As a Division I college athlete, nutrition is important to UML field hockey player Lauren Brushingham. She’s a big fan of Krispy Kreme donuts, however — and not just because they’re delicious.
Brushingham, a senior business major with a concentration in finance, spent the summer after her junior year completing a 10-week financial planning and analysis internship with Krispy Kreme.
“It was an amazing experience that will be really crucial for my career moving forward,” says Brushingham, whose primary responsibilities involved helping the company prepare to go public on July 1, 2021, when its initial public offering raised $500 million on a valuation of $2.7 billion.
“I learned so much about the culture of a company and what it takes to go to that next level,” says Brushingham, who watched with her colleagues on Zoom as Krispy Kreme executives rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. “Building that up to go public was something that I may never experience again, and it’s a great thing to have on my résumé.”
While the internship was mostly remote, Brushingham did get to spend two days at Krispy Kreme’s corporate headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, she had the opportunity to present her internship work to the leadership team, including CEO Michael Tattersfield and CFO Caren Prince.
“It was awesome to be in meetings with a female CFO and be able to talk with her,” says Brushingham, who also got to try some donuts fresh off the line — including a caramel apple from Krispy Kreme’s new “Carnival Collection.”
Brushingham says the internship reinforced her desire to work in financial planning and analysis, or FP&A, which involves integrated financial planning, management and performance reporting, and forecasting and modeling.
“I knew I could do a lot of different things with finance, and I think FP&A has a lot of flexibility,” says Brushingham, who plans to pursue her MBA from the Manning School of Business after graduating in December.
A native of Syracuse, New York, Brushingham transferred to UML from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, midway through her sophomore year in 2019.
“I wanted a new experience closer to Boston, and UMass Lowell was the right fit,” says Brushingham.
She appreciated how the River Hawk field hockey team took her right in — especially since she was joining the program at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her first season with the River Hawks, they advanced to the America East semifinals for the first time in program history.
“We come to practice every day and compete for each other, and I think that’s something really special here,” says Brushingham, who moved from midfield to defense her senior year. “We have a great coaching staff who want us to be the best versions of ourselves.
“I’m really grateful to be here.”