About
JLI Consulting 

Our Values

Six values anchor our work and guide our approach to collaborating with clients and partners:

  • We do our best to exhibit honesty, transparency, and trustworthiness; to adhere to principles, and to take responsibility for mistakes. 

  • We work in fellowship with other people, and in partnership with and in service to community; relationships are foundational to our approach.

  • We seek to center justice, fairness, and evenness of opportunity, especially for those who have been institutionally marginalized; we recognize and address dynamics of power and privilege.

  • We embrace open-mindedness and curiosity, and appreciate that there’s always more to learn, particularly from those with different experiences or expertise.

  • We demonstrate “down-to-earth-ness,” accessibility, and approachability, and acknowledge that having expertise doesn’t always make one an “expert.”

  • We ensure our work is thorough, substantive, and polished, and reflects that it is done thoughtfully, with care and attention to detail.

Meet Joyce

How would I summarize my meandering life path in a few data points? 2. 8. 20. And 3.

Let me explain what I mean…

2.

A woman in a pink sleeveless top sitting at a white desk with a silver laptop, taking notes in a notebook, in a room with purple patterned wallpaper and built-in bookshelves.

During the time that I was in college, my decision to pursue two majors—anthropology and molecular biology—was driven by my interests and curiosity rather than any grand career plan.

But that choice has served me well over the years, and in many ways has been foundational to the work I do today.

Anthropology taught me to appreciate the importance of history, narrative, and place; we can only understand people and their behaviors within the rich tapestry of cultural context.

Molecular biology, on the other hand, taught me the value of understanding things on a micro level, as well as the power of quantitative analysis.

Today, as a social sector consultant, I continue to marry these two orientations:

  • one focused on the role of culture and relationships in shaping our understanding of the world;

  • the other focused on thoughtfully observing and analyzing the core components of what is meaningful.

8.

For eight years, I developed a base of professional and educational experiences that proved formative throughout my career.

Upon graduating from college, I joined Teach For America, a selective corps of young leaders working to address educational inequity by teaching in low-income and institutionally underserved urban and rural school systems across the country.

Following my teaching commitment and several years working for Teach For America’s national office, I pursued a graduate degree in public health, focusing on social determinants of health, including race, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Afterward, I honed my commitment to youth and community-focused work as a research coordinator, seeking to address and better understand the underlying causes of youth violence.

20.

I have more than 20 years of experience as a social sector consultant.

I began consulting in 2003, and since that time have focused solely on supporting the work of nonprofits, philanthropies, and public agencies.

Clients have included Aloha United Way, Funder Hui, GoodCitizen, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations (HANO), Hawaii Community Foundation, the Hawaii Department of Education, Hawaii Leadership Forum, and the National Council of Nonprofits.

Whether my work is with Hawaii-based organizations or those from the continental US, social justice is a consistent theme. I seek to actively incorporate equity principles in my work, and to intentionally surface questions of power and privilege as they operate in the social sector.

I seek to actively incorporate equity principles in my work, and to intentionally surface questions of power and privilege as they operate in the social sector.

3.

Throughout my professional journey, my husband and my two sons—the “three men in my life,” as I like to refer to them—have been central and centering forces.

My foray into consulting was sparked by the decision to start a family, and I consider myself pretty darn lucky to have the three of them alongside me for all the ups, down, and in-betweens that this path provides.

If you’re curious, you can find more about my experience, education, and volunteer history at my LinkedIn profile. And as I like to tell my clients, every data point holds a story—I hope the four data points above offer a little window into mine.

Joyce Lee-Ibarra, Principal

White cursive text saying "Joyce" on an empty background.
Colorful logo with the text 'eef' and the words 'Practice Partner' underneath, featuring a dotted burst design on the left side.

JLI Consulting is humbled to be part of the Equitable Evaluation Initiative’s first cohort of consultant practice partners. We engage in the practice of the Equitable Evaluation Framework™ (EEF), which seeks to reimagine the purpose and practice of evaluation by seeding and growing a field to advance equity and expand notions of validity, objectivity, rigor, and embrace complexity.

Clients and Partners say...

  • “I appreciate that Joyce is always open to applying new ideas and approaches. Her work isn’t static, and she continues to evolve and grow, which makes our work together more meaningful. I also enjoy her interpersonal approach: her willingness to be open, the questions she asks, her honesty, and her ability to engage with me in a genuine and thoughtful way.”

    — Ophelia Bitanga-Isreal, Assistant Director, City and Community Engagement, Living Cities; Former Senior Program Officer, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation

  • “Joyce’s name rises to the top for me when I think of local consultants. She’s professional, well-respected, thoughtful, and strategic in a big-picture sense. She’s a good listener, and values listening and understanding different perspectives and grappling with hard issues before moving forward. I also appreciate her thought partnership; with Joyce, I know I have a safe space to brainstorm and work stuff out without a feeling of pressure to make a decision before I’m ready.”

