Lola D. Gillebaard was born and raised in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. A premature birth left her with with poor motor control and other serious health challenges that would result in in 17 major surgeries. She has also had a bout with cancer. She now shrugs it all off as "just a big nuisance" on her wonderful path through life and finds humor with every step. Today, at 70+, Lola says, "I have to live forever, because I'm just getting started!"...And people believe her!
As a graduate of Salem College, she was chosen to be included in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. She began her career as a teacher, then met and married her husband Hank and settled in Southern California, where she eventially raised four sons. As an associate college professor, businesswoman, free-lance writer, wife and mother, she has always touched people's hearts and funny bones.
Lola received the first-place Reader Digest writer's award for her article, "Old Enough to Die" about her father, which has been published internationally. She also co-authored the book, Change Your Life with Humor. She has researched the benefits of humor for the past thirty-five years and witnessed the magic of its healing. Her most recent book, Laughter Made From Experience, is filled with inspiring and heart-warming stories of her many challenging situations told with the Southern charm, wit and humor that is Lola's signature style.
Lola's career as a humorous speaker has taken her across the United Stated many times, to Australia often, and into international waters as featured speaker on several cruise ships. She is past president of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the National Speakers Association and winner of both their Silver Foot and Connie awards. She is also the recipient of the VFW Unsung Heroine and the AAUW "Women of Achievement" awards. She was recently appointed to the Health and Intergrated Medicine Board at University of California-Irvine after her performance of "Laughter is the Best Medicine" at the Susan Samueli Center.
People of all ages fall in love with Lola's charm, sincerity, upbeat attitude and her ability to capture your audiences. She is magic on the platform with a life time of experience and knowledge as a professor, successful business woman, mother, wife and mostly as a fun and funny woman that will not only make them laugh but also touch their heart. Lola creates sparkle for everyone she meets. If you need a guaranteed success for your next convention, fundraiser or annual meeting,
Some of Lola’s Most Requested Programs:
1. Life's Funny That Way: A program that bridges conflict with humor through common ground. Lola shows how to use the magic of humor to take a second look at difficult times…like raising 4 sons…Lola says, “All my boys were raised in a broken home. They broke everything is sight!”
2. Growing Old Disgracefully: A program that realizes growing older is a fact of life, but growing old is an attitude. Lola talks about the various changes of aging with humor and spirit. In Lola’s show, she talks of the stages of aging, “you know your growing older when…your favorite evening cocktail is Vodka and Metamucil. I call it bombs away!
3. Humor in Business is Serious Business: A program illustrating that laughter can help create a more productive work atmosphere. Lola brings a serious topic to a humorous note when she says, “2% of the people out there were created to irritate the rest of us.”
4. Today's Tragedy can be Tomorrow's Humor: A program that shows how each setback in life only makes you stronger. The trick to falling down is getting back up. Lola brings her real-life stories to life with humor when she speaks of her bout with cancer, ”I spent the whole day taking my clothes off only to put them back on again… kind of like my honeymoon only not as much fun!”
5. Zapping Negativity: A program that gives you strategies for improving difficult workplace relationships and helps you find out how to create a more positive atmosphere and overcome negativity in your office or organization. Lola gives you tips like, “Give a negative person a compliment…(“ I like the way your socks match!”) It stuns them into silence.”
6. Laughter is the Handshake of Good Communication: A program depicting the benefits of lightening up in the workplace, how humor serves as a powerful tool in business. Or as Lola says, “The most important thing you can ever wear is…the expression on your face.”
7. How to be Assertive without being a Bully: A program pointing out the difference between being assertive and being aggressive. Lola illustrates how humor is the lubricant that eases the friction between people. Or as Lola says, “Know when not to react.”
8. How to Communicate without using a Bullhorn: A program showing through personal examples and audience involvement creative ways to attain a listener's full attention. One way Lola does this is when she says to the audience, “How many of you woke up this morning, looked in the mirror…and burst out laughing?”
9. The Booby Prize: A humorous program that focuses on the challenge of dealing with cancer. As a cancer survivor, Lola knows first-hand how humor can positively impact a patient's ability to heal. She uses this knowledge to inspire Health Care Providers to use humor in their work
