Sister Spotlight: Colby Carter

This post was written by junior Colby Carter, who is currently serving as our Sponsorship Chair. As Sponsorship Chair, she has been working diligently for the past months to plan our Bid Day event; the very first experience our brand new pledge class will have as a part of Tri Delta! (Our new theme is fantastic- thank you Colby- and I cannot wait!!) Additionally, she will handle the crucial mutual selection process of pairing these New Members with their future Big Sisters. As Colby's assistant Pledge Mom, I can say confidently that Colby has stood out since first pledging Tri Delta and has consistently shown leadership in our chapter. A big shout out goes out to Colby, we wish you the best of luck on Bid Day and are so excited! Her post today is about her incredible summer internship with the famous annual music festival, Bonnaroo. 


"Hey everyone! My name is Colby Carter and I am a rising junior at USC. I also serve our chapter as this year's Sponsorship Chair- look for me on Bid Day and I’ll be the one running around like crazy! This summer, I had an incredible opportunity to intern with Superfly Music Production at Bonnaroo Music Festival 2013! I was encouraged to apply for the VIP Hospitality Intern position by a fellow Tri Delta sister, Eden Ellis. We are both in the College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sport Management with focuses in Event Planning. I applied for the internship not thinking that I would receive an interview but to my surprise, I was offered a position. I was one of 15 student staffers from University of South Carolina, University of Central Florida, and Florida State University.  One of the best parts, my supervisor was a USC alum!!  

We arrived in Manchester, TN two days before the festivalgoers. "The Farm" is 700 acres of land that is entirely occupied once the festival begins. Overnight, Manchester, TN becomes the 3rd largest town in Tennessee with over 80,000 people in attendance. 

Colby pictured with the other interns

The first full day we were there we had workshops with different departments of the festival. We met the Production Manager/Stage Manager for all of Bonnaroo, which means he is in charge of making sure that every stage, tent, and venue for music will be fully operating throughout the festival, that every band has what they need for their set, and that each set runs smoothly. We then met the Supervisor for the “Roll like a Rock Star” program at Bonnaroo. Roll like a Rock Star consists of a secluded area on the Farm where patrons pay $30,000+ to spend the weekend in a real tour bus. It is an amazing program and the facilities were unbelievable! 

Once patrons started to arrive on The Farm, the work came with little rest. Our workdays were 10-12 hours, all outside in the hot Tennessee sun. We rotated each day where we were stationed to work. The stations were; working the Main VIP Lounge, VIP Information Trailer, VIP Courtyard, the Mound, which is the VIP viewing area at What Stage (main stage). We also worked at the VIP Centeroo Lounge, and at the VIP entrance at the Arch into Centeroo. Each day was so exhausting but the reward came from seeing how much we could impact someone’s experience daily.

(Colby pictured far right)

One of the best parts of interning at Bonnaroo was the people that I had the opportunity to meet and work with throughout the week. My fellow student staffers were all great, fun, and inspiring people. The drive that each and every one of them has to become successful in their career path was truly contagious and really did encourage me to never quit working towards my goals. The bond we all developed over such a short period of time is hard to put into words. After the first night of talking and getting to know everyone it was really amazing to me how many people were involved in Greek Life at their respective schools. The instant conversation that comes from finding out that you share something that important was an experience I had never had before. Over breakfast, Danielle, a girl from UCF and I had long in-depth discussions about the differences between their recruitment process and ours. Danielle was head of recruitment for her sorority and with me being on recruitment team we were able to bond over our love of the recruitment process. (Yes, I am a Delta dork!) 

The whole experience was one that I will always remember, and will be so proud to say that it was something I was given the opportunity to be a part of. It was a mentally and physically exhausting week but it definitely made me a better worker and encouraged me to keep reaching for my goals." 

The Farm at Bonnaroo