In January 2016 while studying at Full Sail University, in Orlando, Florida, Samantha Clarke and 23 other students were hired as interns with Incognitus to gain experience within the entertainment industry.
Sam began as an administrative assistant working on Moonstone Music Festival, where she began learned even more about the events and music industries. She was then given the opportunity to help coordinate the He Got Up Charity Dinner and elements of the He Got Up event.
After 4 great months, her internship and time with Incognitus came to an end, or so she thought. As Sam graduated from Full Sail with a Bachelors in Music Business, the Lovett Brothers offered Sam an invitation to travel to Australia as a participant of the Bright Young Thing Program (AKA BYTs) to work with Incognitus once again and gain even more experience in the industry she had grown to love.
In October 2016, Sam and 4 other former Incognitus interns, now BYTs, made their way to Melbourne to work for 3 months during the very busy Summer event season. Within 24 hours of arriving in Australia, the BYTs hit the ground running. Working on the final preparations for and at the Great Australians Gala Dinner, where they met Cross of Valour recipients, amazing Australian musicians and Olympic medal winners, just to name a few.
From the glamour of the Great Australians Gala Dinner Sam was then moved over to the Melbourne Cup Carnival, where she was assigned to an administration role in the operational contract at the Victoria Racing Club. Gaining experience in a completely new realm Sam excelled at ensuring the process for the onboarding of 450 staff each race day were not only followed but enhanced each day to ensure to efficiency of the event kept increasing.
Due to Sam’s exceptional work across the internship and the BYT Program in Melbourne, she was invited to join the World Polo Championship team in Sydney for the October 2017 event. This would mean staying in Australia and living in New South Wales while being involved in working on other Incognitus events as required.
Sam decided she wanted to stay in Australia for a while longer and excepted the position as one of the Event Coordinators on the Polo and moved to New South Wales with Kasey, the Event Manager for World Polo Championships, in November 2016 at the conclusion of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Since the move, Sam has worked on and will be working on other Incognitus events. Traveling back to Melbourne in December for Beyond the Valley Music Festival and to the Bathurst 12 Hour in February to work with Ferrari Australasia. Next on the agenda is Groundswell in Gippsland, Victoria then home to Orlando, Florida for He Got Up before returning to Sydney to continue working on the Polo event.
Within just one year Sam went from an intern who was trying to break into the industry to an Event Coordinator for a world class event. Sam says “The best part of my time with Incognitus so far is how far I have come and how much I have learned.”