Stu Brown | Director of Research & Development

I was born and spent most of my life living in Cape Town, South Africa. I got my first taste of travel and experiencing a new culture when I visited Germany when I was 16 years old, but after living in the UK and traveling through Europe between high school and university, I quickly became obsessed with seeing the world and wanting to encourage others to do so, too.

Leading up to my graduation from university, my best friend returned from teaching English in Thailand and asked me to help him start a business that enabled people to teach English abroad. I spent 7 years growing TravelBud which now facilitates paid teaching experiences abroad in nine countries and later co-founded CulturaGo, where I helped design online courses to help travelers learn about the culture of their destinations.

During a company trip to Thailand in 2014, I met my wife who, at the time, was completing her TEFL certification course. She later moved to South Africa with me where in recent years we’ve been raising our 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter. In 2022, we relocated to my wife's hometown of Chicago and are thrilled to be here.

I’m from Cape Town, South Africa. I went to Stellenbosch University in Stellenbosch (the wine country of South Africa).

Amazing. It was when I first experienced independence and the highs and lows of trying to integrate into a foreign cultural environment.

Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Bosnia, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Croatia, Ireland, England, Wales, Zanzibar (or Tanzania), Thailand, and the United States.

London, England. I was a sports coach there for a year after graduating from high school.

Meeting my wife in front of a Seven-Eleven in Hua Hin, Thailand. 

Mexican.

I can’t wait to be working with like-minded people in providing the best training and pathway to help more people see the world through teaching abroad. I’m excited to help ITA grow its offering to make this possible.