Jill DeLorenzo
Class of 2009
By: Megan Griffin
Jill DeLorenzo moved to the Washington D.C. area after graduation in 2009. She held various positions before having children. Jill is currently the Marketing and Events Coordinator for a local cafe and is an advocate for breastfeeding families. She recently earned a mention as “Mom of the Year” in Washington FAMILY Magazine.
Jill is the founder of PositiveBreastfeeding.com. Jill has worked passionately toward creating a positive culture regarding international breastfeeding.
“The goal of the #PositiveBreastfeeding movement is to create and curate positive stories about breastfeeding, bring awareness to laws and legislation, and ensure that the media coverage of breastfeeding is in sync with health organizations’ advice.”
PositiveBreastfeeding.com is a network for breastfeeding mothers and supporters. The online initiative is an opportunity for people to share their positive breastfeeding stories. Through weekly blog posts, Jill promotes the content of supporting pages and encourages followers to click on positive stories published worldwide that week. The website also encourages the global breastfeeding community to unite and fill the media with positive stories. Jill started this initiative immediately after the Nurse-In at the Today Show, because she wanted to do something about the influx of breastfeeding being portrayed negatively on all media platforms.
“People are clicking on sensationalized, negative articles about breastfeeding online. Television and movies portray breastfeeding as selfish and wrong – or they are not portraying it at all. Many media outlets makes it seem like there is something wrong with breastfeeding even though it’s an important part of motherhood and our international public health.”
Her work for PositiveBreastfeeding.com has earned mentions in Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, Normalize Breastfeeding, The Asian Parent, Latched On Mom, Mama’s Milk No Chaser, and more.
Jill organized the Nurse-In at the Today Show in New York, NY as the precursor to Positive Breastfeeding. Two days prior to the Nurse-In, Kathie Lee and Hoda discussed breastfeeding photos on social media and said that sharing these photos is “too much information.” The comments immediately sparked international outrage and Jill launched a petition to NBC to stop shaming and censoring breastfeeding moms. Jill and other supporters congregated in disagreeance on the TODAY Plaza in response to the statement made.
Her passion for breastfeeding stems from a personal experience. She was harassed for breastfeeding her baby in a Gold’s Gym in Virginia by the franchise’s Vice President and Controller. The Owner of the Gold’s Gym franchise defended the harassment by stating that Virginia did not have a law to support the rights of breastfeeding women. At this point, the Commonwealth of Virginia did not have a law saying that a breastfeeding mother was legally protected to feed her baby wherever she needed to. Jill shared her story through social media and word of mouth and caught the attention of local lawmakers in Virginia.
Jill testified at the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee of the House of Delegates in Richmond, Virginia while breastfeeding her youngest child. In her testimony she stated the following:
“I ask that the Virginia General Assembly challenge this notion that our state is a bastion for people who wish to harass and degrade women for feeding their children. Nobody should interfere with a mother feeding her child – no matter how that child is fed – when that mother is in any location where she is authorized to be. I respectfully ask that you take this opportunity to make the harassment that I faced a relic of the past. Please help millions of moms and babies to come who have chosen to provide the very best for their babies while in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Virginia passed the “Right to Breastfeed” law unanimously!
When I asked about how Periclean may have influenced her response to the harassment, she said:
“When thinking about solutions I incorporated the principles of Periclean. This made my passion more impactful.”
Jill was a part of the Class of 2009. Their Class partnered with Habitat for Humanity-International in Zambia. . Their relationship with Voster Tembo has been sustained since their graduation. His work and their partnership, helped to constitute the Zambian Development Support Foundation. The foundation gives out small business loans to primarily female Habitat homeowners in two villages in Zambia. The work of the Class of 2009 impacted so many lives. Jill continues to impact others with the same tenacity and determination that she had at Elon.
After graduation, Jill continues to be an active member of the Periclean Scholars Program.
“In 2011 I ran the Marine Corps Marathon and raised funds for the Periclean Scholars program.” When I asked why she stays involved, she stated that “the Periclean program really makes an effort to connect the alumni back to the program through the Periclean Foundation.”
Many of the alumni we have spoken to have found value in travelling to the country of focus. Jill said that travel “opens up the eyes to the realities of life in the country you are studying. You learn things that you cannot learn from a textbook when you travel – sights, smells, customs, mannerisms. This helps to understand the true needs of the country.”
Overall, because of her experiences in Periclean, Jill is comfortable with advocating for change.
“If I see something, I am not afraid to speak up. I feel like I can speak up in an articulate way, I have more confidence because of the program!”
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