Laura E. Larson is co-owner of Antigua Partners, Inc., and the owner-publisher of Leap for Words (Leap4words.com). As a managing partner at Cage Talent (CageTalent.com), Laura recruits and interviews executives for senior roles, including for nonprofit locations in the Middle East and Asia, conducts 360° assessments of top executives, and manages the West Coast recruiting team. For Premier Profiling, she conducts deep-dive interviews and creates in-depth candidate profiles. She is formally trained to conduct Topgrading® interviews and is a certified assessment analyst in instruments measuring behavioral and communication styles, motivation and incentives, and professional competencies: DISC, PIAV, TTI-DNA, and HRx Plan by Target Training International and Team Architect/Voices 360° by Lominger. She completed all coursework in 2003–2004 at Coach University, one of the few programs accredited at the time by the International Coaching Federation. Laura graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois–Urbana with a B.S. in journalism, with minors in French, English, and German. She has studied French and contemporary French history in Avignon; Spanish in a four-week immersion program in Guatemala; and Italian and art history during a three-month stay in Florence. Laura has extensive firsthand experience in nonprofits, having served on the executive committee of the board of StreetWise, an organization serving Chicago’s homeless; as an award-winning volunteer hotline counselor and community educator for women’s health, rape, and domestic violence groups; and currently as a pro bono résumé writer for veterans.