Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans," sang John Lennon.

That certainly seems to have been Tina Stevenson's experience.

"In my life all the big decisions were made for me. Of course the biggest one was Kevin dying."

To look at The Bermudian and Bermudian Business magazines, you would never guess that the publisher/editor behind them never worked in publishing until four years ago.

"I love the creativity and I kind of dig swinging from The Bermudian to Bermudian Business. Although it's hard, it's great that one minute I'll be booking a photo shoot for a garden feature and the next I'm deep in conversation about business."

Last month Meredith Ebbin called it a day as editor of The Bermudian and Tina took the decision not to replace her with another editor, but to take on the role herself. In Tina's first issue as editor she wrote: "Never in my wildest dreams five years ago would I have imagined myself writing the editor's welcome for The Bermudian magazine."

But sitting at her (reasonably tidy) desk, surrounded by back issues of magazines, it's hard to imagine her in her first chosen profession. Tina has a bachelor of science and education and planned to be a teacher. When she graduated and returned to Bermuda she taught at Dellwood.

"I thought I'd end up doing my masters and specialise in education. I expected to be doing the same thing when I was wearing half moon glasses... but then I met Kevin."

Meeting her husband-to-be caused her to think again about leaving the Island. Instead, she took a job as assistant buyer at AS Coopers. She worked as a buyer for the men's and ladies' department for several years.

"I loved it, despite not making much money!"

But after she became a mother she found it involved too much travelling, especially since her journalist husband was doing two jobs at the time - chief reporter at The Royal Gazette and editor of The Bermudian.

Tina decided it was just too much for them both to be working around the clock, so she found another opportunity which allowed her to spend more time with their son, Cooper.

Asked what the opportunity was she roars with laughter: "Selling t-shirts ! What a joke, the only time I ever got headhunted."

But in fact it was just what she was looking for at the time: "Less time, less hours and making more money, so we were thrilled."

She did it for four years until she had Katy.

Who knows what Tina might have ended up doing had her life not been turned upside down in 1999.

Kevin died suddenly aged 45, leaving her a single parent in charge of a publishing company. She says the two years following his death were a blur.

"Sometimes it was a challenge just to get out of bed in the morning."

But somehow she managed to take up the reins at the business and look after the kids.

"Both full time jobs" she reflects.

"But single parenting is the hardest, it's the hardest thing that anyone will ever do.

"But in the same way I don't get this magazine out alone, I don't get through life alone. I have the most amazing group of friends and family."

As for the business, Tina appears to have accidentally found her forte.

She describes herself as 50 percent creative, but is clearly fairly business savvy.

Under her guidance, there has been a series of commercial developments at the company.

Aware of the decline in tourism, Tina's strategy has been to focus on publishing for the business community which she perceives to be the main growth area.

As well as the two magazines, the Bermudian publishing empire includes various specialist publications such as tournament brochures and custom diaries as well as novels about Bermuda and children's stories including the popular "Tiny the Tree Frog" series. "It's a very busy little office."

They have cut down on the number of Bermuda books they publish and last year they sold This Week in Bermuda, the free tourist guide.

They also undertook a rebranding of the magazines. The results were greater cohesiveness between the two magazines.

Bermuda Business became Bermudian Business, allowing it to capitalise on the reputation of The Bermudian.

The magazines both took on a fresher, more modern look and a new logo. It was a valuable exercise, comments Tina: "It always had the meat but I wasn't sure it had the packaging that made you want to unwrap it."

She expects that people will see a change in The Bermudian under her editorship.

Tina's style puts a major emphasis on the photographs and layout: "Meredith came from a literary background and although I want good writing, I think I'm more of a visual person."

Having always enjoyed reading magazines herself, Tina's theory is that the photographs are what draws people in and makes them want to read the articles.

Both magazines rely on entirely freelance writers and photographers. "It comes down to economics," explains Tina.

In fact, they only have a "crack team" of five full time staff. Rhonnda Oliver is office manager, Beth Gouvernon manages advertising, Kerry Murphy is in charge of marketing, and Wesley Simmons manages circulation and sales.

They outsource the design of the magazine to Colin Murdoch at eMedia.

Tina says that the biggest difference now that she is editor of The Bermudian will be that everyone else will be more involved - it will become more of a team effort.

Asked whether The Bermudian is the "girls" magazine and Bermudian Business is the "boys" magazine, Tina replies: "No, that's not appropriate because that implies the business is for men and we all know that there are some fabulous businesswomen out there."

But she says there's no denying that The Bermudian has a more "high maintenance" character: "The Bermudian is our flagship princess.

"Sometimes getting this magazine to bed is like trying to get your teenager out the door on prom night!"

Running Bermudian publishing is an all encompassing role and takes up most of her time and energy.

"Anything left over is for my family... What I like at week-ends is peace. It's a busy life."