May 22, 2017
Andrea is an internationally recognized Aromatherapist who is changing the educational paradigm through her inspired approach to teaching and creating community.
Andrea spent the first decade of her career working in private practice as a massage therapist and studying plants and natural medicine. She and Cindy Black joined together in 1994 and founded the acclaimed Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca, New York.
It was during this time in Andrea’s career that her lifelong interest in plant medicine really began to take shape as she began incorporating herbal and essential oils into the school’s curriculum.
Andrea’s commitment to the intensive study of plants and aromatherapy led her to Europe in 1995. During the course of her studies, she discovered the book Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit. So inspired by its teachings, Andrea contacted the author Gabriel Mojay who encouraged her to visit Rhiannon Lewis in France and to experience the essential oil distillation process firsthand.
During a trip with Rhiannon in the south of France in 1995, Andrea witnessed the craftsmanship involved in the distilling process. This ignited Andrea’s passion and commitment to source all of her essential oils directly from distillers, to ensure quality and purity. She formed the popular essential oil website Aromatics International and over the years has traveled the world developing relationships with small, organic artisan distillers in England, France, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Morocco, Italy, Corsica, Canada, Seychelle Islands, South Africa, The United Arab Emirates, Grenada and the United States.
Andrea went on to teach her first Aromatherapy Certification Program in 1998, which established the beginning of Aromahead Institute. In 2003 she and Cindy transferred ownership of the massage school and in 2010 they sold Aromatics International in order to focus full time on building the online school at Aromahead Institute.
Andrea continues to travel the world working with independent essential oil distillers and regularly serves as a guest lecturer at Aromatherapy conferences.
Her first book Essential Living: Aromatherapy Recipes for Health and Home was published in 2012. Her second book, The Heart of Aromatherapy, was published in January, 2017. She is a contributing writer for several aromatherapy journals, and writes her own blog, newsletter and eBooks.
Community is a big part of Andrea’s message. She creates and fosters an exciting online community via:
Aromahead Graduate’s directory
Aromahead Facebook page
Essential News
Aromahead Blog
Youtube Video Channel
Google +
Pinterest