WHEN members of the local news media have a question, Beverle Lottimore is the woman to go to for an answer. For the past 11 months, Ms Lottimore has served as the Director at the Department of Communication and Information.

Her role as mouthpiece for Premier Alex Scott has earned her a reputation as both a highly respected civil servant and a talented spin doctor. However, Ms Lottimore's experience in the communications field is certainly not limited to her position within the framework of the Bermuda Government.

Mid-Ocean News reporter CLARE O'CONNOR and photographer TAMELL SIMMONS sat down with Ms Lottimore at her Church Street office to hear about her long career, her current job, and her hopes for the future of communications in Bermuda.

Q: Did you always see yourself in the communications industry, or did you start your career with something else in mind?

A: Well, I was born and raised in Bermuda. I left here at the age of 21 and moved to the United States. I spent 29 years there ? 27 in new York and two in Los Angeles. I went to Fordham University and City College in New York. I went to Santa Monica Community College in Los Angeles, specifically to study French.

It is a beautiful language but I bit off more than I could chew! Do I speak it? Sometimes! When I'm in France, the more I get into the language. Normally, I translate French into English and vice versa and I get lost.

Q: What kept you in the US for so long?

A: Primarily it was the industry that I was in. I worked initially for the Bermuda Department of Tourism in New York. I didn't even know they had one at the time, I was so young. When I started working in the US industry, I worked for ABC Television.

I went from ABC to advertising for both African American advertising agencies and general market advertising agencies, one being Foote, Cone & Belding. Interestingly enough at that time they had the Bermuda account, so I worked on the Bermuda account at Foote, Cone & Belding.

I've worked radio and television. Essentially I've always worked in communications. Because it was in its infant stage in Bermuda, it didn't make sense for me to come back. I'd come back a couple of times and had a look around at the advertising agencies. AAC, which is now Saatchi & Saatchi, primarily did annual reports.

Advertising in the US was about commerical production ? both radio and television. Because Bermuda didn't really offer that I returned to the United States.

Q: What made you return to Bermuda?

A: I was working finally in the marketing research industry, so pretty much public relations ? always communications. I was living in California and during the time I was there I received a phone call from an African-American advertising agency that I'd worked for telling me that they were bidding on a piece of business for Bermuda ? a Bermuda account.

Since I was from Bermuda and had worked for African-American agencies in the US, they wanted to know everything they could to bid on this business. I imparted that information and really thought nothing about it at that point.

Then, I received a second call from another agency bidding on the account. It suddenly occurred to me, wait a minute, I am Bermudian, I have worked in the American industry, and my country is putting up a business for bid and no one from my country is talking to me.

At that time David Allen was the Minister of Tourism and Richard Calderon was the Director of Tourism. I called down to Bermuda and spoke to Mr. Calderon and told him I knew what was going on with the bid and that no one was talking to me.

After some discussion with him and submitting a proposal to the Department of Tourism for consideration, I was awarded the consultancy on the business, and worked on it for about three months. There was an additional three months presenting it.

During that time I had to come home on business, which is different from coming home for vacation! I was used to coming here for a week or a month but I stayed out of Hamilton! I felt it was time for me to come home. Within that short period of time I returned.

Q: How did you arrive at this position at the Department of Communication and Information?

A: While I was still in California my sister knew that I wanted to come home and so she talked to a couple of people in Bermuda about it.

A Bermudian called me in the US and told me there was work available at . (Advertising representative) Carlene Darrell was the person that I spoke to at . I then sent my information to the , to (advertising manager) Mr. (Gary) Ritchie and (general manager) Mr. (Keith) Jensen, and I was called in for an interview.

I began my work at as business development manager.

While I was there, something very simple happened. I was flipping through the newspaper and I saw an ad and essentially said: "I can do this!"

I had no idea how important this position was to everyone in Bermuda. I had been abroad so I was not clued in on the evolution of Government. I looked at the content of the ad and knew my background fit the content of that ad, and applied for the position based on that. I followed through the process, and here I am!

Q: What do you see as the purpose of the Department?

A: The Department of Communication administration is the communication arm of Government. The way we are broken down right now is in three segments. One is the Public Affairs office, the second is the Graphics area, and the third is Photography.

