Joan Zelaya

Joan Zelaya (she/her/ella) is the principal consultant at Noble Hearts. Joan brings a wealth of experience as both an educator, administrator, and wellness advocate. 

Ms. Zelaya offers over two decades of experience in higher education. She began serving in her community as an ESOL instructor with an M.A. in Urban Education and successfully served as an administrator managing  academic support services at several higher education institutions across the country. She has provided professional development and staff training, and content and curriculum development for a variety of needs including academic support programming, intercultural competence, trauma informed practices, and antiracist and bias training. Ms. Zelaya also brings her experience as a former Equity Project Coordinator at the California Department of Education where she supported internal DE&I initiatives including staff training, project management, grant writing and thought partnership. 

Transformational change cannot be sustained without wellbeing. Wellbeing is a central part of Ms. Zelaya's professional and personal philosophy. This began with her yoga journey over 20 years ago as part of her B.A. in Religious Studies in which she studied world religions. In 2018, she became a 200 hour yoga certified instructor with a focus on meditation and is certified in Trauma Informed Yoga and Yoga For All, which focuses on body positive yoga classes for all shapes, sizes and abilities. She is an advocate for radical care for self and community; particularly for historically marginalized communities.