Irina Cozma, Ph.D.
Coach | Speaker | Trainer | Consultant
I see my work as preventive medicine.
Through my coaching, speaking, and consulting, I help professionals become possibility thinkers using the power of options.
You always have the option to become better at who you are and what you do. Better at emotional balance. Better at influencing. Better at delegating. Better at leading. Better at anything.
When you have options, you have an advantage. When you expand your possibilities, you experience more flexibility, less stress, and a stronger sense of agency in your workdays. That’s why I call it preventive medicine.
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.
As a speaker and consultant, I focus on topics about talent management, high-impact learning and development, career strategy, and talent acquisition.
My background includes leadership roles at Salesforce and Wells Fargo, as well as a decade of experience in global talent management consulting. I’ve lived, studied, and worked in four countries. I have 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 write for Harvard Business Review and teach at Purdue University. I hold the Hogan Advanced Certification and 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.
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.
Every day, millions of people wake up dreading their jobs, but what if we could all wake up excited to go to work? We all deserve that, and I’m here to help make it a reality for as many people as possible.
We always have the option to become better at what we do and who we are. So let's have a better work adventure!
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