Thought partnership to forward your mission

Our Services

JLI Consulting helps mission-driven organizations flex their learning muscles effectively.

Using data, narrative, and facilitation, we help you unleash the insights and potential within communities.

Who’s the “JLI” in JLI Consulting?

I’m Joyce Lee-Ibarra, and I provide thought partnership and capacity building support to social sector organizations seeking to move their mission forward. What does this look like in practice? It can show up as:

  • Support for funders and nonprofits in co-creating community-informed evaluation strategies

  • Facilitation of learning-driven gatherings anchored by relationship-building, connection, and trust

  • Conducting focus groups and interviews to gain nuanced understanding of community and stakeholder perspectives

Working alongside partners, I aim to make learning and evaluation valuable, meaningful, collaborative, and relevant. And maybe even fun and eye-opening to boot!

Clients and Partners say...

  • "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, Hawaiʻi 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

  • “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 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

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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

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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!