Laura (Benjamin) Lollar is the Principal and Owner of Communicate Colorado LLC, a coaching, consulting and facilitation company in Colorado Springs. For over 20 years, Laura has facilitated team building, strategic planning and partnering sessions, trained and spoken for organizations throughout the U.S., Canada, Germany and Great Britain. She has also coached hundreds of business owners, executives and frontline managers on interpersonal skills, careers and communication.
A few of her clients include Spectranetics, Junior Achievement, LibDib, the U.S. Army at Fort Carson, State of Florida, Cabela’s World’s Foremost Outfitter, Paint Brush Hills Metropolitan District, Christian Meetings and Conventions Association, National High School Rodeo Association, Professional Bull Riders and many others.
Laura is creator of the CARLA Concept Communication Model and author of the handbook of the same name. She is a skilled facilitator in DISC Behavioral Styles, Team Dimensions the ConflictLens and Personal Listening profiles. Her work has been featured on television, radio, online journals, newspapers and trade magazines. She has been a commencement speaker and guest lecturer at colleges and universities on customer service, leadership and communication.
Earlier in her career, Laura served on the Communication Staff for the Mayor and City of Colorado Springs. At Current Inc., she was a Customer Service and Sales Team Manager who supervised an operations team of 100+ employees. She also led an upsell and cross-sell initiative at that 400-person call center which achieved almost $1M in revenue in 18 months. At the Rochester Institute of Technology and National Technical Institute for the Deaf (RIT/NTID), Laura was a Senior Human Resources and Employee Benefits Specialist who supported over 2500 faculty and staff, including the deaf and hearing-impaired. Through her efforts, the college achieved a 20% increase in benefit plan participation.
Laura served her country as a decorated Non-commissioned Officer in the United States Air Force, with seven years active duty as a Paralegal. She was also a volunteer member of the Base Honor Guard Team, where she provided military honors for Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard service members and their families. During her enlistment, she attended the Non-commissioned Officers Leadership School and earned a USAF Commendation Medal, Marksmanship Medal and an Honorable Discharge.
Laura has also volunteered for the Home Front Cares Welcome Home Heroes Program, Junior Achievement, Young Women of the West and Colorado State Parks and Wildlife. She also served on the boards of the National Speakers Association Colorado Chapter, Pikes Peak Partnership and Pikes Peak Council of the Boy Scouts of America. She is Past-president of the Colorado Springs Society for Human Resources Management and a 2010 graduate of the Leadership Program of the Rockies (LPR). Laura also served two three-year terms in a public-at-large role on the Bureau of Land Management’s Resource Advisory Council (RAC) for the Colorado Frontrange.
Laura’s Personal Story
The eldest in a big Catholic family, Laura grew up in Upstate New York among the woods and waters of the Finger Lakes area. Dad was a farmer and Mom was a city girl. Together they raised six children who all eventually moved to Colorado. Laura published her first publication on a blue mimeograph machine when the nuns weren’t watching. She joined the United States Air Force right out of high school to serve her country and get a college degree. Laura has worked at a college, in a phone center, sold vinyl checkbook covers, cleaned stalls on a 400 head horse farm and blogged for the Mayor of Colorado Springs. She launched her business in 1997 and traveled the world coaching, speaking and consulting. Laura raised her three young un’s in a townhouse and later moved to a 1924 log cabin in Black Forest, Colorado. She lost it all in a 2013 wildfire, then rebuilt on the same site. Laura and her husband Doug were married in 2017. Laura also writes humor at CabinMama.com