Born in Belgium with German nationality, Barbara lived and studied in Konstanz, Paris, Buenos Aires and later Bruges. She worked in the European Parliament before joining the European Commission in 1994, where she started in the Directorate General’s Unit for Audiovisual Policy and moved to the Environment unit in 1996. From 1998 until 2003, she worked at the representation of the European Commission in Berlin. During her year of personal leave 2003-2004, she advised the umbrella organisation of German cultural organisations Deutscher Kulturrat on European affairs. Until 2009, she was Head of the Regional Representation of the Commission in Bonn. She returned to Brussels as Head of the Press Unit of the European Economic and Social Committee until mid-2011. Until 2016, she ran the Culture Unit at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), which implements the EU’s funding programmes in these areas. Since 2017, she has been responsible for the Creative Europe culture sub-programme at Directorate-General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture.