Why is this woman smiling? She’s about to take the Certified Cheese Professional exam, concluding eight months of intensive study. At 65 (believe it or not), Erin Selby is not a typical CCP candidate, and her motivation isn’t typical either. Most people want the credential for career advancement. For Selby, passing the exam would cap a cheese journey that began more than four decades ago, with a college year in Switzerland. But her determination to master the subject really kicked into gear after an intimidating encounter with a cheese clerk.

Selby spent most of her career in Connecticut, working in the mortgage world. But she traces her love of good cheese to that formative year of study in Geneva, followed by seven years living on a Greek island with her first husband. “I’m still on the hunt for great feta,” she told me. “It’s been my pet peeve in life not to find the same quality of feta over here.”

While shopping in Connecticut for a dinner party, she met the cheese clerk who changed her life. “This patronizing cheesemonger clearly was not in the right job,” says Selby, “but she was pivotal in my renewed interest in cheese. I vowed never to have that humiliating experience again.”

She made a plan to build a cheese-focused résumé and network, moved to Sonoma County to be closer to opportunities, and began taking cheese workshops and volunteering at events. I met Selby when she assisted me in a class at the California Artisan Cheese Festival and she has since assisted me, mostly as a volunteer, many times. She now works full-time doing sales support for the French company that owns Laura Chenel and Marin French Cheese.

The American Cheese Society’s CCP exam is no cakewalk. You don’t have to be a perceptive taster (that’s another exam), but you do have to master a vast body of knowledge that includes cheesemaking and aging, milk handling, cheese evaluation, regulation and cheese-counter practices. This year’s test takes place on September 16, yet Selby took time away from her books to chat with me about her exam prep.

Why did you decide to try for CCP?
It’s not a career thing for me; it’s a personal goal. It’s not going to change my pay scale or get me a job promotion. I’m in a different place about it than a lot of younger people working at a cheese counter. I’m just curious about all aspects of the business and want to learn more. When you start studying for the CCP, you have no idea what you don’t know.

Did you have a strategy for exam prep?
A definite strategy. I reached out to several CCPs and asked, “Can you give me more specifics on how you did it?” Everyone said, “Get in a study group.” We meet by Zoom—20 weeks, two hours a week. Outside of class, the recommendation is a minimum of four hours of study a week. I’m spending two hours a day now. You want the material to be fresh in your head.

Normally the exam is given at the American Cheese Society conference. But the conference was canceled this year. How are they going to give the exam?
We had a choice to put it off or take the exam with online remote software. It’s sophisticated artificial-intelligence software with a camera that observes your behavior. You can’t get up and walk away. You can’t have any devices around you. They’ve broken up the 150 questions into two sessions and you get a break in between.

What part of the exam are you most uneasy about?
My weakness is the cheese knowledge. I know a lot about chèvre and soft-ripened cheese because I work for a producer, but there all those cheeses that I don’t know from Spain, France and Italy. But learning that is the fun part. I don’t have the daily experience that a cheesemonger would have, but I know a lot about operations, cheesemaking and ripening.

How do you think the credential has changed the industry, if it has?
I definitely think it has. To me it’s the difference between a bookkeeper and a CPA. I think it was a brilliant idea to have a benchmark of knowledge. If you’re in the front lines of selling cheese and you’re a CCP, you know what you’re talking about. There’s a recognized level of training that comes with it.

Favorite Laura Chenel cheese?
I love our little crottin. It’s such a nice small portion. It’s tangy and citrusy but aged. And my other favorite is the Jalapeño Chile Marinated Goat Cheese. For my Taco Tuesdays I substitute it for sour cream. My favorite Marin French cheese is, hands down, our Schloss. I just love dark beer and stinky cheese.