How We Chose Our Winners: Parents' Best for Baby Awards 2023

Grace Bastidas is the Editor-in-Chief of Parents. A bilingual New Yorker raising two daughters, she also hosts the podcast That New Mom Life. Before her current role, she was the founding editor and content director of Parents Latina, a multicultural brand reaching moms and dads across the country. She has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and New York, and has always been passionate about giving voice to underrepresented communities. Grace is proud to serve as an ambassador for the Good+ Foundation, a nonprofit working to break the cycle of family poverty.

Yamel Belen is a registered nurse with over a decade of experience in pediatrics, a professional doula, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, as well as a certified childbirth educator based in Tampa, Florida.

Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, five-time author, international speaker, strategist, and advocate for maternal & infant health. A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine, Kimberly is a leading voice on the racial and socio-cultural complexities of birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood. She is the founder of Irth, a new "Yelp-like" app for Black and brown parents to address bias and racism in maternity and infant care. Kimberly also created Birthright, a podcast about joy and healing in Black birth that centers on positive Black birth stories as a tool in the fight for birth justice and reverses the narrative of negative statistics common in mainstream media coverage of Black maternal health.

Natalie Diaz, CLC, CPST, is the Pied Piper of twin families around the globe. As founder of Twiniversity—the world’s leading resource and support network for multiple birth families—Nat’s become a global influencer for this small niche community. Natalie is the world’s #1 twin parenting and twin gear expert, serving as a twin consultant for top brands and worldwide recognized foundations. Natalie is a certified lactation counselor and a child passenger safety technician.

Michelle Pratt with Safe in the Seat is quickly becoming every overwhelmed and anxious mama’s go-to resource for car seat safety. As a mom and nationally certified child passenger safety technician, her judgement-free approach is helping turn car seat confusion into straight-up confidence. Through online courses, helpful videos, personalized consults and daily doses of safety tips and tricks, Michelle is empowering caregivers to keep their most precious cargo safe in the seat.

Anna Balagtas (she/they) is a first-generation queer Filipina settler on the ancestral lands of the Attawandaron/Chonnonton, the Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples and the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit (Guelph, ON). She's a radical birthworker, reproductive justice advocate, educator, and communications creative with my practice rooted in queer decolonial carework and the prioritization of QTBIPGM wellness, equity, and abundance. In 2020, she founded Pocket Doula.

Karla Castro discovered her passion for babywearing when her almost 12-year-old was a newborn. It has since become an integral part of how she and her husband have cared for their four children, especially in the early years. She is a trained CBWS baby wearing educator and helps overwhelmed parents, through 1:1 sessions, workshops, classes, and social media, learn how to use baby carriers comfortably and confidently so they can accomplish anything from taking a shower to climbing a mountain.