Photos by Chris Garcia
Written by Fredrene Balanay
HonCCʻs Billie Lauder bid farewell after 8 years of service and dedication to the campus as an assistant to the chancellor. Hired as a contract worker for the 90 year anniversary celebration of Honolulu Community College, she was later hired under chancellor Mike Rhoda until his retirement. She continued working with chancellor Erika Lacro, and from there, her position sort of expanded through the years.
“They never had a marketing communicator on staff, so this office kind of assumed that role of branding the college, social media, PR emergency communications. Before it wasnʻt a coordinated effort before,” Lauder explained. “For me it was coordinating the brand of the college, that we speak the same language and that it’s a consistent message.” Through the years Lauder was able to tell the story of the campus.
Lauder accepted a job with the Hawaii Baptist Academy as the new Institutional Advancement Director; her last day was on January 31, 2018. “It was a family decision,” Lauder said. “As an employee my children will be able to attend HBA as well.” Lauder, an alumni of the Academy, said It was a chance to give back to a school that really shaped who she was into the person today.
For Lauder, there is one thing she will remember, “The people, the people by far and when I say the people I include the students in there especially the student workers that I become so close with that are constants on this campus because to me they truly represent what it means to be a student.”