I like to call it Creative Services. How I view the department is one that is responsible for Government messaging. That means a collection of thoughts from all Ministries into one message to the people of Bermuda about the responsibility that Government has accepted on behalf of its people. Our purpose is to cultivate, strategise and deliver that message in a way that the public will understand.

Q: Do you need to understand the minutiae of each Ministry to do this job?

A: I think we need to understand each Ministry. We have this umbrella thing called a Ministry. However, it is broken down into a number of departments and each department has a responsibility.

So in order for us to do what we do we have to understand how each department works and how it interacts with the objectives of the Ministry as a whole, and how the Ministry, with its objectives, interacts with the Government as a whole. So yes, we need to understand it all.

Q: How is regular information fed to you by each Ministry? Is it proactive or reactive? Do you wait until you are asked a question or are you briefed, with the information in hand?

A: It's a combination. On any given day anything can happen, so if there is something that happens, the immediacy of it is how we will deal with it. That is certainly reactive more than proactive.

But as Public Affairs officers and creative people, it's our responsibility to dig out that information and get some insight on the future, and where we're going down the road, and strategise with that and formulate that into a plan of action for each Ministry.

We act proactively and reactively. In terms of providing information to the media, the questions come left, right and centre from all over the place. As they come, we respond to them, but on an ongoing basis we already have some knowledge of the way the Ministries are performing so we're able to answer their questions.

Q: Would you have to know specific information, like the budget of a particular Ministry?

A: No. If a Ministry was going to have a problem with the budget, then certainly we'd like to know that information. We're not expected to know the functioning day-to-day details of each Ministry. That comes under the Permanent Secretaries themselves who actually run the Ministries day to day. Each Public Affairs officer has the responsibility for two Ministries. Nea Talbot has Tourism and Transport, John Burchall has the Ministry of Education and Labour, Home Affairs & Public Safety, Beverley Morfitt has Health and Community Affairs and Sport, and Valerie Pethen has Works & Engineering and the Environment.

Then, there are all the departments that come under them. There are five departments that come under the Cabinet, and each of them has one of those. My primary responsibility now is the Premier, who has the Ministry of the Cabinet, if you will, in addition to the overall operation of the Government.

Q: Where do you see yourself in the next five to ten years?

A: I hope retired! I have actually lived a lot of my life taking advantage of opportunites that have been presented to me. I have been extremely fortunate and blessed that there have been quite a number which have been directed, so I have kind of followed a path that has brought me to where I am now.

A lot of people have jobs where they might do one thing in finance, one thing in business, one thing that is creative. Most of my path has taken me along the lines of communication and certainly has prepared me for where I am now.

I think in the next five to ten years I hope to evolve into someone that has truly made a contribution to Bermuda through these means and the opportunity that I have in this position and certainly through whatever opportunities present themselves to me that I once again will take advantage of.

I think this has been 11 months for me here and I have a long way to go in terms of understanding the workings of Government and being able to understand the contribution I can make to it.

I think we've just started here and I would like to concentrate the next five or even ten years into making it the best that it can be, and that if I ever had to walk away that I myself and all those I've come in touch with will be the better for it. Ultimately, the people of Bermuda will be the ones who receive the reward.

Q: What advice do you have for young Bermudians interested in getting involved in the communications field?

A: Actually, there are quite a few. The one thing I would say is that we need them here. Encourage young Bermudians who have been abroad, have trained, have learned and have grown to come back home and make a contribution to the country.

In addition to formal education, there is something called life experience, and if any of them have an opportunity to experience life through practical application abroad that they should do so and bring it back home.

I encourage them to understand that this is their country and they should have pride in it and an onwership in it that we once had but seems to be eroding somewhat.

I encourage each and every one of them to have the pride and love of their country that I do and in that they will have a commitment to it.

Learn all you can, be all you can, and then do all you can. Bermuda has grown, it has changed, it has evolved.

There are a lot of things that are very positive and some things that are somewhat negative. As a country, Bermudians need to ask themselves, what is it that I would do to make my country a better place.

Yes, Government has an overall responsibility, but each of us has that responsibility as well, and we should examine ourselves each and every day to see if we are carrying out our responsibility to this country to make it a better place for all of us.