Our Young Professional for this week is Brittany M. Wilson, an Administrative/Accounting Assistant and small business owner. Photo: Provided

Our Young Professional enjoys helping in the community. Photo: Provided

Our Young Professional and her daughter. Photo: Provided

In giving her advice to youth, she said, “In everything you do keep God first. Nothing in life comes easy but with hard work, dedication and motivation.” Photo: Provided

Brittany M. Wilson taking part in activities to make the society a better one. Photo: Provided

Born in Dallas, Texas, USA to a VIslander mother, Brittany came to the Virgin Islands at a young age. “I lived in the United States up to about age three or four and then I moved straight to Virgin Gorda where I attended the Bregado Flax Educational Centre.”

Excelling in athletics, she stood out in primary school so much so that she was allowed to compete against high schoolers. And she won!

“I was really good when it came to track and field. I was a long distance runner. I did the 1500 metre, 800 metre, 4 x 4 and the 400 metre,” she said, noting that she has represented the territory on numerous occasions, visiting St Kitts, Antigua, St Thomas, and Anguilla among other places.

Having graduated from school as a 'Grade One' student, Britanny moved on to the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College where she graduated three years after with a 3.0 Grade Point Average.

It was her last year in college that she got pregnant with her daughter who is now four. “That did not deter me from finishing what I had to do. I graduated while pregnant in 2011,” she said.

She became employed at Sage Group of Companies, also known as BVI Investment Club, as an Administrative/Accounting Assistant and has been there for four years now.

Our Young Professional will be going off to college in August. “I am going to the University of Central Florida and I will be doing my Bachelors in Accounting and then I would be doing my CPA, after and then I am going to do my Masters in International Business,” she said.

“My four years at Sage Group of Companies has been very rewarding, which have given me experience in accounting” she commented.

Calling accounting her lifelong career, Brittany said she likes the profession because she is a people person. “Being in the accounting world you have to know how to deal with people…you have to have analytical skills to deal with certain people and I have those qualities,” she said.

She also believes that with that kind of career one could fit in any organisation one likes.

Our Young Professional also is an entrepreneur as she has her own business called JB Consultancy Services where she does accounts for small business owners who can’t afford to employ a full time secretary.

She would like to expand this business in the future and wants to work overseas for a while to gain more knowledge and experience in a bigger accounting firm before returning home.

Brittany also expressed her intention of working with Government if she is needed. But even with this expressed love for country, she does not want to work for someone for the rest of her life and really prefers to be an entrepreneur.

Our Young Professional is also a member of the Rotaract Club of Tortola and is involved in community projects and volunteerism. “My first project is bringing Christmas back to the Adina Donovan Home for the Elderly. Every Christmas we have a luncheon there for them and we have local bands like the Razor Blades and we spent time with them. Another project we had was the painting of the Sugar Works Museum,” she said.

“I am also a member of the Methodist Young Adults. Whenever needed we do praise and worship and things like that,” she said.

Advice to youth

In sharing her wisdom to youth, Brittany said, “In everything you do keep God first. Nothing in life comes easy but with hard work, dedication and motivation.”

She said that too many young girls are becoming pregnant and her advice to them is that they should put their schooling ahead and wait. However, she said for those who get pregnant it does not mean the end of their educational prospects.

“Life isn’t going anywhere…you have a lot of time in your life to do that. But even if they get caught up with it, it is not the end of the world. Have your goals and aim to accomplish them. As a young mother I am still accomplishing mine,” she said.

“People always say the sky is the limit but I say that man has walked on the moon so it is more than the sky now. Never say can’t as there is always a solution to a problem,” Brittany said.