Today, most of Laila's work starts with a founder navigating something they can't quite name yet and regularly becomes a multi-year partnership spanning coaching, org design, team dynamics, and the conversations nobody else in the room can have.
ABOUT LAILA
Laila Tarraf is a leadership advisor and talent strategist with over 25 years of experience building strong cultures and high-performing teams across industries and stages of growth. She was a founding member of Walmart.com at the height of the first internet boom, and later served as Chief People Officer at Peet’s Coffee as the company scaled nationally.
She went on to spend seven years in private equity; first at GI Partners, then as a Human Capital Advisor at Altamont Capital before joining Allbirds as Chief People Officer, where she led the organization through a founder transition and into its public company phase.
But Laila’s approach to leadership wasn’t shaped by professional success alone. It was forged through a series of profound personal losses and transformations that deepened her understanding of what it really means to lead and live well.
Through those experiences, she came to embrace the inherent duality of life - balancing courage with compassion, integrating head with heart, infusing power with tenderness.
These ideas are at the heart of her debut book, Strong Like Water™, and the foundation of her work with leaders today.
Laila holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and guest lectures at Berkeley Law. She is Lebanese and American, an avid traveler and explorer, and a proud mom to her daughter Nadia and their 8-pound Yorkie, Max.
In 2027, Laila joins the faculty at Rancho La Puerta, voted The World's Best Destination Spa by Travel + Leisure for the past decade, leading her five-session workshop, Our Stories Save Us... until they hold us back. Weeks of February 6 and September 11.
STRATEGIC LEADER
Laila has spent over two decades leading People functions at high-growth operating companies and advising leadership in professional services firms.
Her work sits at the intersection of business strategy and human dynamics. She helps organizations align culture with strategy, whether scaling a brand, transitioning leadership, or strengthening partnership dynamics inside a firm. Her approach blends systems thinking with emotional fluency to build environments where clarity, accountability, and connection can thrive.
Laila believes exceptional organizations are built not just by smart strategies, but by leaders who are willing to lead with both strength and heart.
In the press
Forbes
Harvard Business Review
Haas School of Business
HR Drive
LAILA TARRAF WINS THE 2022 SECOND ANNUAL COMPASSIONATE LEADERS CIRCLE AWARDS ON FORBES.COM FOR THE “COURAGEOUS” CATEGORY
LAILA TARRAF’S BOOK ‘STRONG LIKE WATER’ IS LISTED AMONGST BRENE BROWN & 10 OTHER LEADERSHIP BOOKS IN THIS FORBES ARTICLE
Laila Tarraf’s commencement speech at the ewnba for 2020 & 2021 classes at the haas school of business
HR DIVE Q&A WITH LAILA TARRAF ABOUT HOW SHE LEADS AFTER 2020
Your Questions About Work, Caregiving, and Covid-19,Answered “The lines between work and home have blurred, which requires all of us — employers and employees — to establish stronger boundaries and practice self-care in a much more intentional way.”
Allbirds was voted #1 start-up in forbes’ Meet America’s Best Startup Employers 2020: “The talent we attract is aligned with our mission to make an impact on the world.”
SPEAKER
Available for workshops, keynotes and fireside chats. Watch the reel to see Laila in action.
