Joayne Larson

Joayne Larson grew up in rural North Dakota with a healthy dose of curiosity about the broader world. She got her first taste of experiential learning via a college semester abroad in Ecuador and hasn’t settled for boring trainings ever since! After graduating with a BA in international relations, she joined the Peace Corps serving in the Russian Far East.

Domestically, Joayne has worked in community nonprofits, taught Spanish at an inner-city charter school in Washington, D.C., and trained community responders in domestic violence protections. Internationally, she worked for an English immersion program in Chile and recently completed an 8-year tenure as staff for the Peace Corps, first in Nicaragua and then in the Washington, D.C., headquarters where she created training for overseas staff in more than 65 countries in the areas of training design, facilitation, learning assessment and coaching. Her team also worked to integrate intercultural competence, diversity, inclusion and coaching skills.

A certified coach, Joayne is founder and president of Sparks of Change, LLC, where she specializes in supporting managers and leaders who want their teams to be more diverse and more effective working across cultures and all types of differences. In addition to consulting and coaching, she is an adjunct professor for the University of Minnesota’s leadership minor and speaks and trains on diversity, inclusion, equity, emotional intelligence and intercultural competence.