Arts education played a significant role in Clarke Soares’ upbringing. Her father, an entrepreneur himself, served as a role model. As a result, she appreciated the art of the deal and decided to major in finance. Her exposure to Wall Street came in 1997 when she interned at Morgan Stanley. Here she began to understand how content drives conversation and society. Her essay for Harvard Business School emphasized her desire to one day create an investment platform that invested in content.
She then worked as a credit analyst in the media and entertainment department at GE Capital. Clarke Soares fostered relationships with individuals who she later left with to start an entertainment financing business platform CIT. With close to $1 billion, they invested heavily in the film and television space. Then the financial crisis of 2008 imploded the markets; CIT had to downsize its business.
After building her resume, she decided she wanted to own a business; that’s when she birthed the idea for HarbourView. She’s built a team of investors that understand the media sector’s industrial complex, specifically IP-driven ones.