A Yale graduate and Manhattan native, Barkley spent the majority of her young life traveling before turning her passion into a career. With parents in the luxury hotel business, she spent much of her youth in the Caribbean amidst the chaos of a developing hotel, procuring an acute attention to aesthetics, customer service, and hotel management. After living in Paris on two separate occasions, Barkley spent several years in investment banking before marrying her business skills and love of travel. Prior to becoming a partner at the Local Foreigner, she was the Managing Director of a high-end membership-based travel company in New York. Over the last 10 years, Barkley has circumnavigated the globe — from traversing the dunes of the Lençóis Maranhenses in Brazil to private island hopping in the Seychelles to visiting censored monasteries in Tibet. Barkley currently serves on the advisory boards of Aman Resorts and Travel + Leisure and has been on the Travel + Leisure A-List since 2014.