“Who am I?” she mused, after obviously being caught off guard with our first question. Then she said: “I am actually still trying to figure that out! But, who am I? I am a mother, a continuous student, wife, daughter, sister, friend...I am all of those things, and each has its place of course, but I am Annjel. That’s exactly who I am; the easiest person to know.”

And the last description of herself proved to be so very apt, as she easily led us through the life she loves.

Annjel is very proud to be the eldest daughter of the Honourable Keith L. Flax, Territorial At Large Representative and Mrs. Rosemarie Flax. “I am so very proud of my parents,” she beamed. “They have been very instrumental in every aspect of my life.”

Annjel graduated from St. Georges School in 1982 and went immediately off to Boarding School at Codrington High School in Barbados until 1987. She recalls graduating from St. Georges with some of the most brilliant minds and having the most phenomenal time in Barbados, where the experience of being away from her parents at that age was quite a challenge, but worked well in the end.

“This definitely helped in my personal development, knowing who I was as a person, learning who I was outside the confines of parental influence, and being able to do things outside of the box and decide what I liked,” she remembered fondly. “And I was able to again make an independent choice of what I wanted to study based on my strengths and able to succeed in that. Of course, I made life-long friends there and still keep in touch with those individuals.”

After Boarding School in Barbados, Annjel was introduced to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, through family friends - the Blocksmas and the Bloks. There, she completed a Political Science degree with a minor in Spanish.

As it turned out, this was a great field of study as Annjel followed the path she felt called to pursue. “I always wanted to be a lawyer or work overseas in the Diplomatic corps, because I have that out-going type of personality, I love to talk with people and help them whenever possible.”

Annjel returned home to the Virgin Islands in 1992 excited about the possibilities. And as if not to disappoint, it was during this time that she met the man she would marry, a union which produced two very lovely progeny in Chelsi-Marie, now 12 years old, and Cory, 10.

Settling into the world of work, she began at Mossack Fonseca as Compliance Officer, as well as heading the Legal Department, Supervisor of the Incorporations Department and co-Assistant Manager. “I can comfortably say that those eight years with Mossack were brilliant. My mother, who is Managing Director, is the most amazing woman to work with and she taught me so much. The things she does on a daily basis, it’s just truly amazing.” In fact, she said her experience at Mossack pushed her more into wanting to fulfil her desire to become a lawyer.

Though the desire to study law lingered, Annjel was to work for another two years with the Financial Services Commission as a Regulator in the Banking and Fiduciary division, where she got a feel for the public side of the industry.

Then the moment came one lunchtime in April 2006 and the conversation went something like this: “Daddy, I’ve made an application to the University of Buckingham to do a two year LLB. If I am accepted, I think I’d like to do this. It means though that I’ll be away from the kids for two years, with only two weeks free in the summer and two weeks at Christmas.”

True to form, Daddy was extremely supportive, and Annjel’s family stepped up to the plate and took care of her children while she pursued her dream to become a lawyer because she was accepted two weeks later and wheeled off to the UK.

At Buckingham, Annjel was Law Society Vice-President for a year, President for a year and also found time to do pro bono work in tagging along with some barristers out of Milton Keynes. She came out with Honours from Buckingham and was accepted at the College of Law in Bloomsbury, London where she did the Bar Vocational Course in nine months.

She completed the entire law degree by July 2009 and was called to the UK Bar via The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in November 2009 and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the Virgin Islands in December 2009. She has been with the Attorney General’s Chambers as Crown Counsel since then.

Additionally, she has done stints at Oxford University, the University of the West Indies (external programme) and Cambridge University respectively before and after actively pursuing her degree at the University of Buckingham.

“I love law, I get to read whenever I want, pick up exciting cases and have my nose in a book all day, do research on interesting topics like medical law, Caribbean Jurisprudence, evidence....it’s interesting and a learning experience every single day,” she concluded.

But it is not all work for Annjel. She thinks it is really very important to give back and serve the community, and she does this as a member of the Rotary Club Sunrise of Road Town and the Big Brother Big Sister mentorship programme in addition to being one of the organists at the Road Town Methodist Church.

What motivates her? “I love the BVI and that’s why I am here......but, studying is far from finished!”