In a feature on Ms Darlene Ming in last week's Living section it was incorrectly stated that her sister, Mrs. Lisa Blyden was the Principal of Paget Primary School. The Principal is, in fact, her sister Mrs. Laverne Lau.

Mrs. Blyden, another sister, is a nurse at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

When well-known newscaster Darlene Ming decided to leave ZBM some eight years ago to pursue a career overseas, she discovered that her extensive media experience could be put to good use. For the past six years she has been assisting in the cause of Bermuda's tourist industry in a job whose close ties to the head office also means that she has not had to cut ties with her homeland.

Today, she works as the Assistant Manager for Sales for the Bermuda Department of Tourism in the mid-west region of the US. She sees this as a natural progression from her former media job. And speaking from a hotel room in Cleveland, where she happened to be "selling the Bermuda message'' one day last week, Miss Ming told LIVING: "I think you develop a lot of communication and `people' skills in the news business and this has been invaluable in my work for the Department of Tourism. I deal with crowds, very professional people in the travel industry, so you have to know how to get your point across.'' Miss Ming, who spends much of her working life on the road, far away from her Chicago-based office, says that she and "the team'' cover an area that is physically very large, and includes Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Kansas.

"It's our job to make Bermuda's presence known and I think we are doing quite well. Last night, for instance, we did audio and visual presentations for about 100 people. They are all travel agents who, in turn, sell Bermuda to the public. And hopefully, those who may not have been familiar with Bermuda and all it has to offer, will start recommending us to their clients.'' She admits that she does miss broadcasting: "I miss the atmosphere of the studio, the voice work. That's why I love doing presentations for Tourism -- I get my `high' that way!'' The Hon. Quinton Edness, former managing director at ZBM, suggests that her talent is also missed. "Darlene was one of the very best news readers we ever had. She started at the bottom and worked her way up. She was tenacious and a very hard worker. She was under my wing at the time and I was able to watch her mature. I had to be firm with her at times, because she was very determined! But she was a joy to work with. We progressed from a teacher/student relationship to being equals and now I consider her one of my life-long friends.'' He added that he was delighted she was now applying those same talents to Tourism.

Darlene Ming's fascination with the media began at an early age. "I think I was about 13 or 14 when they used to show those two-minute news capsules from London and I was really intrigued. I can remember very clearly thinking that I could do that one day. That's when I decided I wanted to be a journalist.'' As a student at Berkeley Institute, English was her favourite subject ("or anything where I could read aloud to the class!'') and by the time she was 16, she had launched her broadcasting career by obtaining a part-time job at ZBM, as a weekend announcer on the FM station.

After obtaining an associate degree in journalism from Algonquin College in Canada, Miss Ming returned to ZBM, this time to the News Department.

"John Ferguson was my first news editor. It was hard at first. You have to earn some stripes and it took long hours of very hard work before I could win credibility as someone who could deliver.'' She remembers some "hairy'' moments during the election of 1976 when she was still new and inexperienced in covering a major political event: "That was a big responsibility. I hadn't been there too long and there was an awful lot of facts and statistics to remember and to bring it all together. I remember that was quite a strain at the time.'' And the high spot of her time with ZBM? "Probably when Jesse Jackson came to Bermuda and gave a press conference at the Airport, which I covered. He has such a huge personality, it seemed to fill the whole room.'' Darlene Ming believes that she was fortunate to be at ZBM "in the early years, when it was at its best. When I joined, Shirley Dill was a big personality there and she became my mentor. And I remember Jane Bainbridge, who was very good. Then there was Brenda Rowe (now one of the top newscasters at ITN in London), John Barritt and Adrian Robson, who was also my news director. Rick Richardson was the news manager.'' Miss Ming said she believed these were "the golden years for ZBM'', but added: "I do think the advent of cable TV makes the whole of local TV a very tough job.'' Mr. Robson, now assistant editor of The Royal Gazette commented: "The current broadcast crew at ZBM and VSB could do worse than take a leaf out of Darlene Ming's book. It was a sad day for broadcasting when she left ZBM. She was thoroughly professional and an absolute joy to work with.'' When she left ZBM, her year in the south of France was intended simply as a sabbatical. But when she returned to Bermuda, she found the broadcasting company in the throes of its controversial merger, so it suddenly became "an easy decision'' to pack up and leave for Chicago, where she had a sister.

"Going to Europe had whetted my appetite to see more of the big world.

Bermuda is still my home and always will be, but it's very small and I think it's a good experience to see what life is like elsewhere.'' After working as a news reporter on a suburban paper for two years, she joined the Department of Tourism's Chicago office.

Darlene Ming's parents, Florence and Fred Ming, were not surprised at her success: it seems to run in the family. Of their six children, one son is in the restaurant business and two daughters are nurses. Another son, Dr. Fred Ming, returned to Bermuda last year after several years away, to take up the appointment of Vice President, Development at the Bermuda College, and their daughter, Mrs. Lisa Blyden is the Principal of Paget Primary School.

Mr. Ming said he believed his family, which is "very close'', are the beneficiaries of his firm belief in parental involvement in education. "In Bermuda, too many parents are slack in their responsibilities and that leads to a lot of the trouble here. And I also believe in reading to children when they are very young! Yes, we certainly did read to Darlene,'' he laughed.

Darlene Ming says she would like to come home "eventually'' but says that her independence and the fact that she has always been ready to take a career risk, encourages her to pursue her job as far as she can in Tourism.

She believes that career options are improving for women and cites the fact that the new manager of her region is also a woman: "Lauren Woolridge, whose entire background is in the hotel industry, is the first Bermudian woman to become manager of a regional office in Tourism in North America and I think that's important -- it tells us that there are opportunities for women to advance to the very top.'' LIVING continues its look at the lives of Bermudians who have pursued careers abroad. This week, we take a look at the life of Darlene Ming.

DARLENE MING -- Still involved with the media.