Laura DeHerrera Campos began her public singing / performing at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, around 1974. Initially, there were five members in this group. However, two females left the group, and a requinto guitar player (a smaller, a high-pitched version of a guitar), a young man (about 12 years old), and Laura went on to become a beautiful trio, which, ultimately, drew people — from throughout Denver — to a standing-room-only crowd for the 9:30 am Sunday masses. From there, Laura had an opportunity to perform with the popular “Marty Martinez and Martinez on the Rocks” band. Marty’s and Laura’s harmonious voices drew packed houses at Los Panchos and the Four Winds (neither of which is operational, today), among other venues. They (the band) were honored to perform at the Colorado State Fair as the intro group to “Tierra,” the main attraction at the Colorado State Fair that year. Marty and Laura also recorded “Cuando Vuelva A Mexico” and “Y Volvere” on a 45 RPM.

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In 1976, Laura DeHerrera was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives, in North Denver, for three terms (1976-1982). While in office, she was honored to serve on three of President Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Advisory Committees: 1) The President’s Advisory Committee on Women; 2) The Federal Immigration and Naturalization Commission, and 3) The Federal Housing and Urban Development Commission. Laura was the original proud sponsor of the “Car Restraints (car seats) for Babies” legislation, which has since become law; Colorado was one of the first states to pass Child Restraint legislation, and now, all 50 states have similar laws. She lost her fourth election by 12 votes; her opponent criticized her public singing, saying she should only be working for the people, not singing at public events. Her response was, “If I were a man, I would be considered talented, but, as a woman, I must stop singing.” She continued to sing, even at \ for the Colorado House of Representatives, and also for her admiring audiences. Then, in 1985, Laura was recruited to work at the “National Council of La Raza (NCLR),” in Washington, DC, by The Honorable Raul Yzaguirre, its National President and CEO (also a former Ambassador to the Dominican Republic - 2010-2013). Initially, Laura thought she would go to DC for one year; that one year quickly turned into 30+ years, away from Denver, due to the many employment opportunities she found in the DC area. She worked for the NCLR for three years. Then, for the following eight years, she worked for The Honorable Henry Rivera, Esq., an expert in Telecommunications law, and a former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. After that, she had a one-year contract to organize a national office \ presence, in Washington, DC, for “MANA, a National Latina Organization”; MANA is a mentoring program with professional Latinas mentoring young Latinas in local schools, throughout the US. After her contract ended, she found employment working for The Honorable Ed Pastor, a United States Congressman, from Phoenix, AZ, in the US House of Representatives, for the next 18 years. While in DC, Laura met and married Victor Campos, who lived in Washington, DC, but was born in Peru. They were married for a few years; then, Victor was diagnosed with Lung Cancer, and, he passed away 10 months later.

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Laura continued working and also pursued her passion for singing. She performed in and around Washington, DC.,
Virginia and Maryland, for many years. She also recorded her first CD, “Shooting Star,” featuring many popular songs, which CD remains popular, today. Laura moved back to Denver in August 2016 and is happily retired. Besides singing, another of her hobbies is playing softball with a senior women’s softball team, “The Colorado Peaches”; she has been with the Peaches for four years, now. She says, “Softball is a wonderful sport for physical exercise, as well as a mental exercise — you must keep your eye on the ball and be alert as to what’s going on around you, at all times.” She is currently in the process of organizing a small musical group and looks forward to performing again, soon, for your pleasure. Stay tuned for more information on this.