Barbara was born and raised in Florence, where she studied languages (English, French, German and Spanish) and obtained a Diploma of Specialized Translator. She started her career in tourism by working for a prestigious line of hotels in Florence and Sardinia.
Her love for travel took her pretty much to every continent; but her favorite experience was in South America, Venezuela, where she worked as a guide for international tourists, spent some time living with the Yanomami tribe in the Amazon rainforest and consolidated her love for flying small airplanes. She arrived in San Diego in 1995 and obtained her private pilot license and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. degree from Embry Riddle University in Technical Operations. After working for many years selling Italian single-engine airplanes, she completely changed her career, obtained a Master and a Doctorate in Traditional Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture and opened her own acupuncture clinic.
She is one of the longest serving Board Members of the ICC having covered every aspect of this organization from Event Coordinator, Vice-President, President, Secretary, and Class coordinator.