About Pam

Pamela Newton is a seasoned marketing executive whose lengthy career includes over twenty years in the entertainment industry. Now, with the publication of her revolutionary new memoir, A Candle for My Mother, Newton adds “author” to her professional resume.

Infected at an early age by her mother’s adventurous spirit and love of worldwide travel, Newton grew up to embrace a similar lifestyle, grateful for any and all opportunities to travel the globe and experience other cultures. 

“I’ve always enjoyed telling stories,” she reminisces. “My mom was the best storyteller ever. I have such fond memories of entertaining friends and family with tales of her travels, and of my own. With this book, I’m realizing a dream that I’ve held close to my heart for decades: writing this ‘love letter’ to my mother, highlighting our family’s highly unusual lifestyle.” Newton notes that the book does not sugarcoat her upbringing. “It highlights the good and the bad, the wonderful and the scary!”

The revolutionary approach employed by A Candle for My Mother will allow each reader to “personalize” the book, and give tribute to his or her own mother within its pages, Newton promises. She explains that readers will be able to utilize the book’s blank pages to write personalized messages to their own mothers.

The youngest of four daughters, Newton’s father was an oil driller who hailed from Pennsylvania; her mother, a bookkeeper, grew up in Duluth, Minnesota. The couple met and married in California. Although money was tight for such a large family, her mother never gave up her dream to see the world, and she talked her husband into working overseas. As a result, Newton began her world travels at age three! She’s lived in such exotic locales as Iraq and attended boarding school in England. After moving with her family back to Southern California, Newton spent her summer vacations in Kuwait where her father was then working.

Newton began her professional career in retail at the May Co., a department store later purchased by Macy's, but left the retail buying life for an eleven-year stint as an executive search consultant, a headhunter. She then moved on to the entertainment industry, working her way up to become Vice President of Marketing and Licensing for Paramount Pictures. She would later become Head of International Retail Partnerships at DreamWorks Animation, traveling about 100,000 miles a year to such exotic locations as London, Paris, Madrid, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul and Berlin. Currently, Newton divides her time between writing and teaching marketing courses at The Los Angeles Film School, where she enjoys mentoring the next generation of talented entertainment industry professionals.

“It’s my hope that the readers of my book will find their own story in their individual relationships with their mothers, recognizing their own mothers’ gifts to them,” Newton explains. “This book is designed to be a gift. Read it, write in it and then give it to your mother…with gratitude.”