Irina Cozma, Ph.D.
Coach | Speaker | Trainer | Consultant
I am a coach, speaker, trainer, and consultant who supports professionals to have better career adventures.
In the past two decades, I coached hundreds of C-suite executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs across various industries, including finance, tech, healthcare, and automotive. I also coach the Physicians MBA program at the University of Tennessee.
My professional background includes coaching, training, and consulting for multinational companies, which equips me to address diverse leadership needs across levels and countries. I also had leadership roles in tech and finance for Fortune 500 companies.
I speak about talent management, high-impact learning and development, career management, and talent acquisition.
I lived, studied, and worked in four countries and 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 am a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, and I teach at Purdue University. I am an ICF-certified coach.
My Journey
In my youth, my father wanted me to become a professional volleyball player. I was on the Romanian junior national volleyball team at that time, and he had high hopes for me. Then my father wanted me to be an accountant. But one day, I informed him that I wanted to be a psychologist.
I still remember the room we were in and the overwhelming stubbornness on both sides during that conversation. Tears were shed. Mine :) But I could not imagine myself as an accountant or a professional athlete, so it had to be psychology.
Taking charge of my career was both hard and easy!
Then something else happened. I realized that we would work for the rest of our lives (breaking news, I know!). At the same time, I noticed that some people around me were waking up every morning to go do a job they did not enjoy. I found that unacceptable and 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.
We are all going to die. None of this matters. We could enjoy the ride a little more. Let's have better career adventures!
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