Barbara Serra was born on 19 August 1974 in Milan, Italy, to a father from Sardinia and a mother from Sicily. From the age of nine, she was raised in Copenhagen in Denmark. As a result of this upbringing she is multilingual, speaking Italian, English, Danish, and fluent French. At nine, she moved to Copenhagen, where she attended the Copenhagen International School.

In 1993, she moved to the UK to study International Relations at the London School of Economics. She then undertook a Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism at City University, London, to train as a journalist.

She began her career at the BBC in 2000 as a reporter for BBC London News, later presenting for Channel 5 News, where she became the first non-native English speaker to anchor a primetime news programme on British television. After her time at Five News, Serra joined Al Jazeera English in 2006 as part of its founding team, where she became known for her incisive interviews and coverage of international events.

After her Al Jazeera career stint, she returned to Sky News in October 2023 as a freelance presenter, marking another significant chapter in her career. She also authored the book Gli Italiani Non Sono Pigri (“Italians Are Not Lazy”) in 2014, challenging stereotypes about Italian culture and work ethic, and co-produced the award-winning documentary Fascism in the Family (2020).

Barbara Serra is married to Mark Kleinman, a well-known financial journalist and the City Editor at Sky News. Living in London, they navigate their careers while raising a family.