Barbara Bensoussan is the quintessential Jewish dropout who never finished her Ph.D. but went on to teach English and Introductory Psychology at the University of Michigan.  She worked as a social worker for OHEL, an ESL teacher, and various other stints before easing into full time writing.  Her 20-year-plus career followed the growth of frum publishing, and she wrote articles for many Jewish publications before settling in at Mishpacha.  Barbara is the author of the young adult novel A New Song (Targum), the food memoir The Well-Spiced Life (Israel Bookshop), and the co-author of Converted Masters, an art book; she has also authored private memoirs and taught writing workshops.  All of this, of course, gets accomplished in the margins of Barbara’s day job as a wife, mother and grandmother.