Barbara was born in Germany. She grew up in Germany, France and Italy and speaks German and English fluently (basic French and Italian). In 1985/86 she spent 1 year as an High School exchange student in Georgia/USA and graduated in Germany in 1988. Barbara began her travel industry career in the summer of 1988 at Julius-Leber-Schule and graduated from the academy in 1990. In 1990 Barbara was hired to launch the 11th "TUI Urlaubs Center" in Wetzlar/Germany, the new travel agency chain brought to life by Europe's leading wholesale tour operator "TUI Touristik Union International." Since the office became profitable in less than 12 months under her management Barbara decided to delegate some of her responsibilties in order to make room for more personal educational opportunities. Parallel to her professional life, Barbara studied English, Russian, Industrial Economics and Vocational Eduction Science at Justus-Liebig University in Giessen from 1991 till 1994.
She began to work for America West Airlines in 1994. During her 10 years as Regional Director for America West Airlines for Germany, Switzerland and Austria Barbara developed the U.S. domestic stopover program for America West's partner airline "Condor", flying into the Las Vegas hub, and she coordinated America West's official partnership and marketing projects with the Tri-City Alliance: Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego. Barbara more than tripled America West's revenue from the German speaking market place. Barbara is a true travel industry professional with an in-depth knowledge and a precise understanding of the respective distribution systems. She is a seasoned veteran of the global travel industry with well rounded experience in all facets of development and marketing of travel industry services, be it airline, tour operating business, travel agencies, hotels, destinations, attractions or activities.
Barbara joined THE PROJECT team (formerly known as YMI) in November of 2004 - she spends half the year at the US headquarters in Scottsdale and works in the Germany office during her time overseas.
