Barbara Mahany is a staff writer on the National Content/Lifestyle team. She writes mostly about gardens and home, family, food, and health. She always loves a great human interest tale, and has spent the best part of her newspaper years gathering and writing those stories straight from the heart.

Mahany was a pediatric oncology nurse until, after her father's funeral in 1981, the head of a big Chicago ad agency said, "Kid, you can write. Have you ever thought of journalism?" She graduated from Northwestern University with an MSJ in 1982, and started that summer as an intern at the Chicago Tribune. She's been a staff writer since the end of that summer. She was a news reporter for five years, then moved to the features side of the paper, where she's been collecting great tales ever since. She is married to the Tribune's architecture critic, Blair Kamin. They have two sons.

Children--her own and anyone else's. Gardens and nature. What makes a home a nurturing place. Spirituality. Human relationships. Collecting great souls and great stories. Words, essays and poetry. Her blog exploring the heart and soul side of the homefront.