Layla Franco, Internship Coach

As a NACE-Certified Career Coach, Layla works to help students grow both professionally and personally while supporting them through the placement process. Layla’s coaching style is a combination of a holistic and “big picture” approach. She encourages her students to explore all of their past experiences with their current passions to think creatively about the possibilities of their internship abroad. This approach ensures that students feel empowered to explore different areas of interest and broaden their idea of a career post-graduation.

Being a Phoenix native, Layla attended Arizona State University and graduated with a B.S. in Tourism Development and Management. While at ASU, Layla had the unique experience of working at the Arizona Capitol Museum in many areas including curation, marketing, and even operating tours for students (ask her about how Arizona became a state and she can go on for hours!).

After college, she had the incredible opportunity to work with musicians and students; planning their concerts and events all over the world. This career took her to some of the most phenomenal destinations around the globe.

For Layla, travel is a sincerely life-altering experience that grants us the opportunity to see how big the world is and how little we’ve seen of it. Learning the logistics for planning a trip was useful, but seeing the incredible impact travel had on the students and musicians moved her. Assisting others in having this experience seemed right! Getting the chance to help students study and live abroad is something that she didn’t intend when studying tourism, but it has very quickly become something that brings her tremendous joy and fulfillment.

When she’s not working or traveling, she loves to explore Arizona and all it has to offer. This includes attending local Phoenix events, hiking amazing trails, and going on walks with her two dogs - Emmy and Moose.