Powerful childhood memories are crystal clear in the mind of Lynda Milligan-Whyte who traces her success as a capable lawyer to those early years.

"My parents cared deeply about the education and development of me and my three siblings. I could read by the age of four.

" I can recall reading the newspapers from around the world and discussing those subjects, lead by Father at the dinner table.

"He loved to stimulate our minds and motivated us to formulate opinions. We would have all sorts of discussions,'' she explained.

Ms Milligan-Whyte is known to have a brilliant mind, is an independent thinker and takes creative approaches to problems.

"My colleagues like the way I think. I think outside the box,'' she said.

She is a serious person who centres her life on commitment.

She believes that it is important to believe in something and to set goals and values.

As a teenager growing up in the 1960s she was of that generation who believed that society could change.

John F. Kennedy was her role model and his ideology motivated her to take responsibility. She wrote to him about her concerns regarding the suffering of people around the world and he responded to her letter with words of encouragement.

"When I heard that famous line from one of Kennedy's speeches, `Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country' it inspired me and I continue to identify with that philosophy.'' Ms Milligan-Whyte says she is where she is today because she identified beliefs and established core values from an early age.

There are two important abilities which I developed early, the ability to learn and love. Our reasons to exist gravitate around these.

A Berkeley Institute student, she received an excellent educational foundation prior to attending Queen's University, Ontario, where she earned four degrees from 1973 to 1981.

Two years later she was called to the Bar in Ontario and Bermuda in 1983.

She did not start out with the ambition of becoming a lawyer. Her initial goal was to obtain a Ph.D. in international affairs and work at the United Nations.

In 1978 there was the Iranian situation under the Carter Administration in the US which changed her outlook.

She was disillusioned with the hostage crisis and realised international affairs was not a practical place for her career.

"I saw futility surround the hostage situation.

" I decided then and there that I needed a career which empowered me to act and make changes,'' she said.

She made a smart decision and she has had many accomplishments over the years.

At the top of her list is raising a family while having an intensely demanding career.

Secondly, she established her law firm in 1988 in a community where the infrastructure is firmly situated with strong alliances in place.

Thirdly, she competes in international business and takes a macro approach to law by diversifying Bermuda's economy.

In the start up stages she steered Kast Investment Management, First Bermuda Securities, TeleBermuda and is working on e-commerce.

The best advice she has received came from President Kennedy's message to `assume responsibility'.

"The power to fulfil dreams is in each of us. We alone have the responsibility to shape our lives. The power to succeed or fail is ours alone.

"The day we start assuming complete responsibility is the day we start on our journey to success.'' Ms Milligan-Whyte is very philosophical about success and believes that how we overcome our problems is important.

She espouses looking obstacles squarely in the eye without being intimidated and believes that success is measured not by position reached but obstacles overcome.

She alluded to the great leaders such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, John F.

Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. "It is not the situation that makes the man - it is the man that makes the situation.'' Leadership is one of Ms Milligan-White's strongest qualities. The quality of leadership she values is someone with moral authority, someone that can have a vision for their country and its growth, and a commitment to that goal.

She was a government member of the Bermuda Senate November 1994 through May 1997 and made impacts as a Leader of the Bermuda Senate, Minister of Legislative Affairs and Women's Issues and Parliamentary Secretary for Finance.

From 1990 to 1998 she was a member of the International Business Forum which advises the Bermuda Government since 1990 and has been the editor of the Bermuda Bar Review since 1986.

Setting goals are a part of her life and she advises that there is no sudden leaping into the stratosphere - there is only advancing step by step, patiently, up the pyramid toward your goal.

"It is so important to think ahead - to visualise your goal. Fate has little if anything to do with success.

" Success does not come to you - you go to it. Success is connected with action and if you make a mistake don't quit,'' she concluded.