Barb Mackraz serves as co-VP for Neighbors Abroad's Narok, Kenya friendship city program. She is a longtime member of Neighbors Abroad and a lifelong advocate for literacy, environmental stewardship, and cross-world friendship.

She founded the Oliveseed Foundation in the U.S. and co-founded Oliveseed Kenya Trust. Her work in Kenya includes developing libraries and educational resources for villages, operating a women's work center, constructing water facilities, and preserving indigenous stories. In Morocco, she has established English libraries across 30+ locations and launched a national short story competition for rural youth.

Previously, Mackraz had a career as a software product designer in Silicon Valley, specializing in speech recognition, and worked as an editor for Princeton University Press. She holds a BA in European history from UC San Diego and a Master of Liberal Arts from Stanford, where her thesis explored the mythical Nile in early modern cartography.

She resides in Palo Alto with her husband and raised their daughter there. She enjoys hiking and Bay Area natural landscapes.