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Barbara Florio Graham

is a writer, teacher and communications consultant whose clients have included 14 Canadian federal government departments, 12 national and international organizations, 14 regional organizations, as well as many corporate and business clients in the U.S. and Canada.  Barbara has contributed to more than 30 magazines and newspapers around the world, websites in 35 countries in 11 time zones, and 35 print anthologies in five countries. Her award-winning Christmas Story, first published by Nelson Bros. Canada for grade seven students, has been reprinted in high school textbooks for students learning English in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

A graduate of Barnard College (Columbia University), Barbara majored in English with specializations in theatre and writing along with a minor in music. She received her broadcast training at NBC in New York, and taught at two prestigious private schools in the United States, the Calhoun School in New York City and The Latin School of Chicago. While in Chicago she took post-graduate courses in psychology at the University of Chicago. 

After moving to Canada in 1967, Barbara continued a freelance career that she had begun, part-time, much earlier. First published at the age of nine, she won a Regional Award in the National Scholastics Writing Awards for a short story she wrote while a freshman in high school. She freelanced part time for various organizations during her career as a teacher and public relations director.

HOW BOBBI GOT HER NICKNAME

     When Carl & Jean Florio were expecting their third child, they were sure this time they'd have a boy.
     Jean didn't want to name a son after one of Carl's brothers, because that tradition in the Florio family had produced lots of confusion. Over the years, there were two Bill Florios, a Tony, a Nathan, a John, a Carlo and a Carl, all named in honor of the children's uncles.
     She came up with the perfect solution. Their little boy would be called Robert: a nice Italian first name but not yet in the extended Florio family. They began to refer to the little baby to come as "Bobby." So when the expected boy turned out to be a girl, there was a hasty change in plan. Her name would be Barbara, but she would always be called Bobbi by friends and family. 

Bobbi was a successful freelancer for newspapers and magazines when she wrote her first book. Five Fast Steps to Better Writing was launched at Ottawa City Hall in February, 1995. The 20th anniversary edition was published in 2005.

Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity grew out of a demand from non-profit organizations to put Bobbi's popular workshops into book form. It was cited as the reason for the Communicator of the Year award given to Bobbi in 1990 by the Ottawa chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. The book first appeared in 1987, has been revised twice, and has had multiple printings.

Mewsings/Musings, a compilation of award-winning humor by Barbara Florio Graham and Simon Teakettle, won an Award of Excellence in the Cat Writers' Association's international contest in 2001.

A "book shepherd" for self-publishing guru Dan Poynter, Bobbi is also a regular contributor to Freelance Writer's Report, SCRIBE (the newsletter for newsletter editors), and a columnist for The West Quebec Post, Log Cabin Chronicles, and True North Perspective.

Barbara has handled public relations contracts for a number of US and Canadian organizations, including First Aid to Hungary in New York, the Oakdale Musical Theatre in Connecticut, the Illinois Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Christmas Exchange of Ottawa-Carleton, the Canadian Square & Round Dance Society, the Ottawa YM-YWCA, Medica Publishing, and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Often, writing and public relations have been combined, as in contracts for Law Enforcement Supply Company (Florida), The Versailles Group Ltd. (Boston), and the Catholic Health  Association of Canada.

A member of the founding board of the Macdonald Club in Ottawa (established 1978), Barbara has also served on the boards of the Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the National Cultural Sector Training Committee, and the Cultural Human Resources Council.

Barbara was a member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (formerly the Periodical Writers Association of Canada) for 29 years. She served as President of the Ottawa Chapter, and founded and chaired the Mentoring Committee. Barbara received one of PWAC's first Outstanding Service Awards in 1992. She is also a founding member of the Cat Writers' Association, and has been a member of Ottawa Independent Writers for more than two decades.

Barbara has taught seminars and workshops in writing, media relations, public speaking and creativity for two of Ottawa's largest consulting companies, Lemmex & Associates and Performance Management Consultants, and has also served on the faculty of www.WritingSchool.com.     

2006 Profile by Kate Aley in the West Quebec Post

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