Creative Industries alum launches AI agency for creative companies
Creative Industries alum Samantha Stermer (’23) is shaping how creative agencies and global media companies integrate artificial intelligence into their creative processes. She’s achieving that through PARE ✦ (external link) , the AI automation agency she launched help creative teams do more of what they love by automating away the tasks they don’t.
How did it start, and what inspired you to launch this company?
Samantha: PARE ✦ started completely by accident. When I was promoted to studio coordinator at Boat Rocker studios, my boss wrote down all my responsibilities on a wall in his office and told me there was no way I could handle all of it on my own. I said, “Give me one month.” By the end of that month, I had fully automated my job. I had turned a forty hour workweek into a ten minute task.
What started as an experiment became a studio-wide system — saving over $100,000 a year, doubling review speed, and cutting weekly emails from eighty to five.
But the part that stuck with me wasn’t the numbers. It was the response from my team.
People told me they could finally breathe again. And that’s how I realized that this was the work I wanted to be doing: building systems that make life easier for creatives so that they can do more of what they love.
What is PARE ✦? What does it do?
Samantha: PARE ✦ is an AI automation agency for creative teams. We help them do more of what they love by automating away the tasks they don’t — through AI solutions, workflow design, and custom dashboards. At its core, PARE ✦ exists to give creative teams more space to think, create, and breathe. They bring the ideas. We build the systems that support them.
How did your experience in Creative Industries shape your approach to innovation and entrepreneurship?
Samantha: Creative Industries taught me that creativity is not just a skill; it is an environment. We learned what supports creative flow, what blocks it, and how the systems around a project can either empower or overwhelm the people doing the work.
When I began working in film and TV at Film Forge and then on sets for Apple, Netflix, Prime, and Paramount+ with the Director’s Guild, I saw how much time creative teams spent dealing with the structural side of production.I realized the most meaningful thing I could contribute was designing systems that remove friction — so creatives could focus on creating.
What has been the most rewarding part of seeing your work make this kind of impact?
Samantha: The most rewarding part has been seeing the teams I work with regain a sense of control. When the content review system launched at Boat Rocker, my team told me that for the first time in years they finally felt like they had caught their stride. And now, through PARE ✦, I get to see those moments across so many other creative teams as well.
What advice would you give to students who want to bridge creativity and AI?
Samantha: Start by paying attention to the problems. Look for moments where you are repeating the same task every day, digging for information that should be in one place, or losing creative energy because the workflow is too heavy. Those are usually the places where AI can help the most.
Get real-world experience as early as possible. Internships will show you how the industry actually works. Try as many different roles as you can. Take opportunities that come at you—even if you feel unprepared. Take small risks and figure out what energizes you.
Most importantly, treat AI as a creative partner. The intersection of creativity and technology is where some of the most exciting careers are forming right now, and the people who understand both will shape the future of the industry.
