A Rhode Islander born and bred, Barbara Ann is the daughter of Liana, a special education teacher, and Mike, an electrical engineer for the United States Navy. Growing up on Aquidneck Island, BA was an athlete - and won several regional & national championships in gymnastics.
BA attended Northeastern University, and became valedictorian of their Bouve College of Health Sciences. On her way to earning her first Master's degree, she studied at Edinburgh University in Scotland & the University of Sydney in Australia.
While beginning her career as a physical therapist, BA worked with children with special needs before transitioning to a career in acute care & neurology. Additionally, Barbara Ann was a lecturer at Northeastern University, teaching courses ranging from neuroanatomy to prosthetics.
The late State Senator June Gibbs, an extremely close friend of BA's mother, would often teach her about the master lever and the inner workings of Smith Hill while driving BA back and forth to college. Only weeks before her death in 2012, Senator Gibbs urged Barbara Ann to run as a delegate for the presidential convention. Later that year, BA would be elected, and infamously meet her future husband at that convention when her wayward umbrella smacked him in the head.
After marrying Mayor Allan Fung in 2016, BA championed causes such as improving the lives of children & adults with disabilities, & programs that help to fight the opioid crisis, including serving on the board of the Cranston Substance Abuse Task Force.
During this time, she earned a Certificate in Emergency Management from Auburn University & a second Masters - this time in Digital Media Management - from ASU. Barbara Ann was named one of Providence Business News' "40 Under 40" award winners in 2019, and one of GoLocalProv's "20 to Watch in 2020."
In 2020, BA became the first Rhode Islander in 114 years to defeat a sitting Speaker of the House, and the first woman to ever represent her District in Western Cranston. As a freshman, she became the State Director for Women in Government, and was elected to the National Women's Legislative Board for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
After winning re-election in 2022, she was named a 2023 National Woman of Excellence award winner by the National Foundation for Women Legislators, a Rodel Fellow, and a fellow of Smart Growth America's State Legislature Champions Institute.