Pam Deaton grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas, where her lawyer father was a lifelong friend of  Lyndon Johnson. A state tennis finalist and cheerleader for the largest high school in the country at the time, she went to Smith College(Massachusetts) for a degree in government. Spending her junior year at the Sorbonne(Paris) and the University of Geneva, she became quite fluent in French. After graduation and studies at Columbia University(New York), she entered seminary in Louisville  with her then boyfriend. Focusing on a counseling career, she worked in the psychiatric units in Norton Hospital(Louisville) and in Emory University Hospital(Atlanta).  After finishing her Masters in Counseling from Georgia State, she joined the staff of Georgia Mental Health Institute as a psychotherapist. She would leave that position to manage the growing family and business. Trained by Florence Littauer in Personality Styles, she is a frequent speaker and has served on the board of a billion-dollar corporation. Pam was recognized by Friends of the Americas and the Wall Street Journal for launching a “shoe box donation” program that has spread around the world.