aboutus
'Human Milk, Tailor-Made for Tiny Humans' advert launch event, Jan 2017, Bristol Science Museum. The moment our website went live.
Most of us who have contributed time and skills have done so on a voluntary basis because we are passionate about supporting families and contributing to a sustainable environment for parents and planet.
Where cash has been paid, it came out of family savings, and more recently, and excitingly, from income from our clothing and accessories brand.
Human Milk was founded in 2014 by artist and producer Claire Tchaikowski, in Bristol, UK.
Claire became a mother in 2012 and realised that she knew nothing about her own biology.
After 2 decades in the music and modelling industries, where so much focus is on the superficial aesthetics of bodies, it hit her like a ton of bricks as she became one of a vast number of women struggling to get the help they need to ease into motherhood and breastfeeding.
In an effort to find information, she stumbled across a few bits of science that blew her mind.
Not only did that knowledge change her relationship with her own body and child, it also changed her life, as she became determined to tell everyone about the incredible science of breastmilk.
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It snowballed into an international effort to share that life-saving science as far and wide as possible, to change our perception of the value of breastfeeding and motherhood, and of women's bodies.
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We're also rethinking business, putting sustainability centre stage to support both parents and the planet we leave to our tiny humans and the next generations. ​​
Our educational materials are used in 35+ countries and 18 languages and we ship our clothing and science resources worldwide.
The Human Milk Team
Founder & CEO
Entrepreneur and Artist with a colourful history in the music, film, modelling and business sectors. I grew up in Switzerland, Ireland, France and Italy, and am Irish, Polish, British and Swiss.
I'm passionate about entrepreneurship solving the world's big problems, nature, music, psychology, people, story telling, art, sustainable things and film making. I long for women to be able to walk the world in safety and dignity, all over the world, all of the time, and I long to leave a clean and healthy planet to my son and his generation.
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I've enjoyed working for very diverse companies, from Innocent Drinks to a Pharmaceutical Research company. I have a nose for creative problem solving, Big Picture thinking and attention to detail, and love being the link that facilitates a great team.​
I grew up watching my father work for the UN, and my mother for the EHL, the world's top international Hospitality school, which gave me a global perspective which I'll always be grateful for.
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As a musician & composer, I've delivered vocal arrangements and performances on film and TV scores for Sony/BMG, Universal, Disney, BBC, Apple TV, Sky, Amazon Prime and Microsoft (all solo and most choral work on Halo 4, highest selling game score soundtrack album in history) and more.
Charlotte Gouyette
Director; Events & Community
Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Charlotte coaches women through transitions in their lives, including through birth and into motherhood. From supporting us in-house to creating programmes that assist women through personal and cultural/social changes, Charlotte leads our online Community Calls and embodies the shift that Human Milk hopes to bring to the lives of millions.
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"I help women create an intentional and aligned experience of their relationships, their work & their lives. I also work with pregnant women to apply the same thinking to their pregnancy-to-parenthood experience. I work with different types of clients, but they all share one thing in common; they have chosen to build their own life.​ They are changing the rules for themselves."​​
Emma Bottomley
Retail Director
Emma specialises in design development and sourcing sustainable, circular, regenerative materials, using ethical manufacturers and Artisan partners, with expertise in Fashion, Interior & Lifestyle.
She is passionate about everyone benefiting from what we do, moving away from the concept of invisible "suppliers" to the concept of respected partners, in particular working with female-led Artisan Textile social enterprises around the world.
Jennifer Grace
Photography and Community
Jennie is a photographer, an ante-natal teacher, a doula, a breastfeeding counsellor, the mother of 3 and the author of ‘Mother’, a collection of her photographs and poems.
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All our models for film and photos are real women with their families from our communities. Jennifer works come rain, wind or shine to reflect their personalities in the photos we use on our website and shop. She is also at our Meet-ups to greet and support the mothers who join us, as we build the local and global villages we all need in order to thrive in motherhood.
Prof Amy Brown
Advisor
Prof Amy Brown is Professor in Child Public Health at Swansea University, and author of Let's Talk About The First Year Of Parenting, Why Breastfeeding Grief & Trauma Matter, The Positive Breastfeeding Book, 'Breastfeeding Uncovered: Who really decides how we feed our babies?', Informed is Best, Covid Babies and more.
Amy is on a mission to rid the world of breastfeeding stigma & misunderstanding. Her research and insights ensure we understand the current personal and societal issues that mothers face, and bring those findings into everything we do.
Luca Peruzzi
Brand Retail Strategy Advisor; Financial Planning, Assortment Planning
Luca has 20 years of experience in Retail Business Consulting, working for business owners and top management.
He specialises in
- Retail Strategy; market position, new retail formats, business models, assortment strategy, financials, omnichannel strategy, brand portfolio, start up of new retail formats and channel strategy.
- Retail Best Practices; retail planning, assortment planning algorithm, financial planning, store grading, in-season management, business intelligence; organisation evolution, change management.
- Retail Experience; supervising new store concept development, visual communication, store windows, visual merchandising, store design development and implementation
- Start up/evolution of new retail formats including for Gruppo Miroglio, Bialetti and Nespresso.
