Barbara Campbell McLawhorn, a native South Carolinian, was reared in Trenton, New Jersey. She graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Education. Also, she earned a Master of Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a concentration in guidance. In addition to her master's degree, Ms. McLawhorn earned 30 plus hours in guidance. She also held a license in professional counseling prior to retirement. Ms. McLawhorn is the recipient of the National Council of Negro Women's Living the Legacy Award, the Columbia Ministerial Alliance's Drum Major for Justice Award in Education, and the Columbia Urban League Guild's Tower Award. She won several South Carolina State Fair blue ribbons for her southern gourmet pound cakes.

Ms. McLawhorn lives in Columbia, South Carolina with her husband and they are the parents of three adult children. She enjoys gardening, making homemade muscadine grape jelly, serving as an assistant Sunday school teacher, and spending time with her family. Twenty-eight years in education as both a teacher and a school counselor, not to mention having five grandsons, has taught her how to relate to young people and further supports her belief that, "There is good in everyone, seek and you will find it."