About Us
Our Philosophy
At Ipê, we begin with what people already carry.
Stories. Memory. Culture. Questions. Knowledge shaped by work, family, community, struggle, and joy.
We believe learning happens when these ways of knowing meet—when knowledge is not simply delivered, but exchanged, questioned, remembered, and remade.
Our name comes from the Ipê tree, which blooms brilliantly in the dry season. It reminds us that difficult ground can still hold possibility. That what appears dormant may be gathering strength. That transformation often begins beneath the surface.
This is how we approach learning.
Rooted in praxis—reflection, action, and transformation—we make space to question what we have inherited, recover what has been pushed aside, and imagine what could grow in its place.
Because expertise does not live only at the front of the room.
It lives in scholarship and practice.
In culture and community.
In memory and lived experience.
In the questions we have not yet learned to ask.
At Ipê, we bring these forms of knowledge into conversation.
We root. We question. We reclaim. We imagine. We act.
And from there, something new can bloom.
Background
Organizations, like people, grow through reflection, curiosity, and the willingness to imagine new possibilities. Ipê approaches consultation as a collaborative process—one that honors the knowledge already within an organization while creating space to question, rethink, and strengthen how the work is done.
Ipê partners with nonprofit and community-based organizations around program development, organizational change, and leadership development. Consultation may focus on a specific challenge or evolve into a longer-term partnership shaped by the organization’s goals and needs.
Ipê also provides consultation and coaching to professionals stepping into new leadership roles, supporting them in developing confidence, navigating organizational dynamics, and cultivating a leadership approach grounded in their values.
Over the years, Luna Calderón has provided consultation, training, and workshops to organizations including La Clínica de la Raza, Safe & Sound, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, the former Latinx Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, Stanford University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and El Futuro.
Luna Calderón, LCSW, Founder & Principal
Luna Calderón has practiced social work and psychotherapy for more than 30 years, primarily working with women, youth, and Latine and LGBTQ+ communities. She taught at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare for 11 years, where she was the founding director of the Latinx Center of Excellence, and created Sin Fronteras, a 10-year Spanish-language and cultural immersion program in Oaxaca for MSW students.
Born in Brazil and raised in Mexico and the United States, Luna identifies as a hybrid, cisgender, queer, immigrant Latina who is now entering elderhood. Her lived experience navigating cultures, identities, and stages of life deeply informs her work.
Luna’s practice is informed by Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Internal Family Systems, with a focus on exploring the intersections of culture, identity, lived experience, creativity, and social justice. She founded Ipê Learning Collaborative to create thoughtful, relational, and culturally grounded learning spaces that honor the knowledge participants already carry.
“Hija del Maíz” by Lapiztola and Saïd Dokins