About us
What is IBPA formerly known as NBPA?
The International Baby Planner Association (IBPA) formerly known as NBPA was established in 2007. It is an organization that supports professional consultants in the baby planning industry by setting standards, facilitating resource and tool sharing, and providing a forum for networking. Melissa Moog of Itsabelly Baby Planners ® is the founder of NBPA and serves as President. April Beach of Sweet Pea Baby PlannersTM serves as Vice President. Shannon Choe of Premier Baby ConciergeTM serves as Secretary. The formation of the IBPA helps support the growing demand for assistance and high quality service to parents in preparing for and caring for their newborn or adopted child.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create a professional association for already established baby planning businesses who operate by a credible set of standards in the baby planning industry. Most importantly, IBPA ensures that members operate with the utmost integrity to protect the families we work with and our professional reputation.
Business Standards for the International Baby Planners Association
The core of International Baby Planners Association’s (IBPA) business operations includes partnering with baby planners from across the world in their journey of supporting new parents throughout the process of pregnancy, birth, and ultimately, parenthood as a whole. International Baby Planners Association™ intends to:
- Continually maintain up to date information on juvenile product safety guidelines
- Network with a community of professional baby planning businesses on a global level
- Partner with key national experts and educators
The vision for International Baby Planners Association™ is rooted in the fundamental principles of building strong core values, embracing the entrepreneurial spirit, and supporting professional consultants in the baby planning industry. Through this, we will increase the value of our business and global portfolio, with the goal of continually leading the market as the most reliable and effective baby planning trade association.
IBPA’s Baby Planner Description
A baby planner will provide an expectant or new parent the best guidance possible tailored to their personal needs, lifestyle and budget. A baby planner will also provide the most current information and resources available, which can include but is not limited to:
- Baby gear, furniture, and product consultation
- Sourcing and qualifying the best pre- and post-natal care
- Finding and pre-screening the most appropriate “credentialed” lactation consultants, doulas, midwives, childcare providers, nutritionists and other professionals
- Birth planning
- Nursery design
- Assessing home environments for childproofing purposes
IBPA and Baby Planner Limitations
Unless proven documentation showing licensing or certification in a medical specialty is provided, we or any of our baby planners will not claim to be medical professionals and will not seek to provide medical advice to clients. While some baby planners choose to specialize in certain areas where their skills and experience are most suited, others outsource where they do not have experience or credentials to complete the task themselves.
Founder and President
Melissa Moog & Isabella
More About Melissa
A true pioneer in an emerging industry, Melissa Moog is one of America’s original baby planners as founder of Itsabelly, a national full-service baby planning firm guiding new and expectant parents through the process of parenthood with safety as a primary focus. Soon after creating Itsabelly, Melissa continued to forge new frontiers by becoming founder and president of the International Baby Planner Association (formerly known as NBPA) to support professional consultants by setting standards, facilitating resources and providing a forum for networking to help other mom-preneurs get started with their own baby planning businesses. Melissa has coached over hundreds aspiring baby planners on how to launch their businesses based off her own start-up business success and her comprehensive “Baby Planner in a Box” (c) 2007 start-up kit in the US and abroad. Her true love for teaching and mentoring others is one of her passions. She continues to share her insider tips on how to start and sustain a successful business by consulting and coaching many businesses in their infancy stages and beyond through her latest endeavor Seed Plant Grow (TM) 2010 where she offers classes via Baby Planner U (TM) 2010 . Melissa is also the leading authority and voice for baby planning with an eco-twist, as the co-author of Itsabelly’s Guide to Going Green with Baby and the first baby planning business to secure Co-Op America’s green seal of approval. Her credentials include being a mom first (the hardest but most meaningful job ever in her book), 15 years of corporate work experience building organizations, training/coaching background, passing the Home Hazards Test as administered by the International Association for Child Safety (IAFCS) and is a Certified Child Passenger Seat Technician via Safe Kids Worldwide.
With enthusiasm and authority, Melissa offers her expertise on all-things baby from sifting through the maze of available products, child proofing, designing an eco-friendly and personal nursery, offering parenting tips, helping with pregnancy planning to securing the perfect nanny for any family. Melissa has become a leading voice for baby planners as the baby planning expert for The Bump, a sister site to The Knot, providing the ultimate local guide to pregnant living, baby planning expert for ParentingWeekly.com, pregnancy planning expert for BizyMoms.com, featured blogger for DrGreene.com and the “New Mom Editor” for Portland’s BetterTV. In addition, Melissa has caught the attention of media all over the country, including The Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, WeTV’s Platinum Babies, MSNBC.com, San Jose Mercury News, View from the Bay, KGO, Pregnancy magazine, KIWI, AM Northwest. KathyIreland.com and CoolMomPicks, among others.
Prior to her Itsabelly success, Melissa was a human resources director for Kensington and worked for Intel. She holds a master’s degree in human resources/organizational development from the University of San Francisco. In her free time, Melissa lives out her mommyhood doing what she loves: cooking and traveling with her husband, daughter and their two yellow labs. And when she’s lucky, she even enjoys quality time at the gym and maybe reading a novel or two.