His clients include Adidas, Armani, Emporio Armani,
Bata, Bialetti, Ferrari, Bottega Verde, Brunello, Cucinelli, Cortefiel, DBA/Sun Pacific, Geox Spa, Gruppo Coin, Inditex (owners of Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear etc), Nespresso, Optissimo, OVS and more, and he now brings his expertise and clarity to Human Milk Clothing.
Neil Davidge
Director; Creative Strategy
Award winning Film/TV Composer & Producer and sonic pioneer of Bristol's legendary band Massive Attack, Neil has birthed some of the most arresting and innovative sounds on the record.
Neil brings decades of experience in the communication of emotions and concepts through the audio-visual Arts, and the running of an iconic brand and thriving creative business.
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He has been a vital part of the team since the very beginning as both Claire's partner in crime and in life and the father of their son, who arguably started this whole movement.
Lisa Ravenscroft
Director; Graphic Design
Lisa brings all our brand visuals together. She designs our education resources and all our printed materials.
"I’m a creative professional with a wide variety of graphic design and branding experience, working with the largest international companies to business start-ups. I relish the challenge of taking complex information and data, and translating this into a clear visual that delivers the message beautifully.​"
Dr Alok Ranjan
Advisor
Alok is a medical doctor with decades of experience in maternal and child health and nutrition, early childhood development, food systems and social protection; while working in organisations like WHO, UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Power of Nutrition.
He advises us in a personal capacity to ensure that we have a global perspective on the medical, social, ethical, nutritional and personal challenges faced by mothers, fathers and infants.
Tim Radley
Brand Retail Proposition Advisor; Brand Proposition, Customer Experience
I love working with retail people. From boardrooms to stockrooms.
I respond to ‘good people’ who put their colleagues, their customer communities, and the world we live in, at the heart of everything they do. I then help to make each of them into great retailers, and their businesses into commercial and sustainable success stories.
I met Claire via LinkedIn, and we immediately found a common language, talking about retailing, sustainability, ethics and of course Human Milk. I understood the dream that she had for the brand, and could see what the reality could be, as a self-funding mission retailer.
Personally, I understand Claire’s focus, and the importance of breastfeeding. I have been married to a midwifery sister for nearly 30 years, and through bringing 3 children into this world, I fully see the health, the ethical and the emotional benefits of breast milk.
I am in awe of what Human Milk has already achieved and am fully
on board to take it further.
Professionally, I’ve been employed as a retail consultant by Primark, Walgreens, Boots, Adidas, AllSaints, Ferrari, Ray-Ban, Nespresso, Bata, Halfords, Max&Co, Camper, Jack Jones, Marks & Spencer, Cortefiel, Sonae, Otto Versand, World Duty Free, La Caixa, National Geographic, Real Madrid, KappAhl, Gruppo Vestebene, Alessi, Gruppo Coin, Portaventura, Clarks, Benetton, Imaginarium, Dublin City Council & Northumbria University, amongst others.
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'Human Milk, Tailor-Made for Tiny Humans' advert, 2017.
8.5 million views online to date & still growing.
This is the team that volunteered in order make the advert and more possible
Dana Trometer
Producer & Editor, Burst Pictures
Dana is a Lebanese – French filmmaker, social media queen, and Co-Producer & Editor of our advert. She started her career as a film editor in 1996 and moved to producing in 2007. She has worked across all genres (features, documentaries, advertising, corporate) and for some of the biggest names and brands in the business (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, PBS).
She is the point of reference when it comes to anything relating to the Middle East.
She goes by three words only when it comes to producing: "everything is possible."
Eric Trometer
Director, Burst Pictures
Our advert Director. Eric loves taking on challenges. He has a rare combination of being highly imaginative and sensitive, with the skill to bring emotions onto the screen. Eric is as comfortable working along the Philharmonia orchestra, Akram Khan, Hussein Chalayan, as following the displaced in Darfur. He loves working with people from all walks of life.
Daniel Puzey
Website Developer & General Geek
I live with in Bristol with my two children. When I got involved in this amazing venture and went along for the shoot, I casually offered some space to host the website. Fast forward two years and I was furiously coding up the site before the launch event while my newborn son fed in the background...
Watching the project grow under Claire's guidance has been a privilege, and I can't wait to see where it all goes next!
Kirstie MacLeod
Kirstie is an award winning Artist with a background in Textiles, Visual Language and theatrical based disciplines, the works form a diverse portfolio comprising embroidery, painting, drawing and installation. Kirstie designed many of our Human Milk Clothing patterns and designs, including the iconic Oxyflower on our best selling tops, and our HMO Snowflake scarves.
Hilda Allen
Graphic/Pattern Designer, Honest Weaves
I met Claire around August 2015, when I heard about the advert and thought I could help out with some boobie drawings. We would meet almost every Friday for some tea and idea sharing. The great thing about working with Claire and the project itself, is anything is possible and it keeps growing and growing. I’ve been honoured to work on the logo, the website, infographic, share some ideas on the advert graphics, postcards, stickers, banners, fabric…
Ray
Founder & Director GLUE
GLUE created the graphics for the advert. Ray has accumulated over fifteen years of creative and technical industry experience in digital video content creation. He has nurtured a positive culture in GLUE of leading through innovation, based on passion for the work involved and the need to continually learn and improve.
