If there is anything Bermudian comedian Gina Davis knows is how to turn life's lemons into lemonade.

Five years ago, she couldn't find a bra in her size. She used the problem as material in her comedy debut, and she also eventually created a business selling bras to other women having similar issues.

She performed for about a year, and then took a hiatus from comedy.

Ms Davis is now back on the stage. She took part in last week's Extreme Entertainment 'Live Stand Up Comedy' show.

She held her own alongside veteran American comedians Willie Brown, Adam Hunter and Reggie Reg.

And now she is preparing for a minor role in a The Company production of 'For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf' directed by Patricia Pogson-Nesbitt.

"I have been doing comedy since 2004," Ms Davis said. "I was in a play and they asked us to do a particular talent. I offered to write poetry."

But the director of the play had a better idea. He suggested she try comedy, because she was always making people laugh. "I tried it and it worked," she said. "After that I asked [local comedian] Bootsie if I could do one of his shows. He asked me to bring him my material. I wrote some more material and the rest is history."

Ms Davis' comedy routines cover the ordinary annoyances and bemusements of life such as bras, broke family members living overseas, and the difference between a Bermudian and American funeral.

"When you go to a Bermudian funeral it is a happy home-going service," she said. "You wish that person could have spent more time with you. When you go to an American funeral it is so very, very sad.

"I was at this one funeral, I was weeping and crying and carrying on – and the first time I had ever seen that woman was in that coffin."

She said while some of her material comes from things she hears, it mostly comes from her own life and interactions with people.

"People are funny," she said. "But they often miss the humour in life. I don't think we laugh at ourselves enough."

Ms Davis said the first time she performed she wasn't terribly nervous because she had practised her routine so much.

"What I felt was more like excited anticipation," she said. "You are always wondering 'are you funny?'

"Believe it or not you don't really hear anyone in the audience [most of the time]. You try to focus on who you can see."

A bad experience with a drunken heckler was one of the reasons she left comedy for several years.

"She talked all the way through the show, not just to me but also to everyone who performed," said Ms Davis. "Comedy is hard. You are trying to bring people outside of whatever issues they have for their day and have them laugh for a short period of time."

Another reason she took some time away from entertainment was she went to work at CedarBridge Academy in staff development.

She was afraid that the two would conflict.

She eventually decided she could reconcile her job and her hobby, and went back to comedy but she steers clear of anything about work.

She is known for tailoring her comedy routines to suit the needs of her audiences.

"If I perform for adults then I write material for adult comedy," she said. "But I try to maintain who I am. I always keep in mind what I do professionally. If I perform for church groups, I write material specifically for that group. And I think the church group audience is the best audience I have ever performed in front of."

She also often performs some comedy at bra-fitting parties for ladies.

"I come with my little suitcase of bras," she said. "I have found that Bermudian ladies don't have a lot of false modesty. You can't afford that when you can't find the right bra. But once I started selling bras, bras weren't funny for me anymore. It turns out a lot of women have real problems with bras."

Although she tries to keep her CedarBridge job separate from her comedy hobby, she sometimes acts as master of ceremony for CedarBridge events.

"When I know there are a lot of kids in the audience then I tailor it for young adults," she said.

But she said even in her working life, she tries to get others to see the light side of certain situations.

"Everything that happens can be a learning experience," she said.

"A lot of people become comedians based on some tragedy that happened in their lives. Humour is the only way they can cope. If we looked at life itself, everybody could probably be a comic based on something in their lives."

Ms Davis recently joined the Mirrors programme, a local mentorship scheme that attempts to inspire young people to reach their full potential.

"I have been through the Mirrors training," she said. "I am a committed partner for Mirrors. What I have learned from that is that the things that happened to me in the past are in the past.

"All that you can do is move forward and any time [anything] happens to anyone else, be there for them."

She will soon be assigned two young people to work with, to help them achieve their goals. "My son, Reyel, 20, volunteered for Mirrors after graduating from college," she said. "He thought it would help him reach his goals. It was wonderful to see how goal-oriented he became.

"He was the one that encouraged me to become a committed partner.

"It is awesome and I think more young people and adults need to take advantage of it. Young people shouldn't look at it as social rehabilitation. They should look at it as an opportunity to learn how to reach their potential."

She is slated for the role of a DJ in the upcoming play 'For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf'.

"It's a minor role,' she said. "I like the minor roles. I am looking forward to it.

"This play is about women. It is a compilation of poems written by Ntozake Shange on struggles that women go through.

"I think that women in particular, black and white, we have all been through in some form or the other, the aspects of life that this poetry is about. It goes through being a young person in love with books.

"It talks about rape, and relationships between men and women, and marriage, for better or for worse."

For information about Ms Davis' bra-fitting parties e-mail her at theultimate.davis@gmail.com.

'For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf' will show at The Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at 4 p.m.

General admission is $40. Patron tickets are $70. Tickets are available at True Reflections, Heritage Bookstore and Eru E'tile on Court Street.