Eight Over 80: Elaine Lazar

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Elaine Lazar | 82 | President, Lazar & Associates

Elaine Lazar still lives the same way she did as a girl.

In her words: “I tried everything that seemed reasonable and didn’t ask anyone’s permission. I still feel that way today.”

Her career arc reflects that philosophy.

The 82-year-old founder and president of West L.A. translation and interpreting services firm Lazar & Associates started out as a journalist in 1960s Atlantic City, N.J. She moved to Los Angeles to take a job at the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.

As the paper struggled under a prolonged strike, she tried her hand at a new profession in the 1970s – advertising and public relations. She worked in that industry for three decades and had her own Santa Monica firm until the office was badly damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

That caused Lazar to do some soul searching. She had recently taken up transcendental medication, and through that practice she decided it was time for yet another career change. That brought her to the field of translation and interpreting.

“I’ve always been fascinated by getting rid of the communications barrier,” she said. “It was like starting all over again at 64 years of age.”

Her passion helped her to put in long days learning the business and building up a client list. Lazar & Associates now contracts with about 700 translators around the world and works with the likes of Herbalife, Caltrans and the city of Santa Monica.

Lazar still puts in full days at the office, but said that she’s learned to use her time more effectively and likes to take Fridays off to unwind. She has no plans to retire.

She also stays active outside the office with a daily regimen of water aerobics and meditation, which she credits – along with a view of the Pacific Ocean from her Santa Monica home – for giving her a sense of peacefulness.

Lazar also recently brought her daughter, Lisa Solomon, a former school administrator, into the firm. She said having her daughter and other younger employees around helps to keep her young, too.

“That’s why I like being here,” Lazar said. “I’m around good young minds and they keep my mind activated. It keeps me from being an old fogey.”

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