Biography

Ivy (Mapp) Barksdale

Ivy (Mapp) Barksdale is a mother of three and the youngest of eight siblings.  Born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Ivy has always believed in the power of dreams.  She grew up feeling that anything is possible if you only believe.  Ivy attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville majoring in Electrical Engineering.  She chose to pursue that career because she felt that if a peanut‐farming engineer can become President, she could certainly use that degree as a springboard for anything else she wanted to do in the future.  A month after graduation, she married her college sweetheart and one month later she became a career woman relocating to Lexington, Kentucky where she currently resides.

Ivy had a successful corporate career that took her in many directions.  She worked as an Electrical Engineer, Software Programmer, Quality Assurance Engineer, IT specialist and Human Resources Specialist.  She put her creative talents to work as a volunteer working with the youth.  She also embraced her nieces, nephews and young cousins as she and her husband dreamed of giving their hearts to children of their own.

After nine years of marriage the two were blessed with boy‐girl twins.  It was these twins that initially inspired her to write this lullaby.  Four years later they were blessed with another son.  Eight years later her husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness.  Ivy followed the desire of her heart and left the corporate world behind to care for her husband and to be there for her children.

Ivy dreamed of turning the lullaby into a book from the time the children were young.  With her husband’s passing, the dream seemed to fade as well, but through encouragement from her children, the dream was revived!

Close Your Eyes represents the culmination of a life of encouraging her children and others to dream, have faith and follow those dreams.  Ivy is currently a real estate agent, an employment specialist and now an author.  She feels that all dreams can come true if you have faith and put actions in place to pursue them.