Irina Cozma, Ph.D.
Coach | Speaker | Trainer | Consultant
I am a coach, speaker, trainer, and consultant who helps professionals create better career adventures.
Over the past two decades, I’ve coached hundreds of C-suite executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs across industries such as finance, tech, healthcare, and automotive. I also serve as a coach for the Physicians Executive MBA program at the University of Tennessee.
My background includes leadership roles in Fortune 500 companies in tech and finance, as well as extensive experience coaching, training, and consulting for multinational organizations. This gives me a global lens and the versatility to support leaders at every level and across cultures.
As a speaker, I focus on topics such as talent management, high-impact learning and development, career strategy, and talent acquisition.
I’ve lived, studied, and worked in four countries. My academic background includes a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology (U.S.), an M.A. in Strategic HR Management (Spain), and an M.A. in Organizational Psychology (Romania).
I am a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, and I teach at Purdue University. I am an ICF-certified coach.
My Journey
When I was younger, my father dreamed that I would become a professional volleyball player. I was on Romania’s junior national team at the time, and he had high hopes. Then, he thought I should become an accountant.
But one day, I told him I wanted to be a psychologist.
I still remember the room we were in and the stubbornness on both sides. There were tears—mine. But I couldn’t see myself as an accountant or an athlete. Psychology was the direction for me.
Taking charge of my career was both hard and easy. Hard because I had to go against expectations. Easy because I knew what I wanted.
Later, I had another realization: we spend most of our lives working (breaking news, I know!), and far too many people do not enjoy what they are doing. That felt unacceptable to me, so I decided to change it for as many people as possible.
Due to these experiences, I chose to study organizational psychology. After I finished my Ph.D., I discovered that coaching is my happy place, and I went on to coach hundreds of people.
Life is short. Most of what we worry about doesn’t really matter. So do the work and create more possibilities for yourself.
Let's have better career adventures!
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