Vice President
April Beach & Timothy, Jacob & Samuel
More About April
April Beach is the founder of Sweet Pea Baby Planners™, Baby Planner, Inc.™ and Baby Savvy™. April is also the Baby Planning Expert and contributor for The Healthy Belly™ as well as numerous other publications, and speaks as a representative for select products and brands. April serves as the Vice President for the International Baby Planner Association™ and enjoyed formally establishing the IBPA alongside Melissa. In 2009, April created the Manufacturer Relations program for the IBPA as a spin off of the success she realized in closely working with industry manufacturers within Sweet Pea Baby Planners™. April’s strength in connecting baby planners with industry brands has assisted numerous baby planners to become further educated on products and network with leading manufacturers for their own company success. April has been featured by FOX, ABC, TODAY MOMS, MSNBC, CBS, The LA Times, Chicago Tribune and numerous others in her specialty area of baby planning, product reviews, nursery preparation and financial planning for baby.
April specializes in consulting and coaching baby planners for business success and optimization. Her professional passions expanded from client support to complete mompreneur business consulting in 2008. Her extensive experience in balancing life as a wife, mom to three boys and an Executive, have positioned April to support and promote parent-owned baby planning businesses in areas beyond essential basics which are also necessary to financial success. April is the daughter of life-long entrepreneurs and has had her hand in numerous successful business start-ups including those of her own. April has known entrepreneurship at it’s finest, and at it’s worst, and shares her extensive experience not only in baby planning but in business-owning overall, with her consulting clients. April is the author of “Baby Planner Business Basics” (c) 2008 and “Baby Planning Trade Secrets” (c) 2010. April’s honest passions for supporting parent-preneurs and the baby planning industry overall have proven successful and beneficial. Additionally, through her creation of the Baby Dream Gear Class Series(tm) April brings a new understanding of baby gear and education to new parents and empowers families to make wise purchase decisions for themselves.
April’s unique vision for “empowering parents to make the best decisions for their growing family™” was initially realized through her own birth experiences, home to hospital, natural to cesarean. April identified that each parenting choice is the privilege of the family, and there was a need for true unbiased consultation and personalized parent preparation. Before having children, April and her husband taught classes and served as marriage counselors to pre and newly married couples. April’s extraordinary vantage point laid the foundation for Sweet Pea Baby Planners™ , Baby Planner, Inc.™ and Baby Savvy™ (the first baby planning program for health care professionals) and serves as the cornerstone for April’s position in all business relations.
Secretary
Shannon Choe & family
More about Shannon
Shannon Choe is an Early Childhood specialist with a background in Developmental Psychology and a teaching certification. She has nearly twenty years’ experience working with families in homes and in preschools as a teacher, Director for a national chain, Operations Manager for a preschool franchise company and owner of her own learning center. In 2007, Shannon founded Premier Baby Concierge, one of the first baby planning and concierge companies in the country. In 2008, she founded Premier Sitter Services which offers a unique opportunity for parents to meet and interview ten to twenty experienced, available sitters “speed dating” style in just one evening!
Shannon’s expertise lies in Parent Education. Her background in Psychology and teaching are the foundation for all of her services and allow her to be a comprehensive guide throughout the process of preparing for baby and adjusting to life as new parents. While, as a mom of three, she has personal experiences in many of the areas her clients need support in, she strives to offer well-rounded, impartial information to clients so they may make choices that fit their own family.
Shannon is dedicated to continuing her own education to add to her expertise and abilities to support families, becoming a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor in 2009 and planning to become a certified child passenger safety technician through SafeKids Worldwide in 2010. Premier Baby Concierge partners with top pre- and post-natal providers and resources in order to offer a one-stop resource to help parents navigating through one of the most overwhelming times of their lives.
Shannon is proud that PBC has also become a resource for manufacturers, retailers and service providers as well. “We test, touch, and highlight the best products and services for families, getting the word out and product into the hands of moms, and we also give valuable feedback to manufacturers.” Attending the ABC Kids Show annually, Shannon maintains relationships with manufacturers and industry leaders to remain informed on recalls, coming trends and industry news.
Shannon is a contributing Parenting Expert on Babyssentials.com and MomsOnTheMove.com, and appears regularly as on Philadelphia’s “the 10! Show” on NBC sharing parenting tips and products. She enjoys contributing to the growth of the industry as the Secretary of the International Baby Planner Association. Shannon lives with her husband and three girls outside Philadelphia. Premier Baby Concierge serves the tri state area and beyond!
The International Baby Planner Association
Since 2007 the International Baby Planner Association (IBPA aka NBPA) is the first and only international association which supports professionally owned businesses in the baby planning industry by having set the standards for baby planners globally. IBPA also completes an in depth application and interview process varifying that each Baby Planner has the appropriate credentials and is operating as a professional business with the utmost credibility. In the future, the association plans to provide a complete certification program allowing business members to be current with child safety legislation, key pregnancy/baby related issues and industry trends. Additionally, IBPA facilitates resource and tool sharing as well as provides a forum for networking amongst baby planner professionals. IBPA values its relationship with baby product manufacturers and also offers an affiliate program where by members have access to the most current data on baby products. Melissa, April and Shannon strongly believe that the formation of IBPA helps support the growing demand for complete parenting preparation through high quality and professional service for expecting and adopting families in preparing for their newborn and beyond. They are proud to be at the forefront of an exciting and growing industry!
Become a Baby Planner & Learn More About IBPA:
If you’re interested in our next free information call please email us at: melissa@internationalbabyplanners.com.
Contact Us
Melissa Moog
President and Founder
Itsabelly
melissa@internationalbabyplanners.com
503-799-5719
April Beach
Vice President
april@internationalbabyplanners.com
303-544-2111
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