    — Josh Levinson, Principal, Josh Levinson Consulting

  • “In addition to sharing values and professional chemistry with Joyce, I appreciate her integrity, reliability, and the quality of her work. She’s deliberate in her thinking, processes, approach, and relationships, and is big-hearted in a subtle way. The work and projects that she chooses are personally and professionally important to her, and she steps into those roles in a deeply committed way. Joyce is a strategic thinker, and her thoughtful approach is evident in her willingness to press ‘pause’ to make room for reflection rather than rushing ahead to take things down the wrong path.”

    — Jennifer Barrett Fajardo, Principal, Jen Barrett Coaching & Advising

  • “In working with Joyce, I’ve found her to be conscientious, thoughtful, and wicked smart. She has a different kind of scan, and she forces us to look at our work differently. She’s also malleable to what a team might need, and has the ability to switch gears and adapt as a project requires.”

    — Nick Redding, Executive Director, Hawaiʻi Data Collaborative

  • “As a consulting colleague of Joyce’s, I’ve seen how she can successfully create a safe space for people to learn, share, and grow together. In the hui we are both part of, she plays a critical role in making people feel welcome and heard. In my experience, it’s super-rare to find people who are really down-to-earth, are values-grounded and values-driven, and are truly trying to collaborate and bring out the voices of others… Joyce brings all these things to the table. She embodies all the principles a consultant should in caring for people and fostering community.”

    — Kuʻulani Keohokalole, Principal, People Strategies Hawaiʻi

  • “Joyce is good at synthesizing information across multiple inputs. She’s thoughtful, a quick study of complex problems and varying perspectives. If we didn’t have her in our local social sector, we’d be missing a passionate yet intentional advocate for good data and good thinking about research & evaluation, equity, race, and inclusion, especially in the context of Hawaii. In addition to helping me cultivate and refine my own thinking, she is also warm and reflective as a practitioner, which makes her someone you want to learn from and with.”

    — Michael Courville, Founder & Principal, Open Mind Consulting; Former Adjunct Faculty, Department of Sociology & Sexuality, San Francisco State University

  • "Joyce brings the conceptual into the real world. I mean that in both her application of theory to practical circumstances and in her ability to take an idea and turn it into a concrete reality... Through organic development, generative discussions, and constant iteration and learning, not only have we developed evaluation solutions that are authentic to who we are and how we operate, we are putting them into practice!"

    -Ben Treviño, Network Coordinator, Hawaiʻi Leadership Forum

  • “As a collaborative partner, Joyce listens deeply in conversations, synthesizing and sharing back what she hears. She’s super smart, has an amazing background, and is also really humble and gentle. In short, I trust Joyce and the quality of services she provides.”

    — Jennifer Cornish-Creed, Director of Professional Development, Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations (HANO)

  • “Joyce really invested in a set of ‘meetings before the meeting’ to understand dynamics, history, and objectives. With this background, she not only managed our session professionally and with purpose, but also with joy. Everyone was engaged. Everyone found their voice. Then, afterwards, she helped us stay on top of a set of follow ups. It was a pleasure to see someone at the top of their game doing work they love.”

    — Max Scoular, Co-Founder, GoodCitizen

  • “Joyce is a skilled facilitator, in part because she is approachable and puts people at ease. She sets the stage well for discussion, and is able to bring out information from participants, synthesizing what she hears while identifying next steps, continuing group momentum, and helping the group stay focused. Her thoughtful and collaborative approach make her awesome to work with.”

    — Jessica Yamauchi, Executive Director, Hawai’ʻi Public Health Institute

  • “In her consulting work with the foundation, I’ve found Joyce to be extremely professional, competent, experienced, polished, and organized. I trust the quality of her work and the professionalism she brings to it, whether in presenting and training on data and evaluation, or in project design and implementation. Without Joyce, we would struggle to find someone with her experience to deliver the type of nonprofit capacity building that she provides.”

    — Tom Kelly, Principal, KEL Advising; Former VP, Knowledge & Evaluation, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation

  • “Joyce’s work was thoughtful and thorough; she was responsive to the needs of our team and evolved in response to challenges and changes.”

    — Community Research Client

  • “Joyce facilitated so thoughtfully... I felt like she honored and created a lot of space for sharing knowledge and connections in the time we had together.”

    — Facilitation Participant

  • “These were deep and rich discussions that allowed me to process, think, and step out of my comfort zone to continue to do this work. Appreciate you, Joyce!”

    — Community Research Client

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Something to Chew On

Something to Chew On is a newsletter I’ve cooked up to share some of my ruminations and marinations with family, friends, and colleagues.

More importantly, though, it’s meant as an invitation to (re)connect, reflect, and be in conversation, at a pace that works with all the goings-on in everyone’s lives.

New issues will go out about once every month or two. Happy reading!