Simone Barrientos

Barrientos grew up in Neustrelitz as the child of a single mother who was a dancer with the folklore ensemble of the GDR and the Friedrich-Wolf-Theater in Neustrelitz. She was also looked after in state nurseries and in a Catholic children's home. After attending school, she first learned the profession of an industrial electrician at the Deutsche Reichsbahn. At the age of 17 she gave birth to a son whose father had left for the "West". She completed a further apprenticeship as a commercial advertiser. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in the GDR, she worked in various sectors until 2008: as a draftswoman, interpreter, in a casting office and in film production. From 2008 to 2017, she managed the publishing house Kulturmaschinen. She became member of the bundestag after the 2017 German federal election,^[2] where she was a member of the Committee for Culture and Media.^[3] She was also the spokesperson for cultural policy for her parliamentary group.^[4]