The 2022 Winner Selection Panel
Laura Carroll, Panel Chair, is a nonfiction writer, and her books include Families of Two: Interviews With Happily Married Couples Without Children by Choice and The Baby Matrix. Families of Two received global recognition and paved the way for her to be internationally known as an expert on the childfree choice since the year 2000. She has a MS in Psychology, and has conducted qualitative research on the childfree choice since the late 1990s. Laura ran the popular blog, La Vie Childfree, now a childfree writings library at lauracarroll.com. Her latest publication is 25 Over 10: A Childfree Longitudinal Study, a first-of-its-kind study on childfree women. Her books have been used in college curriculum, and she is a contributor to Childfree across the Disciplines: Academic & Activist Perspectives on Not Choosing Children and Voluntary and Involuntary Childlessness: The Joys of Otherhood?. Laura has been featured on major television and radio media, including ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR and Canadian CBC public radio. She and her work have been in a wide range of print/digital media, including Women’s Health (UK & South Africa), Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine. She lives in California, USA.
Margaret O Connor is the 2021 Childfree Person of the Year. She lives in Ireland, is a counsellor and psychotherapist, and works with people who need support with the decision of whether they want children or not, and to create their childfree lives. Margaret has conducted research into how women make the decision to have children or not. She also has a successful podcast called “Are Kids For Me” which explores the topic, both in the Irish and more general context. She has a never ending pile of books waiting to be read and three lovely cats.
Lucas Chaney is a co-founder of Buy Childfree By Childfree, a childfree business that offers new apparel to the childfree among us. The t-shirts and other merchandise to proudly declare our #NoKids lifestyle! He has a Masters in IT from the University of North Texas and is a Tech Sales Architect for a large IT organization. When Lucas went looking for childfree merchandise and didn’t find much available he decided to use his IT skills to create an e-commerce business to provide empowering childfree merchandise to like-minded people. Lucas lives in Texas, USA, with his two black cats.
Zoë Noble is the founder of We are Childfree, which celebrates childfree lives one story at a time, and James Glazebrook is her husband and project support. We are Childfree was voted ICD’s 2021 Childfree Group of the Year, has been featured in the New York Times, Glamour and HuffPo, and offers portraits, podcasts and an online community that destigmatise our choices and empower you to live authentically. Zoë is a commercial photographer, retoucher and educator whose work showcases women as strong, authentic and wonderfully unique, and James is a customer service professional dedicated to providing compassionate support. Originally from England, they now live in Berlin, Germany with their French Bulldog Olive, enjoying coffee, drag and karaoke duetting.