: I studied graphic design and have been working as a graphic designer since 1989, during which time I've worked on a range of projects. I've also designed children's books before, published through the Bermudian Publishing Company.

My first three books ? , and the first one was the ? I did the illustrations and the writing so really it's a case of being a jack of all trades.

That was my primary career path so I always thought that's where I would end but on the other side I've always had a desire to impact young people.

The Radnor Road Christian Fellowship is my church and there was an opportunity to help on full-time basis not only with the youth in our fellowship but also the community. We would go and have school visits ? we still do ? be it at the primary, middle or secondary school level and I've also been an adviser for the Christian Club at the Bermuda College. It takes you around to different places. I've been doing it since 1995.

I do freelance now ? I do a lot of the church's designs and I've been doing other projects for years. I've always had my hand in doing book illustrations.

: Someone reached out to me and I believe that I'm here today because a youth leader saw this kid that was struggling and was able to just help. The DVD is an offshoot of that. In the last few years I've found my niche in writing children's books.

I was designing for lots of different things. It's funny but you think that, the older you get, the more mature your work will become but I just love relating to children, watching the joy of them reading and discovering.

: Years back when I was looking at careers design and graphics were both very strong suits for me but I also loved the environment. I think I would have been a marine biologist if I had taken a different turn in my life.

Since having my own children, Daniella-Jade, 14, Patience, 12 and Elijah-John, ten, you naturally have more of a desire to see that the environment that they're going to be in is the best for them.

: I had this one project called which was an interactive CD-ROM. One of the characters in this semi-animated format was a little girl called Kiesha. She didn't have much of a speaking role but was one of Johnny's four friends.

"You always have a project that is nagging at the back of your mind ? how can you take it further? ? and I remember looking at the characteristics of Kiesha who is very much like my second daughter Patience ? very much a go-getter and very much interested in the environment and that's where the mermaid character came from.

: I wrote it as a book because I had done books before. It was probably one of the fastest of all my books to create ? it was just a simple story of a little girl who loves to swim and dreams that she's a mermaid.

It's while she's dreaming of being a mermaid that she discovers that the environment is being trashed. In her adventure she saves a sea turtle from being tangled in fishing line and she then decides to become pro-active and, with her friends, work towards saving the environment.

She realises that our oceans are being trashed and it's not just a dream.

I thought that that was the be-all and end-all ? start and finish with the book ? that was in 2003. But I really didn't find too much interest, maybe because at that point there was a saturation of books and it didn't seem to have a tourist edge, even though it was about an island girl.

Instead of being disappointed I just thought about trying to animate it. I had very little experience in animation other than when I did where there was some software that I'd looked at.

And so I took this book and went to Elmore Warren at Fresh TVand asked him if it was possible to animate using the software that I had ? I was designing from home on a Mac in my spare time ? and he said it could be done.

Not only did he like what he saw, he asked about the possibility of coming up with 12 more of these ? they're animated shorts of only five minutes each.

: It took me about 18 months to two years to learn how to put things together. It was a steep learning curve for me and it mattered to me. Most people involved in animation will tell you when you look at most animated films there are teams of 20 or 30 people behind them.

But I did the design and figured out some of the animation nuances and we started to develop it into the possibility of a series.

It proved to be a good fit with the environment and the mandate of the BAMZ. I went to the then-Minister of the Environment and gave a demo and asked if it was something that they would endorse. It was embraced and from there that two-year process was sped up so that this year we've been able to create three animated shorts on the one DVD which will be released by the Ministry of the Environment and gifted to local schools.

It fits the Ministry and their mandate and they helped me create the DVD. Now I'm outsourcing some of the things and can produce an episode once every two months or so.

: The films will eventually be a series that will be televised. We also have a Kiesha colouring book for pre-schoolers so they can get their hands on that and colour but also learn a little bit as well.

We also have the Kiesha mascot who will be able to go around for special occasions such as birthday parties and stuff like that. It becomes more than just a one-shot story.

We're talking about pre-school and primary school. The sponsorship is coming from the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Works & Engineering and Housing which will be donating the DVDs to schools. The first run has produced 1,000 DVDs and 1,000 colouring books but that's just the start. I think there's always that aspect of animation that appeals to children's imaginations, whether it be being able to talk to sea creatures or whatever. But Kiesha is also very much an island girl. You'll see her swimming or in her school uniform or talking about parts of the island. I was just trying to make it a microcosm of Bermuda, and perhaps other islands as well.

My second daughter is the voice of Kiesha so she also has that Bermudian voice ? she's someone that everyone in Bermuda can relate to.

I had my daughter in mind to a certain degree ? even some of her features are the same. I brought the mascot home and she actually put it on ? it was really something. We're still developing environmental issues such as the importance of recycling but there are other issues such as not talking to strangers and also some natural science ? for example, Kiesha swims with a dolphin so there's going to be an episode on dolphins and also the humpback whale which swims past the island.

It's to help kids appreciate some of the marine life that's around them and if they can appreciate it, hopefully they won't want to disturb it. features a moray eel which, at first, you think is the villain but he actually turns out to be a good guy.

Another episode is called which obviously is all about teaching kids not to be greedy.

Any issues that the pre-schooler and early primary school are facing, that's what it's about, although we don't want to spread too thin.looks at the importance of preserving our sea grasses. We may also do one on the mangrove. They're all about protecting the environment but also learning about how to appreciate it.

I could do better, like all of us. In fact, I would say this has been a learning process for me. I'm looking at these things and saying, 'Oh, I didn't know'. My son, Elijah-John, will say, 'Look, Daddy, this is what's happening', so I think kids have a way of educating us.

: My challenge is to use those five minutes effectively and these animations are going to be used to start the conversation on these issues.

I can't answer everything in one shot and the complexities of the environment perhaps go over heads of some kids but if you can can tell a child that taking a trash-free lunch to school can help the environment, that's something that they can relate to.

Tell a child that, when you go fishing, clean up after yourself ? that will help. So it's these small messages that we're trying to get across. We're planting a seed and if they become more conscious in the early stages, you will find that they have a thirst for learning more.

Obviously we need to be more sustainable. When I was growing up I would go down the dock, throw out a line and catch something. Nowadays how many times do you go down and not catch anything?

Everything's changing around us. An obvious example is the amount of traffic on the roads now. Thinking as a parent, I wonder what's going to happen to my children and their generation when they try to buy a piece of the rock.

Housing, fossil fuels ? all these things are affecting us now and are going to affect our children even more. It's something that we all need to look at. The decisions that we make today will affect our tomorrows and our tomorrows may be here sooner than we think.