My Story

Meet Dr. Mrim Boutla

A recovering neuroscientist turned leadership and career coach, Dr. Mrim Boutla has been turning the latest insights from cognitive neuroscience, motivational psychology, and learning science into value for individuals and organizations since 2004.  Born bi-racial to a Moroccan father and a Swiss German mother, Dr. Boutla grew up in Lausanne, Switzerland. The first in her family to earn a high school degree, she went on to self-fund her Msc in Psychology from UC Louvain in Belgium and her PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the University of Rochester.  Dr. Boutla has developed a unique ability to synthesize scientifically complex results into scalable and innovative as well as culturally sensitive programs and digital products that maximize learning and leadership outcomes.  

In addition to her neuropsychology training at UC Louvain, and her neuroplasticity research at the University of Rochester, and Brown University, Dr. Boutla completed the Coaching de Gestion Certified Professional Coach training and is currently earning her coaching hours to finalize her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) certification with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).  Dr. Boutla has been trained in interpreting a number of leadership assessments, including Gallup StrengthFinder, EQi, Career Leader, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Strong Interest Inventory. 

Current Endeavors:

• Dr. Boutla currently serves as a Career Coach at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service (SFS), where she coaches alumni and graduate students, designs and deploy innovative workshops, as well as lead the growth of the SFS Career Portal to support students and alumni as they clarify their skills and career goals, sharpen their networking skills, optimize their resume, cover letters, and interviewing skills as well as successfully negotiate their salary and next promotion in a variety of fields such as impact investing, corporate social responsibility, security and intelligence, global education, international development, environmental conservation, gender violence, global health, think tanks, government affairs, tech, and careers at multi-laterals. 
• Dr. Boutla has also teaches Social Entrepreneurship and Technical Writing Courses for engineering, business, and liberal arts students at the University of Maryland.
• Dr. Boutla regularly consults with lean startups interested in integrating learning science and insights from the neuroscience of behavioral change into their digital products and services.   

Spanning more than 15 years, Dr. Boutla’s professional work has been dedicated to the empowerment of leaders and innovators. She has developed award winning digital products and methods that have been leveraged by her individual clients, corporate entities, lean startups, and fellowship programs focused on innovative programming anchored in the latest research in neuroplasticity, motivational psychology, and learning science.  

A contributor to international news outlets, including Forbes, DevEx, and Inc, Dr. Boutla provides her expert opinion and thought leadership on a wide variety of evidence-based cognitive neuroscience topics. Her deep knowledge of the brain mechanisms underlying our ability to learn, relate to others, as well as our leadership effectiveness makes her an authority in facilitating transformative learning outcomes within individuals. A discerning innovator, she approaches these topics with expertise and a continuous learning approach that lends a valuable perspective on current event news stories and is relatable to non-technical audiences.

Dr. Boutla specializes in turning insights from neuroplasticity and motivational psychology into scalable technology and approaches to empower emerging and established leaders in securing career opportunities that blend financial reward with social impact and environmental stewardship.  At Quad Learning, Dr. Boutla oversaw a seven-figure budget to train advisors, and develop a student self-service advising platform that contributed to helping hundreds of students from 25+ countries including China, Vietnam, and Indonesia successfully acclimate to the US classroom and transfer from community college to 4-year top universities across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Texas, and the State of Washington.  In 2013, she received the AshokaU Prize for the most scalable solution in higher education for her “More Than Money Careers” social enterprise, which empowered 5,000+ leaders and students to get clear, get connected, and get hired for internships and jobs in cross-sector mission-driven organizations in Corporate Social Responsibility, impact investing, sustainable business, social enterprises around the world.  

Global Personal Journey

Mrim’s father grew up in a rural area in Southern Morocco.  He never went to school, and at the end of World War II, at age 16, he immigrated to Europe, working in construction in Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland.  Navigating blatant racism against North Africans in Europe only got worse when he met Mrim’s mother, who is from a Swiss German family. Mrim’s mother’s family rejected their union, and Mrim as well as her two siblings learned early how to navigate racial undercurrent at home and at school.  Mrim and her siblings also navigated being educated in the Swiss school system but having to attend Koranic school on weekends.  These experiences taught them how to continuously navigate  multiple cultures, and the importance of forging a strong sense of authenticity, community and belonging.

Mrim’s mother left school after 9th grade, working two jobs as a cashier as well as knitting on the side to make ends meet.  She instilled in Mrim the importance of hard work and of creating our own entrepreneurial opportunities. Mrim always dreamt of going to university, wanting to understand the dissociation between knowledge and behavior.  She always thought that if people knew better, they would do better. But they learned all the facts in school about why domestic violence did not solve anything, but it was still going on around her. She learned in school about the dangers of drugs, so why were her friends dealing and consuming drugs?  She wanted to earn a college degree to better understand the human mind but due to her financial situation, she left school at 16 to start an apprenticeship in business administration at 16. After three years, she went back to the School of Commerce to earn her GED in accounting and business administration, and took a big risk: moving to Belgium to study Psychology.  Throughout her college years, Mrim worked 30+ and every summer to fund her undergraduate education, earning her Msc in Psychology with “high distinction” in 1999. She was awarded a full-ride scholarship to earn her PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, and a full-ride scholarship for her post-doctoral research training at Brown University.  Her life mission has not changed:

“My purpose is to leverage scientific insights to help leaders get clear, get connected, and get hired for career opportunities that blend financial rewards with social impact, and environmental sustainability.”

Credentials

Executive Certificate, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Georgetown University (USA)

PhD, Brain and Cognitive Sciences | University of Rochester (USA)

MA, Brain and Cognitive Sciences | University of Rochester (USA)

License en Sciences Psychologiques avec Grande Distinction (Masters in Psychological Sciences with Departmental Honors) | UC Louvain (Belgium)

Certificat Fédéral de Capacité – Employée de Commerce avec Certificat Supérieur (Federal Apprenticeship Certificate in Business Administration) | Ecole Professionnelle Commerciale de Lausanne (Switzerland)

Certifications

Society for Human Resources Management Certified Practitioner (SHRM-CP) | Society for Human Resources Management

Certified Strength Coach | Gallup Inc.

Honors and Awards

National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) DC Node startup mentor

Embassy of France NETVA Program startup mentor

HeraHubDC startup mentor

Inaugural 1776 Entrepreneur Cohort member

Indiana University Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation Board Member 

Brown University Neuroplasticity Postdoctoral Research Fellowship recipient (with Professor Bill Heindel)

Society for Neuroscience Eli Lilly Graduate Student Travel Award recipient

Cognitive Neuroscience Society Graduate Student Presentation Award recipient

McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience Fellowship recipient 

University of Rochester Brain and Cognitive Sciences Doctoral (full-ride) Scholarship recipient

Ousseimi Foundation Merit-Based Award Scholarship recipient