Colonel Clarke was born in Jamaica and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1997. After graduating from the University of Maryland at College Park, She was commissioned in 1999 after completing the Platoon Leaders Course. Upon graduating from the Basic School in 2000, she attended the Financial Management Officer's Course with a follow-on tour with III MEF Command Element.
In 2001, she was assigned to MCB CPEN as a Budget Analyst and deployed as the Deputy Comptroller to Camp Commando, Kuwait in support of I MEF in 2003. Upon returning from deployment, she was reassigned as the CPEN Deputy Budget Execution Officer.
She returned to Okinawa in 2004 as the 1st MAW Exercise Budget Officer and transitioned to serve as the III MHG Comptroller in 2006. In 2007, she deployed in support of Coalition Forces Land Component Command, Camp Arifjan where she served as the ARCENT Assistant Budget Officer and Logistics Civil Augmentation Program Budget Officer for task orders in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. Colonel Clarke returned to Okinawa to serve as the 31st MEU Fiscal Officer.
In 2008, she achieved a secondary MOS in Contracting and served as a contract specialist at the CPEN Regional Contracting Office Southwest. While there, Colonel Clarke deployed in support of CJTF-HOA as the Uganda Contracting Officer and the Deputy Chief of Contracts in 2010. Upon her return, she attended Command and Staff College at Marine Corps University and graduated in 2012 followed by assignment as the Deputy Comptroller for MCRD PI and the Eastern Recruiting Region. From 2014-2015, she served as the Support Bn Executive Officer followed by assignment to the Pentagon as a Congressional Appropriations Liaison from 2015 to 2017.
From 2017 to 2019, she served as MCB Hawaii HQs Bn Commander followed by attendance at the Naval War College. Upon graduation, she remained on staff to continue working on a her research contributions: “China’s Global Port Expansion: A Maritime Security Threat to U.S. Geographic Combat Commands,” and “A Pathway to the New State of Normalcy: Enhancing National Security by Building a Culture of Adaptability that Embraces Automation.” She recently completed her tour with III Marine Expeditionary Force as the Assistant Chief of Staff, Comptroller.
Civilian education includes Doctorate of Management with a focus in Sub-Saharan Africa, a Master’s in Public Administration, a Master’s in International Management, a Master of Business Administration, a Bachelor’s in Psychology, and a Certificate in Project Management.