Barbara Maxwell was born in Madison, Wisconsin and spent several years during her childhood living overseas in several countries in Latin America. Before she was 14 years old, she was fluent in four languages. She attended the University of Minnesota where she received her Master’s in Library Science. Maxwell is a career librarian and corporate executive with over 27 years of experience working in the media and for three state governors. She ran the library and research department at USA TODAY for over 13 years. While there, she also served as the copyright officer and was involved in content resale. Maxwell has written numerous articles in professional journals, spoken at national conferences in the field of media librarianship, and has been writing poetry for over three decades. Her works are published in a book titled Butterflies and other fanciful thoughts. Maxwell also holds a copyright for a project and grant written for libraries. She most currently worked for a nonprofit in the Washington D.C. area where she also managed a former NFL player and celebrity. She also writes part time for Examiner.com. During the past year she has traveled to Africa twice and to Dubai. Maxwell currently resides with her two cats, Dorothy and Phoebe in the Seattle area.