Real World Experience: Brittni Milner

By Jamie Lichtenstein, Communications Intern

Senior business & enterprise management (BEM) major Brittni Milner spent her summer as a KPMG intern, learning about risk analysis. From Orlando to New York, to Charlotte, N.C., Milner’s experiences as an intern kept her moving.

She began the summer in Orlando, training with all U.S.-based KPMG interns. As part of the training, she and the other interns planned a summer intern event in Charlotte and brainstormed a potential service for the company to offer its clients.

One client engagement gave her the opportunity to work in New York on an internal audit initiative, project management, and process documentation. The other focused on the digital labor force, data analysis, and visualization, and internal resource models.

“The greatest lesson was learning about keeping the big picture in mind,” Milner said. “I learned that I needed to constantly ask questions about what I learned to obtain a complete understanding of the work I was doing. Work is a lot more valuable when you can see the big picture.”

At the end of her internship, it was clear that Milner had the big picture firmly in her vision. When she presented her experiences in the annual BEM TableTop Tradeshow, her project won the Spotlight Award for Presentation.

Milner, who keeps busy on campus as the student coordinator of The Campus Kitchen, a tour guide for Ambassador in Admissions, a School of Business ambassador, a yoga Instructor at the Miller Center, a student adviser, and a member of the Kappa Delta Sorority, learned another important lesson about delivering high quality work through her internship experience.

“I learned I need to take the time to consistently review my work and manage my progress. I find myself always saying ‘yes’ to new work that I often crowd my plate with too many tasks,” Milner said. “However, I need to realize that sometimes it is okay to say ‘no’. It is difficult to deliver quality work if there is too much on one’s mind. The goal is to deliver quality results, not the greatest quantity”

Milner said the School thoroughly prepared her for her internship at KPMG. She credits this to the well-rounded classes, group projects, and close relationship with professors at Wake Forest. “I felt comfortable interacting with my manager and others with high positions in the firm,” she said and drew on her study abroad experience as well. “Studying in Salamanca, Spain helped me realize the importance of stepping outside my comfort zone. I was not afraid to travel to New York and work on a new team with people I had never met.”

After graduation, Milner will join the Operations Risk Advisory Team at KPMG in Charlotte.