About me
Meet Irene Salter, a science nerd on a real world quest to help people thrive, not just survive. She has a sharp mind, but it’s her heart and soul that people fall in love with.
She’s a Stanford-trained PhD neuroscientist fascinated by how the brain learns and stays motivated. Her over-achieverism resulted in lots of shiny gold stars: doubling enrollment and tripling reserves as a school superintendent and principal; publishing books and articles; founding a new University department; winning over $2.25 million in grants; leading nonprofit boards; developing curriculum for the Lawrence Hall of Science; and designing exhibits at the Exploratorium.
Forget the gold stars. Irene’s pride and joy is interweaving science and stories to change leaders’ lives. For over twenty years, Irene taught science to students from elementary to university, winning two teaching awards, and delivering thousands of hours of content. Today she is a sought after trainer and leadership coach for industry leaders from both the public and private sector: Disney, Verizon, Facebook, Google, Boston Medical Center, the Department of Health, the University of Texas, and many schools and nonprofits. Learn more about her coaching, leadership circle, and women’s leadership retreat at irenesalter.com.
Oh, and she writes. A lot. Irene’s blog and podcast (the “Leaders’ Playground”) is full of science-backed strategies to make work feel like play. Her upcoming book explores the hard-core science behind why we love to travel and teaches us to thrive without ever needing to leave home.
When not coaching or writing, she's adventuring: paddle boarding, jetting off to some exotic destination (most recently Norway, Australia, Singapore, and Japan), or crawling through a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon. She lives in rural nowhere California (population 2,931) with her husband, two children, nine ducks, two pigs, and one albino king snake.