About

  • 25+

    Years of experience teaching in the classroom and working as an administrator

  • 75+

    Workshops, keynotes, retreats

  • 3

    Books published (and a 4th one coming in 2026!)

  • 75+

    Organizations I’ve worked with, globally

A person with gray hair, glasses, and a colorful floral shirt sitting on a wooden floor with knees bent, smiling, with arms crossed in front. They are wearing black pants, sneakers, and floral socks, with their cheek resting on their right hand against a brown textured background.

About me

I have worked in education for three decades, serving as a teacher, instructional coach, site leader, professional development facilitator, and published author. While working in schools, I developed a Teaching Fellows program for new teachers, in-house professional development tailored to the needs of the staff, built instructional coaching programs, and served as the Dean of Faculty where I oversaw the overhaul of teacher growth and evaluation. I also supported new teachers across the state of California as they developed their skills as early-career educators.

Professional Experience

In 2019, I began working as an independent consultant and have worked with clients all over the globe. I have worked with the Eastern Education Resource Collaborative (East Ed) and as the Developer of People and Programs for Bright Morning Consulting. I am a contributing author of The Art of Coaching Workbook (2020). I am co-author (with Elena Aguilar) of The PD Book: 7 Habits that Transform Professional Development (2022) and Integrating Educator Well-Being, Growth, and Evaluation: Four Foundations for Leaders (with Elizabeth Denevi) (2025). She is currently working on a book on transformative lesson planning, due out in 2026.

Where I live & what I love to do

I live in Portland, Oregon, with my partner and adorable dog. When I’m not consulting, coaching, leading workshops, or writing, I am running through the gorgeous landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, drinking delicious coffee, or scoping out the latest restaurant.

  • Two women smiling and standing close together in an art gallery. One is wearing a colorful, patterned outfit and the other is dressed in dark pants and a red jacket. Behind them is a large wall mural with illustrations of diverse people, a sign about violence and courage, and the phrase "We all bear witness to violence."
  • Two women standing together at a conference, smiling at the camera. Behind them is a presentation screen with text about an educational conference titled 'Learning Forward Conference 2025' and mentioning topics on educator well-being, growth, and evaluation, along with the names Lori Cohen and Elizabeth Denevi.
  • A smiling woman wearing a red knit hat, glasses, a white shirt, and a yellow sweater with a name tag that reads 'Lori Cohen.' She is standing in front of a presentation slide on a screen with text and a black border.
  • Two women smiling at a kitchen table filled with electronic devices, mugs, and papers. The woman in the foreground has silver hair and glasses, and the woman in the background has brown hair and is wearing a colorful shirt. There are laptops, a tablet, a microphone, and various papers on the table, with a refrigerator covered in magnets and papers behind them.
  • A group of four people, two women and two men, smiling and taking a selfie at a conference or event. The women are in the center, one with white hair and glasses, the other with dark hair; the men are on either side, with the man on the left having a beard and the woman on the right having dark hair. They are all wearing lanyards and shirts with the phrase 'Make the Implicit Explicit.'

✔︎ Professional learning design

✔︎ Curriculum development and scope and sequence work

✔︎ Change management processes and systems redesign

✔︎ Feedback and growth structures

✔︎ Teacher development

✔︎ Coaching

✔︎ Leadership development

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My areas of expertise include:

About my approach

Learn about what you get when we work together, and how my unique approach is designed to empower and gently challenge you towards transformational growth.

A pair of black and white Converse-style sneakers viewed from above, inside a circular frame with a brown border.

About the logo

An origin story

When I was 11, I had a pair of black Converse I wore every day. No matter the occasion, they were my go-to kicks: an extension of me, my creativity. They were well-worn, filled with sketches I drew with my ballpoint pen. When I laced up those shoes each morning, I felt confident, adventurous—unafraid of my fullest expression and imagination. Free. In my 11-year-old brain, those shoes gave me superpowers.

When I started teaching, I rediscovered the freedom and expansiveness I felt as that 11-year-old in her favorite shoes. Through a love of learning and teaching, I discovered my voice, my creativity, my confidence and imagination—and the path ahead became clear. The superpowers my shoes provided were always in me. And I discovered new superpowers: helping others find their voices—the fullest expression of themselves. Through teaching, coaching, and leading adults, I supported people in uncovering the most imaginative, bold, and confident versions of who they were. Rooted in these dispositions, those I supported were able to transform the conditions around them. It was inspiring to witness.

What it means to me today

When I started Lori Cohen Consulting, I created this logo to remind me that while those physical shoes are long gone, the superpowers they symbolize are always present: abundant creativity, imagination, full expression—the essence of not just of my childhood self, but what’s true for me at my core. This logo also symbolizes what I desire to do for others: support them in their own transformation through tapping into their superpowers, identifying their purpose, imagining what’s possible, and enacting their fullest potential.