By Liz Terry, CEO of Leisure Media

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.

She was hugely creative and compassionate and her first instinct was always for others. These gifts directed her life’s work, meaning she led her team in building a business with great integrity which creates meaningful products that 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, she had to build a successful company. However, her business-focus was driven by her ideology and not by personal greed, so her success was all the more authentic as a result.

She got great satisfaction from seeing the enthusiasm for her products among her loyal customers, who used them as part of their personal wellbeing regimes and from the fact that their lives were changed for the better by using the products she created.

It was also important to her that others were able to lead happy, fulfilling lives with good employment prospects – be it within her own business or those of her clients – as a result of her work.

There is a group of people in the spa industry, 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 gift was the bedrock of her life's work.

On a personal level, for the many who counted Geraldine as a friend, we've been 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.

She turned every situation to a positive and even her cancer treatment inspired the launch of a new oil – called Inner Strength – which she used as a fund-raiser for a groundbreaking new cancer protocol.

And even after drastic chemotherapy during 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. 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 and wanted to pass this idea on to the wider world.

Geraldine's legacy to us is to 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, to set the highest standards in everything we do and most importantly, to never lose our sense of humour.