Early career

Milburn started a career as a journalist, but then worked freelance for a number of charities including CAFOD

CAFOD

The Catholic Agency For Overseas Development, previously known as the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, is a United Kingdom-based international aid agency working to alleviate poverty and suffering in developing. It is funded by the Catholic community in England and Wales, the UK government...

.
She also worked as a researcher on a number of BBC television

BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

 appeals, including Challenge Anneka

Challenge Anneka

Challenge Anneka is a British television programme, produced by the independent production company Mentorn for the BBC, which aired on Friday, later Saturday evenings on BBC One between 8 September 1989 and 15 October 1995. It was announced in 2006 that the series is returning, but this time on...

 from Malawi

Malawi

The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...

, Going Live and Blue Peter

Blue Peter

Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...

 specials from Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

In 1993 she became the Chief Executive of the Association of Spinal Injury Research Rehabilitation and Reintegration (ASPIRE) charity for seven years, where she ensured that the Aspire National Training Centre was completed on time and on budget.

In July 2000 she became the Chief Executive of the BBC Children in Need

Children in Need

Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...

 Appeal.

Prince's Trust

In May 2004 Milburn became Chief Executive of The Prince's Trust

The Prince's Trust

The Prince's Trust is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by Charles, Prince of Wales to help young people. They run a range of training programmes, provide mentoring support and offer financial grants to build the confidence and motivation of disadvantaged young people...

, succeeding Sir Tom Shebbeare

Tom Shebbeare

Sir Tom Shebbeare, KCVO, is Director of Charities to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.Shebbeare was educated at Malvern College and the University of Exeter, of which he was made an honorary LLD in 2005....

 who had been at the Prince's Trust for 16 years.

Milburn regularly speaks publicly about the Prince's Trust's work with young people and in August 2008, spoke of how research suggested that young people are creating their own "youth communities" and gangs. At the same time the Prince's Trust was running a campaign, Change the Record, to counter the negative images that the media give about young people. Milburn has also explained how The Prince's Trust's Team programme is part of a joined up package of support which helps three in four young people to achieve positive outcomes. She said about The Prince's Trust Team program in 2008 that "Our great worry was that, on The Prince’s Trust Team programme, you took them through the 12 weeks, you built up their expectation and [then] they fell off the cliff face.

When Milburn joined the Prince's Trust in 2004, the charity was helping 41,680 young people a year, and by 2007-08 41,324. During Milburn's time as chief executive the charity has increasingly directed its help to young people who are long term unemployed, and the charity has increasingly measured its success as an organisation by how many young people they have got off the unemployment register, by getting them into some employment, training or education. This figure has risen over four years from 76% to 79%.

Milburn regularly attends high profile royal events as the representative of the Prince's Trust.

Media Trust

Milburn has been a trustee of Media Trust, the UK's leading communications charity, since October 2009.

Personal life

Milburn is the eldest of five sisters. She had a strict convent education.

She has been married twice, and her current husband Keith works for the Crown Prosecution Service

Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...

(CPS).