Pam Birtolo
Aromatherapy Certification Program graduate“Now, I am finally myself; I'm Pam.”
How a lost career became a found one.
The year was 2014; the month was February. Having spent 20 years as an education Grand Poobah, and administrator of the near-highest order, I suddenly found myself jobless. I realized I had no hobbies, no sports, no nothing. The career had been me, and I had been the career. Ouch!
I was crying in my mimosa and playing with my French toast at a local brunch retreat. I left the table to throw cold water on my red eyes. When I went to the restroom, one of those bowls of coconut scrub was beside the sink. I thought, Hmm. This smells good. I could make this.
So, I went home and clicked around the Internet. At that time, I knew nothing about aromatherapy. I didn't even know that I wanted to know something about aromatherapy. Divine intervention guided my clicking to Aromahead.
I read a bit and then emailed a question about classes.
The rest is history. (Knowing what I know now, I've lately wondered what would have happened had I clicked somewhere else.)
PB Squared, LLC
I'm an educator. I've taught kids all about life and British Literature. I've taught adults all about life and scuba diving. I taught people all about life and aerobics.
I was a member of Florida Virtual School's founding leadership team and innovated there as a Chief Learning Officer for over 16 years. I was the founding principal and executive director of Florida's first private online high school. I was the Chief Operations Officer for Global Personalized Academics.
PB Squared is an educational consulting firm. As of this writing, in April, 2017, it is getting ready to launch a new division of lotion, potion, and essential oil education.
What made the difference, in Pam’s words.
Pam spent decades building schools, then judged this one as a student. Here is her verdict, in her own words.
Students at the center
A career education executive's verdict on how these courses are built.
Aromahead courses are not about what the instructors know, but rather focused on what the students can learn. Students are truly at the center of the experience, and that is what grabbed me and keeps me coming back for more.
Room for real life
Her certification took three years of starts and stops, and the program waited for her.
We are now eight courses over three years and three months later. There have been lots of starts and stops and a broken GPS from time to time. Today I finally received my certification!
Not done yet
The certificate was never the finish line; she enrolled in more courses the same year.
This is why I'm not done. Currently, I am working on two more courses, and if there were more, I'd probably be enrolled in them too.
A clear path, one step at a time.
Pam is a graduate of the Aromatherapy Certification (Pathway 3), earning her Certified Professional Aromatherapist credential. It is a cumulative path: each step includes everything before it, and you can climb as far as you like, at your own pace. See the full path →
Start where Pam started.
Pam lost the career that had defined her and clicked her way into a new one. One question, one free course, and the rest is history. Your first pathway is free, and your Pathway 1 dashboard opens right away.
