Dr. Jacinta Jiménez

Jacinta M. Jiménez, PsyD, BCC (also known as “Dr. J”) is an award-winning author, psychologist, and board-certified leadership Coach with a 20+ year career dedicated to the betterment of individuals, leaders, and organizations.

Her work is focused on synthesizing her deep knowledge of human behavior and applying it to the development of technology, innovative coaching programs, and leaders. From this work, Dr. Jiménez has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in San Francisco for 2022 List by Women We Admire. She has also been recognized by LA Weekly Magazine as a top coach to follow.

Her book, The Burnout Fix (McGraw Hill, 2021) has been recognized by Business Insider as a top book to read about burnout, was the winner in getAbstract’s prestigious 2021 International Book of the Year Reader’s Choice Award, and was named a Best Book on Burnout & Recovery for 2022 by Choosing Therapy.

As the Vice President of Coaching Innovation at BetterUp, Dr. J drives the development of groundbreaking technology-enabled science-backed coaching approaches, tools, and frameworks for helping today’s top organizations foster resilience, mental flourishing, and peak performance at work.

Her charter involves working at the intersection of science, humanism, and technology to thoughtfully reimage the future of coaching in an ever-changing world of work.

She works in collaboration with multiple teams (ranging from ethicists, scientists, design thinkers, and product experts) as well as industry leaders in the coaching and leadership development space.

The power of human connection and positivity resonance. Due to technological advances, the world is changing rapidly. And while this pulls us to dive into prospection, forecasting, and predicting how things will evolve, I believe it is also important to consider the things that WON’T change. At the end of the day, humans will be human, and we know connection plays a significant role in our physical and mental health as well as happiness — both at the individual and collective levels. This is why I get tremendously inspired about advancing the coaching profession to foster more connection at scale.

My maternal grandmother Mary was only able to achieve an 8th-grade level education. Because of this, she instilled in me the importance of education toward empowerment and became the champion of my academic career. Specifically, Grandma Mary, who worked as a maid at a roadside hotel, would write me every month to tell me just how proud she was to see me in school. Along with each letter, she would include $5 as her way of helping me manage costs. Grandma Mary continued this practice throughout my entire academic career — all the way into my postdoctoral education (which is a lot of time and a lot of letters)! This commitment demonstrated her unwavering belief in me and what she could eventually give to the world through her education.

Her influence has shaped my Northstar Purpose:

“My purpose is to educate and empower others through science to live their lives with greater authenticity and vitality.”

Superintelligence, Nick Bostrom

Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl