Geraldine Howard, co-founder of Aromatherapy Associates,
Geraldine Howard was the best of us, she was a light spirit and a joyful soul who worked tirelessly to make the world a better place through her endeavours, gifts and energies.
She was hugely creative and compassionate and her first instinct was always for others. These gifts directed her life’s work. She led her team at Aromatherapy Associates to build a business with great integrity which creates meaningful products people need and value.
She’s left a great legacy: a company which leads the field in innovation, standards and consistency; a list of loyal clients who view their relationship with Aromatherapy Associates as far more than just business; and a lifetime spent training others and passing on her knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for aromatherapy.
Geraldine was a businesswoman and understood that in order to spread the word about aromatherapy and make it a force for good, she had to build a successful company. However, her business-focus was driven by her ideology and not by personal greed, so her many successes were all the more authentic as a result.
She got great satisfaction from seeing the enthusiasm for her products among her loyal customers, who use them as part of their personal wellbeing regimes and from the fact that their lives are changed for the better by using the products she created.
It was also important to her that others are also able to lead happy, fulfilling lives with good employment prospects – be it within her own business or those of her clients – as a direct result of her work.
There’s a group of people, who can proudly say ‘I was trained in aromatherapy by Geraldine Howard’ and to feel it as a badge of excellence – they will carry on her work and are one of her greatest achievements.
She had a genius for aromatherapy and an incredible ‘nose’ which – when combined with her highly empathetic nature – enabled her to intuit the healing needs of others and formulate products which met those needs. It’s important we remember that this powerful gift was the bedrock of her work.
On a personal level, for the many who counted Geraldine as a friend or mentor we’ve been very blessed to have her in our lives. She created positivity in so many ways and lit up the room with her smile.
She led by example and her grace under pressure in the face of the illness which took her from us far too soon, is a true inspiration in how to take what life dishes out and make the very best of it right to the end.
She turned every situation to a positive and even her cancer treatment inspired the launch of a new oil – called Inner Strength – which she created and used as a fund-raiser for a cancer protocol she had benefitted from.
Even after drastic chemotherapy in 2015, she still found the strength to devise a treat for friends, colleagues and delegates at the Global Wellness Summit in Mexico City.
Unable to attend due to her failing health, she mixed a special aromatherapy oil and sent it – along with a taper for every delegate – to enable everyone present to take a break and inhale the scent. She planned this with huge attention to detail and it was such a generous and thoughtful thing to do. The purpose being to raise awareness of the need for hospitals to use essential oils in patient treatment regimes.
In an accompanying video, she explained how she had found great comfort through the use of oils while in hospital herself and wanted to pass this idea on to the wider world.
Later on at the summit, there was a standing ovation from delegates when she was honoured via Skype with the Leading Woman in Wellness Award in the Global Wellness Awards.
Geraldine’s legacy and gift to us is a set of powerful lessons: to make the most of every second of precious life, to put our heart and soul into our work and find joy in it, to give selflessly of ourselves, to keep fighting right to the end and never give up, to set the highest standards in everything we do and most importantly, to never lose our sense of humour.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2016 issue 1
Interview: Kenneth Ryan
Marriott’s global head of spa talks exclusively to Katie Barnes about the new ‘game-changing’ Ritz-Carlton Spa brand and market domination
Promotional feature: Steve Kass Consulting
Steve Kass, founder and former CEO of American Leisure, has launched a new business, Steve Kass Consulting. The global leader explains his goals as an innovative concept and design creator
Research: Work it out
Ophelia Yeung gives a sneak preview of a new study on workplace wellness that debuts later this month
Fitness: Competitive edge
Could a touch of rivalry help spas to engage more people in fitness? Niamh Madigan finds out
Promotional feature: Ojmar
A growing number of spa operators across the UK are working with Ojmar to upgrade their traditional keyed locking systems to electronic solutions
Jeremy McCarthy group director of spa, Mandarin Oriental
Geraldine was truly a bright light in the spa industry and was loved and admired by everyone who knew her. While the world is a bit less bright without her in it, the legacy she leaves behind in terms of the people she has touched and the products she has created will go on for years to come.
Andrew Gibson, VP spa and wellness, FRH
The world has lost one of its wonderful people and we in the spa industry have lost one of our most loved leaders. Geraldine Howard passed away after celebrating Christmas at home. Her engaging smile, energy, enthusiasm and passion for wellness will be missed by all and may her positive energy continue to brighten the heavens.
Jeff Matthews president, Steiner Spa Consulting
Geraldine was a pioneer, but not just because of her amazing blends of oils or treatments she created. She brought many things to the spa industry and two to me in particular. The first was integrity in her product, something she never wavered from. The second, a state of calm in doing business. It was like she took me by the hand and said ‘now Jeff this is the way to do it’ – then she let me get on with it. She will be missed by all. Rest in peace.
Elaine Fenard managing partner, Spa Strategy
As a leader Geraldine was the best: gentle, compassionate yet strong. As a friend she was all that and more. She recently told me she believed our loved ones are in our hearts always, life is about enjoying the small treasures and the people who bring us joy and comfort. Geraldine certainly did that.
Delegates at the Global Wellness Summit enjoyed her specially formulated oil
Inner Strength: an oil to help people through difficult times
COMPANY PROFILES
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TechnoAlpin is the world leader for snowmaking systems. With the Indoor snow division, TechnoAlpin c [more...]
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to [more...]
IAAPA EMEA
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Geraldine Howard, co-founder of Aromatherapy Associates,
Geraldine Howard was the best of us, she was a light spirit and a joyful soul who worked tirelessly to make the world a better place through her endeavours, gifts and energies.
She was hugely creative and compassionate and her first instinct was always for others. These gifts directed her life’s work. She led her team at Aromatherapy Associates to build a business with great integrity which creates meaningful products people need and value.
She’s left a great legacy: a company which leads the field in innovation, standards and consistency; a list of loyal clients who view their relationship with Aromatherapy Associates as far more than just business; and a lifetime spent training others and passing on her knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for aromatherapy.
Geraldine was a businesswoman and understood that in order to spread the word about aromatherapy and make it a force for good, she had to build a successful company. However, her business-focus was driven by her ideology and not by personal greed, so her many successes were all the more authentic as a result.
She got great satisfaction from seeing the enthusiasm for her products among her loyal customers, who use them as part of their personal wellbeing regimes and from the fact that their lives are changed for the better by using the products she created.
It was also important to her that others are also able to lead happy, fulfilling lives with good employment prospects – be it within her own business or those of her clients – as a direct result of her work.
There’s a group of people, who can proudly say ‘I was trained in aromatherapy by Geraldine Howard’ and to feel it as a badge of excellence – they will carry on her work and are one of her greatest achievements.
She had a genius for aromatherapy and an incredible ‘nose’ which – when combined with her highly empathetic nature – enabled her to intuit the healing needs of others and formulate products which met those needs. It’s important we remember that this powerful gift was the bedrock of her work.
On a personal level, for the many who counted Geraldine as a friend or mentor we’ve been very blessed to have her in our lives. She created positivity in so many ways and lit up the room with her smile.
She led by example and her grace under pressure in the face of the illness which took her from us far too soon, is a true inspiration in how to take what life dishes out and make the very best of it right to the end.
She turned every situation to a positive and even her cancer treatment inspired the launch of a new oil – called Inner Strength – which she created and used as a fund-raiser for a cancer protocol she had benefitted from.
Even after drastic chemotherapy in 2015, she still found the strength to devise a treat for friends, colleagues and delegates at the Global Wellness Summit in Mexico City.
Unable to attend due to her failing health, she mixed a special aromatherapy oil and sent it – along with a taper for every delegate – to enable everyone present to take a break and inhale the scent. She planned this with huge attention to detail and it was such a generous and thoughtful thing to do. The purpose being to raise awareness of the need for hospitals to use essential oils in patient treatment regimes.
In an accompanying video, she explained how she had found great comfort through the use of oils while in hospital herself and wanted to pass this idea on to the wider world.
Later on at the summit, there was a standing ovation from delegates when she was honoured via Skype with the Leading Woman in Wellness Award in the Global Wellness Awards.
Geraldine’s legacy and gift to us is a set of powerful lessons: to make the most of every second of precious life, to put our heart and soul into our work and find joy in it, to give selflessly of ourselves, to keep fighting right to the end and never give up, to set the highest standards in everything we do and most importantly, to never lose our sense of humour.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2016 issue 1
Interview: Kenneth Ryan
Marriott’s global head of spa talks exclusively to Katie Barnes about the new ‘game-changing’ Ritz-Carlton Spa brand and market domination
Promotional feature: Steve Kass Consulting
Steve Kass, founder and former CEO of American Leisure, has launched a new business, Steve Kass Consulting. The global leader explains his goals as an innovative concept and design creator
Research: Work it out
Ophelia Yeung gives a sneak preview of a new study on workplace wellness that debuts later this month
Fitness: Competitive edge
Could a touch of rivalry help spas to engage more people in fitness? Niamh Madigan finds out
Promotional feature: Ojmar
A growing number of spa operators across the UK are working with Ojmar to upgrade their traditional keyed locking systems to electronic solutions
Jeremy McCarthy group director of spa, Mandarin Oriental
Geraldine was truly a bright light in the spa industry and was loved and admired by everyone who knew her. While the world is a bit less bright without her in it, the legacy she leaves behind in terms of the people she has touched and the products she has created will go on for years to come.
Andrew Gibson, VP spa and wellness, FRH
The world has lost one of its wonderful people and we in the spa industry have lost one of our most loved leaders. Geraldine Howard passed away after celebrating Christmas at home. Her engaging smile, energy, enthusiasm and passion for wellness will be missed by all and may her positive energy continue to brighten the heavens.
Jeff Matthews president, Steiner Spa Consulting
Geraldine was a pioneer, but not just because of her amazing blends of oils or treatments she created. She brought many things to the spa industry and two to me in particular. The first was integrity in her product, something she never wavered from. The second, a state of calm in doing business. It was like she took me by the hand and said ‘now Jeff this is the way to do it’ – then she let me get on with it. She will be missed by all. Rest in peace.
Elaine Fenard managing partner, Spa Strategy
As a leader Geraldine was the best: gentle, compassionate yet strong. As a friend she was all that and more. She recently told me she believed our loved ones are in our hearts always, life is about enjoying the small treasures and the people who bring us joy and comfort. Geraldine certainly did that.
Delegates at the Global Wellness Summit enjoyed her specially formulated oil
Inner Strength: an oil to help people through difficult times
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
The government of Thailand is exploring plans for a THB300bn (£6.3bn, US$8.3bn)
entertainment complex in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with officials
proposing a large-scale theme park and sports destination as part of a broader tourism and
economic development strategy.
Royal Caribbean has revealed its Hero of the Seas cruise ship, home to the most pools at sea
(nine), and a record-breaking 28 dining venues, as well as attractions including a waterpark
with two new family raft slides.
+ More news
COMPANY PROFILES
TechnoAlpin Indoor TechnoAlpin is the world leader for snowmaking systems. With the Indoor snow division, TechnoAlpin c [more...]
Simworx Ltd The company was initially established
in 1997. Terry Monkton and Andrew
Roberts are the key stakeh [more...]
Taylor Made Designs Founded in 1993, Taylor Made
Designs supply corporate clothing
and brand-enhancing merchandise
to [more...]
IAAPA EMEA IAAPA Expo Europe was established in 2006 and has grown to the largest international conference and [more...]
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
