Barbara Shockey-Milanese was born in Saskatoon in May, 1961 and began swimming at the age of six years, first with the Saskatoon Kinsmen Goldfins Club.

In March, 1977, Barbara attended her first national meet in Montreal, swimming the 400 metre free style and 800 metre free style faster than anyone else in Saskatchewan in her age class.

Barbara represented Canada at the 1978 British Commonwealth Games and was fifth in the 800 metre free style. She also attended the world championships in West Berlin, Germany. She made the Canadian team at the 1979 Pan-American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and won a bronze medal for a third place finish in the 800 metres at eight minutes, 54.82 seconds. She also represented Saskatchewan at the 1979 Canada Summer Games.

Barbara attended two international meets in 1979, a dual meet against the Soviets where she earned a third and a fifth and the FINA Cup meet at Tokyo, Japan, where she was fifth in the 800 metres.

She won a scholarship to the University of Miami in 1979-80. She stayed in the United States and has been active in the masters swimming program.