Young Professional Abigail F. Hyndman is the reigning Miss BVI. Photo: VINO

Ms. Hyndman assisting the FSN during one of its fund raising events at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park last year. Photo: FSN

In fact since the Pre-Med student was crowned Miss BVI 2011/2012 on the morning of Monday August 1, 2011, her life has been a busy one and full of changes but to which she has embraced with open arms like a true professional.

“This is my job. I have committed myself one hundred percent to my crown and to my reign so this is where I work and being a Miss BVI is a full time job. I just don’t want anyone to think that it’s just about wearing a crown and being in a parade, which is not even half of it...Your life changes in a matter of minutes when you become Miss British Virgin Islands...Some of it is what I expected but some of it is not but every queen has an opportunity to make the best of her situation, to make her reign the best that she can make it so that is what I am trying to do.”

Our Young Professional recently returned from Germany where she travelled with the BVI Tourist Board to promote the Virgin Islands as a tourist destination and also did a presentation there.

Back home, Ms. Hyndman works very closely with the Family Support Network (FSN) in keeping with her platform - Domestic Violence. One of her goals there is to see the establishment of a shelter for victims of domestic violence and even though she is aware that it may not become a reality very soon she intends to keep pushing for it even after her reign would have come to an end. “When you pick a platform I think you pick it for life and mine is dear to my heart so I will work with it until my dreams come to reality and we have that shelter established here on the island. It may take years but I have prepared myself to do that.”

Ms. Hyndman hopes too that she would play a part in breaking the barriers that prevent people from being open about the social ill called domestic violence and let people understand that it is a very serious issue in the Virgin Islands so that necessary support would be given to FSN for it to be more effective in its fight against it.

Our Young Professional also once worked at Legal Services of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas where she first became very familiar with the topic Domestic Violence.

When not promoting the Virgin Islands or her platform, Ms. Hyndman is kept busy preparing herself for the upcoming Miss Caribbean World pageant to be held here in the Virgin Islands on May 5, 2012 as well as other pageants she hopes to attend, including Miss Carival 2012 and the prestigious Miss Universe pageant.

Ms. Hyndman particularly wants to make herself and the Territory proud by ending its title drought at the Miss Caribbean World Pageant or even securing a place in the Top 5. “I will not be shy about it. I want to bring home that crown, I want to represent my Territory and my people the best way I know how to and that is going to be on the stage. I know it is not going to be a walk in the park as I would be competing with queens from all over the Caribbean as well as the United States and South America but I think I have to be competitive in every category and I know I have my strong points and my weak points but I am looking to be consistent all across the board because that is the only way you can win such a competition.”

Prior to winning the Miss BVI title, our Young Professional was in her fourth year at Xavier University and was expected to attend LSU Medical School in Louisiana upon graduating. “But when I won I had to make a very tough decision, whether or not I was going to return and go to medical school or take the year off and stay here in the British Virgin Islands. It was a big decision as I had worked so hard and so diligently to get to that point to start the next chapter as a medical student but this is something that I worked hard towards as well and the opportunities and experience that I have had as Miss British Virgin Islands are things that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Ms. Hyndman wants to become an Anesthesiologist and has already had a total of six internships across the United States and the Virgin Islands. “I love Anaesthesia. Many people say you are going to put people to sleep and that’s boring but how I look at it is that you can’t perform any surgical operation without Anaesthesia and that is what I want to be a part of as I believe it is one of the most important aspects of surgery.” She also said doing Anaesthesia fits her personality and sees herself in that field in the next ten years.

Further down in life, Ms. Hyndman would like to become a Medical College Professor and noted that she was inspired by the professors at Xavier University. “If I can help to mould someone to be a productive person in society I believe that I would have done well.”

Her inspiration in life is her mother, who she describes as a Superwoman. “My mom was a single parent with me for several years and I saw her go back to school and get her Masters and she really did it all. My mom is like Superwoman and seeing all the sacrifices that she has done for me motivated me to do well in school and in life.”

Turning to the youth, our beautiful Young Professional advises them to work hard to achieve whatever it is they wish to do and become in life. “There is no secret about it and all of us do not have the same opportunities and there are reasons for that but you have to work hard in order to get from point A to point B and that is the way I have approached everything in my life. You can’t take shortcuts, it doesn’t work that way. You have to be able to make sacrifices. Winning this title meant a lot of sacrifices that I had to make, in school there were a lot of sacrifices and so too in the work place a lot of sacrifices have to be made. So you are always going to be sacrificing something but if you sacrifice and you realise that you are working towards a bigger picture I think you will be fine.”

Her favourite phrase is “If you shoot for the moon and you miss at least you will land among the stars”.

“I try to put my best foot forward in everything that I do. That doesn’t mean that I am going to be successful all the time but if I go in knowing and hoping and praying that I am going to do well I think that I would be fine also," Ms. Hyndman said.