We were lucky to catch up with Lara Coffer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I believe in Responsible Tourism and giving back to the country you are traveling to. The US is my homeland, but during all my travels, I connected to Mexico with all of my heart. I love the people, land, music, food, culture and history. I consider Mexico my “heartland”. In 2017, I took a personal development course that was focused on teaching leadership skills. They required you to demonstrate hands-on during the 3 months course by putting together a leadership project. I decided to combine two of my passions for my project: volunteering and Mexico! My project was to remodel a forgotten orphanage in Mexico. This project was a huge success and started a community-wide interest and investment in the orphanage, so much so that the Governor of Quintana Roo visited and rededicated the entire orphanage. After that, I decided to keep this passion rolling and officially started my non-profit called Lights of Love. Our mission is to provide love, hope, and support to underserved communities in Mexico. We have completed several outreach projects including remodeling an orphanage, revamping a senior living home, and a major construction project to build new rooms for a dignified death clinic. While the service projects had to take a small break during COVID-19, we are back in the planning stages for our next project.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Lara, and I love to explore community, travel, prosperity, and all the mysteries in life.

We are all just passengers in this thing called Life, but why not make it a journey of passion, prosperity, and fun. I like to come together with like-minded communities to enjoy life, promote being prosperous at home and on the road, exploring traveling, and digging deeper into the joys and mysteries of life.

A little bit about me, my first career was as an IT Manager and Chief Technology Officer for state agencies for 27 years. I recently retired from a State government and now I’m semi-retired (working part-time as a contractor) and exploring travel and new adventures.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I am a lifetime student and I believe ongoing personal development is a MUST. One of the most life-changing personal development courses for me was Landmark Curriculum. (https://www.landmarkworldwide.com/).

The Landmark Forum offers a practical methodology for producing breakthroughs in people’s lives—achievements that are extraordinary, outside of what’s predictable. It is grounded in a model of transformative learning—a way of learning that gives people an awareness of the basic structures in which they know, think, and act. It teaches you another way of thinking, creating possibilities, making bold requests, and transforming your life.

I would say that I have so much to attribute to the distinctions that I learned in this course. I found my husband, moved across the country, started a non-profit, started a blog, retired early, created money freedom and so many other wonderful and bold possibilities in my life because of these courses (long and wonderful story)!

How’d you meet your business partner?

This is a wonderful story. It is really hinges on people telling their story in so many ways.

In 2016, I visited Mexico and had a transformative conversation with a person I met in a bar in Playa Del Carmen. He told me his story about moving to Mexico (from UK) and volunteering at an orphanage. I decided after this conversation that I was going to retire in Mexico and live as an ex-pat. I started telling everyone in my life to prepare as I would be moving to Mexico. My friend heard my story and told me about a couple she knew who wrote this blog about expats living in Mexico. These ladies had retired from a job in US and moved to Mexico. I started following the blog and learning all I could about living in Mexico. A year later, I was working remotely from another state and my house in Austin was empty. Same friend called me and said the blogging expats from Mexico (Lisa & Alex) needed a place to stay in Austin. I offered my house for free if they would allow me to stay at the house with them for one week and learn from them (hear their story). While this may seem strange, I have learned to surround myself with like-minded folks and to learn from folks who are already doing what you want to do. So I made this bold request and they said Yes.

At the same time, my leadership personal development course required me to start my leadership project. I had decided to volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico but had no idea HOW to do this. So, during the week I stayed with Lisa & Alex, I told Lisa & Alex my dream of working with an orphanage in Mexico. Lisa was so excited and said that she had been looking for a project just like this and already knew about a potential orphanage that needed help. So Voila. We became immediate friends and she is now a leader and COO in the non-profit, Lights of Love. Within 3 months from that meeting, we kicked off our initial service project remodeling the orphanage. https://www.facebook.com/LightsofLove.LucesdeAmor

I find that when you speak what you need/want and put the vibe out into the Universe, you will attract exactly the right people in your life. So tell your story, it matters, and it will bring you to your true purpose in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://prosperitypassenger.com/
• Instagram: @prosperitypassenger
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LightsofLove.LucesdeAmor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lights-of-love-luces-de-amor
• Twitter: @the_Prosperity
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProsperityPassenger