Dr. Irena O’Brien shares her journey from aspiring nun to successful entrepreneur, as well as the valuable insights she’s gained from her personal and professional experiences in neuroscience and psychology.

Welcome to Making It! This weekly show explores the lives and stories of entrepreneurs as they share their unique perspectives on their success and the path to making it.

Dr. Irena O’Brien is the founder of Neuroscience School, which helps coaches and care professionals achieve better results for their clients through neuroscience.

Early in life, Dr. O’Brien had aspirations of dedicating herself to a religious vocation, contemplating a future as a nun. However, as her interests turned, she found herself pursuing the structured world of numbers and enrolled in university to study accounting. Despite securing a position at a reputable accounting firm, Irena felt a void; the work did not satisfy her yearning to make a meaningful difference in the world.

“‘Making it’ is making enough money from something that you love doing where you can support yourself… enough money to do the things that you want to do and something that is worthwhile.”

— Dr. Irena O’Brien

Dr. Irena O’Brien teaches coaches and care professionals how to achieve better results for their clients through neuroscience.

She is the founder of Neuroscience School, which helps practitioners understand and apply insights from cutting-edge neuroscience research. She loves seeing her students gain confidence in their ability to evaluate neuroscience findings and use them successfully in their own practices. Her Certificate Program in Neuroscience is certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) for Continuing Coaching Education credit.

Dr. O’Brien has studied neuroscience for 25 years and holds a Ph.D. in the field from the Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM), where she did brain-imaging studies. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Language, Mind, and Brain at McGill University.

Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:
Mirasee
Irena’s website: NeuroscienceSchool.com
Irena’s podcast, Neuroscience of Coaching: https://mirasee.com/podcast/neuroscience-of-coaching

Credits:
Co-Producers: Cassandra Topperwein and Geoff Govertsen
Assembled by: Michi Lantz
Supervising Producer: Cynthia Lamb
Executive Producer: Danny Iny
Audio Post Production: Marvin del Rosario
Music Soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely
Making our hosts sound great: Home Brew Audio

Music credits:
Track Title: The Sunniest Kids
Artist Name: Rhythm Scott
Writer Name: Scott Roush
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Love and Circumstance
Artist Name: Shimmer
Writer Name: Matthew Wigton
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Bridal Thread
Artist Name: Cody Martin
Writer Name: Cody Kurtz Martin
Publisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Special effects credits:
24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.

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Episode transcript: Unbox Your Mind (Irena O’Brien).