Get to Know Barbara

An accomplished newspaper journalist (USA TODAY staff 2002-2013) and relentless social media enthusiast, I wake up at dawn seven days a week to search for, write and edit stories that resonate with travelers and travel business insiders.

I crave stories that teach us something about life or business, make us laugh, shed light on our future or help make our journeys a little easier - or at least more interesting.

If you’re familiar with my work as a hotels writer at USA TODAY, then you already know that my list of hot topics includes the opening of new hotels, along with their design, pricing, service and marketing strategies; the pet peeves of consumers including myself both as a mom and a solo female business traveler; the impact of tech savvy, design-craving, experience-seeking Millennials; the growing influence of social media marketing, and the success/failure that hotels are having grappling with consumers online comments, be they on Facebook, TripAdvisor, FourSquare or Booking.com. I consider the topic of hotel Wi-Fi fees Page One news, which is why I've tracked hotel wifi data usage for the last several years. A few highlights from my journalism career: Investigating point shaving allegations at a California university, investigating a municipal bond scandal, breaking Miami real estate news during the high flying late 1990s and chronicling the evolution of legacy airlines in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks.

I attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and graduated with a B.A. in business/journalism and, you might say, skiing). Little-known facts: I learned to ride on a Virago 750 and used to own a 1969 Honda Dream with a cute toaster tank and cafe bars. I'm a pretty good waitress. I've waitressed at a truck stop in Massachusetts, a Long Island diner and a funky artsy San Francisco bar. I can do a cartwheel on a balance beam. My next goal is nailing my back handspring.

• Music is a constant theme, between live concerts, neighborhood jam sessions and her youngest child's love for the piano.
• A fitness buff, Barb flips on the trampoline weekly at the University of Maryland's gymnastics gym.
• Barb was a business travel reporter at USA TODAY from 2001 to 2013.
• Barb lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband - an NPR music journalist - and their two sons.
• Both sons are sabre fencers. Competitions take them to Manhattan, Memphis, Reno and beyond.