Yusuf
Compositor, GLUE
Yusuf is the Production Manager at GLUE and worked as the compositor on this video. He worked closely with Claire, Dana and the team to create the particles, environment and overall feel of the video outlined in the brief.
The most important aspect of this project was to keep the maternal feel constant throughout the video.
Dominic
Artist, GLUE
Dominik is an accomplished artist with experience in various industries including games and visual effects.
His role in the project was to meet with Claire and Hilda to refine and interpret the brief for the effects team to follow. Once all parties were happy to proceed it was his job to create the 3D assets and 2D graphics used in the piece.
Evie Smith
Professional hair and makeup artist, specialising in natural, beautiful and relaxed hair and makeup styles. I’m currently living in the particularly beautiful city of Bristol. One of my favourite things about being a makeup artist is having the freedom to be creative, research new ideas and trends to create something unique that tells a story.
Jenny Burrows
Hi, I’m Jenny, let me show you some of my favourite things. Because when I like something, I take photographs of it, lots of photographs! In my spare time I photograph everything: bugs, cycling, underground caves, underwater dives, reflections, flowers and skies.
I've been taking photographs of everything for more than 30 years. After becoming a mother to twins I found an inexhaustable subject, I wanted to capture every moment of the amazing journey of childhood.
A huge thank you also to the following women, who have stepped in time and time again to help with anything from social media, to producing and staffing events, to modelling for our clothing and much more.
Eva has helped us over many years, from staffing the advert shoot and launch, to helping to develop the organisation's education reach and partnerships.
Eva also co-produced 2 sold out Human Milk events at The Watershed and The Beacon in our home town Bristol, as part of the Food Connections Festival which saw human milk being thought about as a sustainable food source. Her knowledge of social enterprises, the impact of breastfeeding (and ecology generally) and her understanding of human needs is second to none, and her ongoing support has been central to our development.
(Written by Claire) Dom was my ante-natal teacher, and has given me personal and professional counsel and strength many times.
She has the warmth and wisdom that I hope the world is rooted in one day. She was there during my pregnancy and our son's early days, and is still here now, helping at our shoots and speaking at our events. She opened up my eyes to the deeper and wider world of motherhood and womanhood. Thank you Dominique.
Iyato
Wife of one, mother of three; dreamer, shaker, mover, blogger, and educator.
Breastfeeding wasn’t my cup of tea until motherhood embraced me. It took me to the brink and back, showed me qualities I didn’t know I possessed, and continues to empower me in ways I didn’t think possible. Learning about breastmilk and breastfeeding is so fascinating; I look forward to training to support others on their journey.
Kate
I'm proud to be from good ol'Brizzle - the original home of the advert! I'm an infant feeding specialist midwife. I have seen, and do see evidence daily, both at home and at work, of how truly magical our milk is. It saves and enhances life. It's abundantly clear to me that we all need to try to appreciate, celebrate, and simply use it more in health care and as a society. This advert project has snowballed into something truly ground breaking and I feel genuinely honoured to be a small part of Human Milk’s brilliant boobie team. May it inspire people and projects far and wide!
Alix
I live with my husband and three sons in Bristol. I signed up as cast for the original shoot in 2015. I've loved watching so many other people be similarly inspired to show up in many different ways for breastfeeding and this project. I've been blown away by the science as it's unfolded before my eyes (the attention to detail appeals to me in my day job as a solicitor!). Our bodies and our milk are truly amazing and the advert is a beautiful, scientifically accurate celebration of that. I am so proud to be part of it.
Arti
I live with my husband and daughter just outside beautiful Bristol. My breastfeeding journey did not go as I had initially planned. After much soul-searching and because of my passion for human milk and all that it delivers, I opted to exclusively pump my milk and feed my daughter expressed breastmilk via bottle. I am so proud to be able to say that my little girl got 18 months of my milk.
Throughout the advert creation, my eyes have been opened to the science and composition of breastmilk, and it truly is magical. I hope that the advert is just the start of more incredible things to come.
Anna
I live with my partner and daughter in South Bristol. I'm passionate about breastfeeding and human milk on a personal level, a public health level and also a political level. Anything that affects women takes a political dimension and I consider that issues around breastfeeding and women's place in society are strongly related and deeply important. If we invest and promote women's and children's health and well-being, we all win and work towards a fairer and more equal society. I hope you are inspired by the advert.
Nicola
I live with my partner and our daughter near Bristol. In my first few weeks as a Mum, the support and information I received from local breastfeeding groups was invaluable. This inspired me to train and volunteer my time as a breastfeeding peer supporter. It’s a privilege to be a source of support for so many women in Bristol and beyond. In my ‘day job’ I work for Barnardo’s as their Volunteer Coordinator. I am so proud to be a member of the Human Milk Team! When I saw the call to action for the ad shoot, I was nervous at the thought of stepping in front of the cameras but had a feeling in my gut that this was a little bit of magic unfolding.
Thank You
We also owe a dept of gratitude to the following people