Founder, Kaizen Education Services

Samantha Woods

Empowering Brains for Learning & Life

Kaizen Education Brain Logo Icon
Photo of Samantha Woods, Founder of Kaizen Education

Samantha Woods

Founder of Kaizen Education Services

Samantha Woods is not your typical education expert. She’s a former classroom teacher, learning support specialist, and team leader who got tired of watching smart kids (and brilliant teachers) fall apart—not because they didn’t care, but because no one ever taught them the skills behind the learning.

Samantha founded Kaizen Education Services to transform traditional education. For over 25 years, she has explored how brain science intersects with learning, behavior, and mental health. She has built a movement around one radical idea: executive functioning skills aren’t optional—they’re essential.

Through her signature program, The Brain Hub Academy, Samantha helps educators and parents move from frustration to clarity by teaching the real-life, brain-based skills that drive academic success, emotional regulation, mental health, well-being, and, most importantly, resilience.

Her workshops and coaching sessions are known for being practical, energizing, and rooted in lived experience—not just theory. She believes educators can’t pour from an empty cup and that schools need more than referrals—they need solutions that actually work in the classroom.

Samantha is now sharing her neuroscience research and program with corporate groups who recognize that neurodiverse children turn into neurodiverse adults whose tremendous potential often goes unexplored in workplace settings.

Samantha is a self-proclaimed Brain Nerd and Positive Disruptor who is rewriting the narrative on school and workplace success. Her mantra? Small changes lead to big improvements. Her mission? To make executive skills education accessible, inclusive, and empowering for everyone—no diagnosis required.

Want help for your students, kiddo or employees?

You’re Doing Everything You Can…

But It Still Feels Like You’re Falling Short.

You care deeply about your students—or your kids.

You’ve tried the checklists, the planners, the systems.

You’re frustrated with adults who ‘should know better.’

… But they’re still forgetting homework, melting down over change, shutting down at work, or just barely holding it together. And if you’re honest? So are you. Teaching, parenting and leading isn’t what it used to be. Things are changing at rapid speed, and you feel like you are drinking from the fire hose of ‘all of the things!’

The real issue? It’s not motivation.

It’s executive functioning.

These invisible brain-based skills—like organization, time management, emotional regulation, and follow-through—are the foundation for learning, mental health, and life success. And yet, most of us were never taught how to build them.

That’s where we come in.

A vibrant classroom setting with engaged students and an enthusiastic teacher.
Meet Your Guide

Samantha Woods, Founder of Kaizen Education Services

A former teacher, learning support specialist, and now executive skills coach, Samantha Woods knows what it’s like to feel powerless in the face of a system that overlooks struggling students and burns out the educators trying to support them.

She created Kaizen Education Services and The Brain Hub Academy to close that gap.

Rooted in neuroscience, her programs and coaching bring clarity, hope, and practical tools to educators, parents and corporate teams—so everyone can thrive, not just survive.

With over three decades of experience in the classroom and neurodiversity advocacy, Samantha doesn’t just deliver “PD Days” “parent sessions” or”‘lunch and learns”—she builds bridges between what research tells us and what real life demands so that all brains can leave with tangible strategies and processes to make life work!

Here’s How She Can Help:



Understand What’s Really Going On

✔️ Learn how executive skills shape behavior, learning, and mental well-being—for all brains (not just the ones with a diagnosis).



Build Toolkits That Actually Work

✔️ Access digital resources, assessments, coaching, and PD that give students, teachers and work teams the strategies they need.



Create a Culture That Supports Brains—Not Behavior

✔️ Empower your school, home or biz to become an executive-brain skills-informed environment where everyone knows how to thrive.

Testimonials

What It’s Like to Work with Samantha

Whether you’re booking a keynote, PD session, coaching call, corporate presentation or a parent night, Samantha brings compassion, authenticity, humor, and hands-on tools to every interaction.

“Working with Samantha and the Kaizen team has been an incredibly valuable experience for learners in the EvolveU Full Stack Developer program. We brought Kaizen in for the 5th intake of our program to help learners identify their cognitive strengths and to better understand how they learn. The program is a 6 month intensive in software development that incorporates both essential skills along with technical skills. Having run 4 previous intakes, we wanted to see how understanding their own brain would help them with shaping their learning and with managing both the volume and pace. Samantha started early in the program with some introductory workshops for the entire group using assessments to help them get a picture of their cognitive and executive skills. From there, they split into sessions with smaller groups based around specific skill development such as time management, planning & prioritization, stress management and strategies for active learning. Once those sessions were complete, there were opportunities for some who needed further one-on-one support to work directly with coaches from Kaizen. The results were superb. Learners had breakthroughs early in the program that allowed them to see long-standing learning challenges in a new light and build new strategies using the strengths they have to overcome those challenges. This set them up to be successful through a heavy workload and working in project teams with many finishing the program saying that it changed their lives. We will definitely continue to engage Kaizen in our programs.”

★★★★★

— Margo Purcell, CEO InceptionU

“We recently had the pleasure of hosting Samantha Woods for a session on neurodiversity in the workplace. Her energetic and passionate delivery made the topic engaging and accessible. The information provided was valuable, offering new insights into the understanding and importance of neurodiversity. Additionally, Samantha shared tools and resources to support managers in fostering an inclusive environment for neurodiverse individuals. We appreciate her dedication to this important subject and the practical advice she offered.”

★★★★★

— Simone Hambly, People & Culture Manager, SeisWare International Inc.

“I recently had the privilege of attending a professional development session with Kaizen. The session provided an in-depth exploration of how executive functioning impacts student learning, behaviour, and overall success in the classroom. Samantha shared resources that are practical, research-based and designed to students develop skills like organization, time management, self-regulation, and problem-solving.
Sam is incredibly knowledgeable, relatable and passionate. My colleagues and I left the workshop feeling empowered with strategies that could be directly applied in our classrooms ad lives.

This professional development helped me better understand my students’ needs and gave me the resources to create an environment where they can thrive. I highly recommend it to any educator looking to enhance their ability to support student success.”

★★★★★

— Jennifer, Glenmore Christian Academy

“It was the first time a PD felt like it was designed for me—not just another checkbox.”

★★★★★

— Educator, Alberta

“I finally understand my son’s brain, and I don’t feel like I’m failing him anymore.”

★★★★★

— Parent, BC

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Let’s stop reacting and start being proactive. Whether you’re a teacher, manager, or parent—this is your invitation to lead with brain science and compassion.
👉 Contact us today to explore how we can work together.
Because small changes? They really do lead to big improvements. True story!

You have Successfully Subscribed!