Becca Largacha | Admissions Advisor

My childhood travel was limited to state parks around the Midwest. I was much more adventurous than my parents and started venturing out as soon as I could drive.

In my early 20s I moved to Madison, WI to pursue an interest in organic farming and eventually made my way to New Orleans. That's where I spent most of my adult life. My first professional job was as a freelance business reporter. That's when I fell in love with business and decided to pursue a career in marketing. For many years, I served as marketing director for a non-profit that produced music festivals and small cultural events in New Orleans.

We were a tiny but mighty team of quirky, hardworking professionals! One of our festivals, French Quarter Fest, grew to one of the largest in the US with 23 stages and over 700K attendees. I'll always be super proud of that and consider that team family. For extra curricular I was in a Mardi Gras dance troupe and several krewes. Things ground to a halt when COVID hit. No more festivals, no Mardi Gras... While all that was scary and uncertain, it created an opportunity. I could finally become a digital nomad! I rented out my house near the Quarter, packed my life into three suitcases, and moved to Costa Rica. After that I went to Chile where I met my Colombian husband.

We traveled to the US together in 2022 for what we thought was a long visit but ended up staying. Right now we’re living in rural Florida on a small property that we’ve transformed into a little homestead. We’re both urban people, so farming is a new challenge and adventure for us!

I grew up in Indiana. Studied at Indiana University (back then it was called Indiana-Purdue University), and lived in Wisconsin and Kentucky before moving to New Orleans where I spent nearly 20 years. 

The first time I left the US, I walked across the border into Mexico during a visit to Texas. It blew my mind! I was like, “wait, what? How is this basically just across the street?” Shortly afterwards, I traveled to Prague. I was enchanted! Over 20 years later, I can still remember the smell of the bakery downstairs from my apartment, the vibe on Charles bridge, the magic of the puppet theater. That experience inspired me to learn how to live and work abroad and planted the seeds that bloomed much later when I enrolled in ITA.

Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Barbados, Curacao, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy.

Chile and Costa Rica

There’s so many, but one of the best things to come out of my travels was meeting my husband in Chile! We had a civil ceremony near Valparaiso and honeymooned in Valle de Elqui before our US wedding last year. 

We just bought a pasta machine, so right now I have to say homemade ravioli with romesco sauce! In general, Spanish food and wine is my favorite.

This position brings my teaching career full circle: to return to the place where I began my own professional journey and have the opportunity to give others that experience is energizing! Also, now that I’ve “seen behind the curtain,” the ITA team and culture mesh with my personality and values.