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After growing up in Paris, Belgium and Costa Rica, Valentina Larco finds it difficult to give a simple answer when asked where she’s from.
She spent eight years in Costa Rica and considers the country her true home. Still, the 20-year-old UF advertising junior said she doesn’t “100% identify with any place.”
Rather than experiencing an identity crisis, Larco has embraced her multicultural background. It has helped her handle differences and communicate with diverse groups of people, she said. It also shaped her professional growth in The Agency, a student-staffed advertising firm located in the UF College of Journalism and Communications.
"Knowing how to understand and connect with people is one of the most important things in advertising," Larco said.
Larco’s journey at The Agency began three years ago as a data analyst. After shifting to account manager, she was trusted with handling her first two client accounts. This past summer, she was promoted to lead account manager, meaning she oversees all accounts, conducts training and reviews applications.
Her background has helped her communicate with clients and with her own team, she said, as she learns to get along with a variety of people.
Larco’s first client at The Agency, the foot fungi cream company Lotrimin, remains a vivid memory.
“When I was doing my research, my TikTok algorithm was completely full of videos about it,” she laughed.
It’s not unusual for students at The Agency to use TikTok for brand research. The approach represents how the firm works: Gen Z students cultivate projects for a Gen Z audience.
The Agency typically manages about 12 clients at a time, Larco said. Once a new client is acquired, the Agency team assigned to that client receives a brief with deadlines and assesses how many people from each department will be needed. Account managers like Larco then coordinate the staffing and set the project timeline before meeting with the client.
Ana Gallardo Alvarez, a 21-year-old UF public relations senior and an accounts and operations supervisor at The Agency, describes Larco’s leadership as motivational. Working with Larco means working with someone who wants to not only help and teach, but also listen, learn and improve, she said.
“She knows how to motivate her team, how to get them to do their work in a timely manner,” Gallardo Alvarez said, adding Larco’s “positive attitude [is] contagious and it makes the entire team excited for what they have to work on.”
Last semester, Larco led a project for Chartwells Higher Education, a company that manages dining halls for universities across the country. After extensive research, The Agency submitted an application for the Residential Dining Facility of the Year award on behalf of the University of Miami. The team won first place.
Now, Larco hopes to help other account managers develop expertise about specific departments — like creative, development and production — so everyone can bring unique knowledge to the table. She pitched the idea of a specialization course among account managers.
Larco said the course would consist of “simultaneous training with a department of your choice.”
Though The Agency currently employs about 180 students, Larco strives for more. She hopes to bring on more clients and retain existing ones, creating more opportunities for student involvement.
Abbey Schenker, 21-year-old UF public relations senior, works with Larco as her boss and coworker. Despite only working together for two months, Schenker says they've grown past just being work partners.
“She's a little bit hard to crack at first, which almost makes you motivated to want to crack her open,” Schenker said. “Once you kind of see that side of her, she's just the brightest in the room.”
Having witnessed her work ethic as an insider in The Agency, Schenker said Larco is a natural born leader and “someone that all the other account managers can look up to.”
But Larco credits her team over herself for The Agency’s success.
“I don’t think any impact I’ve made for a client’s success was on my own,” she said. “I’ve managed successful accounts, but it’s the teamwork that makes the deliverables happen.”
Contact Sofia Alamo at salamo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @alamosofiaa.
