LARA Casasola describes
herself as sensitive and
intense but says she can
be very hard on herself when
she doesn’t achieve what
she planned. She believes in
creating a family environment
at work and trusts her staff
not to take advantage. She
says one staff member often
likes to tell new employees:
“See how sweet and nice she
is – don’t believe it – when she
loses it you won’t want to see
her do it again!”
Her parents are originally
from Italy and are almost the
opposite of one another, she
says. “My mom is so social
and relaxed and so, ‘so-whatwho-cares’
and my dad is
a real German – ‘this table
must be straight and take
your feet off the couch’. She
says although she’s mostly a
balance between the two, she
thinks she’s probably more like
her dad, but that she got her
love of travel from her mom,
who always encouraged her to
experience life and the world.
Lara’s softer caring side
comes through when she talks
about her children. She says
her daughter is “her rock and
friend” and says she loves
her son to bits. She believes
in letting her children make
their own mistakes, even when
they’re failing. “If I force them
to do what I want, I’ll damage
our relationship by showing
them I don’t trust them.”
She learned a similar lesson
when she started her company
20 years ago: “I was such a
control freak and learned that
I had to allow people to work
the way they wanted.” One
staff member didn’t want to
work on Saturdays and Lara
told her: “If you don’t like it,
then leave.” The employee
came back to work on Monday
and then, resigned. “I realised
that that didn’t work as well as
I thought it would,” she says.
In the first five years of running
her own company, Lara says
she realised she had to listen
to her staff when there was a
problem and then explain why
she needed what she did from
them. She believes when staff
stay at a company it’s a sign
the business is successful.
She now has staff who have
worked at Lara Travel for
15 years.
Before she joined the travel
industry Lara worked at an
advertising firm. “I always
want to be the best and when
I started as a junior artist
– a nobody – I was already
enquiring about how to be an
art director.”
Soon enough, the late,
lonely nights of the advertising
world became too much for
Lara and after freelancing
for a while, she did a safari
course, because back then
“you wouldn’t get anywhere
in travel without it”. She
started her first job in the
industry doing filing at a
company called Travel and
Tourism. Lara climbed the
career ladder quickly; within
two-and-half years she made
assistant manager and after
three, became manager of
the branch. She says her
insecurity about being in a
new industry made her work
even harder. “I was so afraid
that my boss would see I
didn’t know how to do things
so I made sure I understood
everything.” After Lara fell
pregnant, she asked the
company if they’d set her up
at home, but they declined.
She was determined to work
from home and after persisting
with the then Galileo, the GDS
eventually helped her set up
her business. “I then started
writing my goals in my diary
and slowly started ticking each
of them off.
Getting to know Lara
Lara likes listening to
relaxed, ‘chilled’ music,
like Sade, she says.
She first wanted to
become an architect but
then went on to study
interior design.
She keeps a slab of
the 85% dark Lindt
chocolate next to her
bed and nibbles on a
block every night before
she goes to sleep.
She says, “Stress is
only stress if you don’t
do something properly
the first time,” adding
that if you do something
properly the first time,
the risk of it failing or
backfiring is drastically
minimised.
Lara studied art as a
child and now paints
and draws in her free
time.”
