film from Syracuse University and is currently teaching in the Film & Television Department at the University of Colorado Denver.
Roma Sur is a screenwriter and a documentary filmmaker, based in Denver, Colorado. After having lost her father at the age of four, she and her sister were raised by their mother in one of the most unsafe cities of India. Not surprisingly, her characters are usually fierce, independent women, or young adult, who know how to give adversity a tight backhand. She writes young adult and female driven dramas with levity, that are a cross-pollination of her immigrant experience of living in the US for twenty years, and her childhood in India. Her recent feature screenplay, “The Rock Within”, has got acknowledged by the Sundance Asian American lab, Stowe Story Labs, India’s leading pitch market, Film Bazaar, and Screencraft’s Funding contest. Sur has also served as an Executive Producer on two award-winning web series. She has been teaching fiction and non-fiction writing at the University of Colorado since 2009.
The Rock Within is crafted by an Asian-American female Screenwriter, who battled infertility for over four years and a Director who had three miscarriages. The story is told through the voice of the female lead, Trisha Sen. It is anchored in the cross-cultural friendship that she creates with the second lead, Jennie Gaw. This forms the emotional core of the movie, which is a fresh take on the subject of infertility. The narrative is punctuated with humor and adventure without making light of the subject. The diverse nature of this project opens it up to a much broader international audience. The story ends on an uplifting note, proving a strong cathartic arc.
Read MoreAfter completing her MBA, Eloise Drane founded Family Inceptions, a full-service surrogacy and egg donation agency. Eloise also hosts Fertility Café, an educational podcast on modern family building, and is the creator of digital courses on independent surrogacy, Surrogacy Roadmap.
Eloise knows that compassion and grace are necessary ingredients for the delicate journey that egg donation and gestational surrogacy can be for all parties. She understands the importance of empowerment and encouragement within the family creation process.
Eloise’s passion and unparalleled empathy blossomed from her own experience as an egg donor six times and a gestational surrogate three times.
When she isn’t guiding others in making family legacies, Eloise can be found fostering the relationships in her own family, reading, traveling, and spending quality time with her husband and children.
Read MoreAubrey Gojcaj is a wife, mom, and Michigander, as well as a passionate advocate for eliminating family building obstacles. Medical complications from the birth of her first child ended Aubrey’s ability to be pregnant again. She was thrilled when her sister generously offered to be her surrogate. But the journey to having another child has been made especially difficult by Michigan’s anti-surrogacy laws.
Read MoreBrett and his husband live in England and are proud parents of three children: one through genetic (traditional) surrogacy, one through adoption, and one through gestational surrogacy. Brett regularly appears in the media advocating for and promoting surrogacy and adoption paths to parenthood. Brett is passionate about challenging inaccurate perceptions of surrogacy and adoption and supporting people in understanding and navigating these paths.
Read MoreJaimie Kelton and Robin Hopkins meet up each year at the Pride Family Picnic with their wives and kids in tow. That’s when then-pregnant Jaimie pitched Robin the idea to make a podcast about LGBTQ families. One baby and countless beautiful stories later, the popular and award-winning podcast If These Ovaries Could Talk was born. While shining a spotlight on all the different ways nontraditional families get made, Jaimie and Robin share their personal fertility journeys and their parenting adventures. Robin and Jaime are also the co-authors of the book "If These Ovaries Could Talk: The Things We've Learned about Making an LGBTQ Family." If ever there were two people you’d want to hang out with, it’s Jaimie and Robin. You just can’t help but love them.
Read MoreEntrepreneurship has always been Tess Kossow’s dream profession. And after having her miracle baby boy, Ferris, she realized this was a now-or-never moment to jump in and become an author with a product the world needs. Ferris was her last embryo and the answered prayer of faith, love, and science through IVF. Reading holds a very special place in Tess’s heart, and this next stage of her career has her creating something she is so very passionate about in the lives of children through her picture books: in vitro fertilization.
In November 2019, Tess was a finisher in the New York City Marathon. In October 2020, she survived sudden cardiac arrest and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Still through it all, she loved to host parties and celebrate life, no matter the occasion! She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from Elmhurst College, which is also where she met her best friend and husband, Dan. She has a Havanese named Gatsby and a Siamese cat named James Bond. (Both of which are Ferris’ partners in crime).
Tess is a mother, first and foremost, and everything else comes second. She believes you really can have and achieve anything you want…but you are going to have to work for it and expect nothing to be handed to you. Her husband often calls her his real-life Steve Jobs, because of how she lives her life and leads by example for her son to believe in the following: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Ferris is her inspiration, and her husband, Dan, is the motivation that keeps her running the extra mile in all she does.
Read MoreMelanie Mikkelsen has over 20 years working in the field of fertility counseling, with a special interest in third party reproduction, donor embryo programs, and donor screening. She is Secretary of the Mental Health Professional group of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and has served on the MHPG Tele- Mental Health Task Force, MHPG Coding Task Force, and Gamete and Embryo Donation Guidelines Task Force. She is the past chair of the ASRM Mental Health Mentoring Committee and past member of ASRM Scientific Advisory Board. She is a consultant for Empower Donation, speaker for Fertility IQ, and member of the Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS). She has given numerous presentations and appeared on podcasts surrounding gamete donation, anonymity, and embryo donation. Melanie is a mental health counselor and donor liaison with Seattle Reproductive Medicine, and creator of Hold Hope, LLC, a fertility counseling and advocacy practice.
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