As the eldest of five children, Barbara learned responsibility at an early age. Her eclectic career path includes work as a clinical chemist at the University of Chicago Hospitals, as a computer analyst for AT&T, and now as an author for her readers. Her books for middle grade and young adult readers include the nonfiction book Unlawful Orders: A Portrait of Dr. James B. Williams, Tuskegee Airman, Surgeon, Activist, as well as the novels, Courage, Pull, Being God, and Minority of One.

In addition to writing, she provides lectures and workshops to both experienced and aspiring authors of all ages. She finds writing for young people an exercise in self-discipline and the perfect follow-up to her life as an adoptive parent and cancer survivor. She now lives and writes in a suburb of Chicago.