Meet Jose Barreiro

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jose Barreiro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jose, what’s your definition for success?
Success means many things to many people. To me it is about setting short and long term goals, and then achieving them. I love to help other people; whether that means aiding them in setting goals for themselves, being a part of the planning process to reach those goals, advising and mentoring someone on a specific topic or task, or sometimes just making someone smile. It is about helping others feel empowered to “succeed” themselves. That is what gives me pleasure and makes me feel accomplished.
So, I guess one could say that, to me, success is about reaching a feeling of gratification in whatever it is that one chooses to take on in life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Currently, I wear quite a few hats. I am an international cover model, actor, retired professional mixed martial artist, kinesiologist, military and tactical advisor and a Business Relations Manager; along with being a retired Army Sergeant Major, who served just shy of 21 years.

I joined the Army in 1999, and served in various units such as 1/75th Ranger Battalion, 6th Ranger Training Brigade, 25th ID, The Old Guard, 82nd Airborne Division, and Security Force Assistance Command. I have deployed 9 times, both to Iraq and Afghanistan; 1 of those missions involved recovering Prisoner of War Jessica Lynch. My awards include 3 Bronze Stars (1 with a Valor Device) and a Purple Heart. To date, I have had about 20 surgeries.

I started out within the modeling industry as a model for Michael Stokes, who is a phenomenal person and photographer; I am fortunate to call him a friend. Michael raises money for various charities; this one happened to be the Semper Fi Fund. Being active duty at the time, I wanted to help raise funds and awareness any way I could. Michael Stokes likes to photograph wounded veterans, as a way to highlight and exemplify the strength and intestinal fortitude of the warrior spirit; even though we have visible scars we are still resilient and have a higher purpose. Michael raised over $30,000 for the Semper Fi Fund during the campaign I was a part of. I have been on about 100 book covers to date, and attend book conventions internationally to support the authors and meet new readers and fans. After about 25 covers, I started reading romance novels, so as to understand the genre better and to be able to engage with both the readers and the authors.

I have been blessed to be part of some really amazing projects within the film industry. In September, The Warner Brothers movie, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, ‘One Battle After Another’ will premiere. The movie stars Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti and several other amazing cast members.

One of my favorite quotes is from Sylvester Stallone; I would LOVE to meet him one day. The quote is from Rocky Balboa; “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, And I don’t care how tough you are, It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” This, to me, is my outlook on life. No one can change your life except for you and the choices you make will greatly impact your journey in life.

3 Daily Goals
1. Help somebody: This could be literally anything for anybody. Even the smallest of acts can mean the world to the right person.
2. Learn something new: We’ve all heard that knowledge is power, but it is ultimately the key to understanding. Keep in mind that the best/easiest way to learn is by listening. Not just hearing, but actually being open to facts, opinions, feelings, and truly striving to understand. This is also a key attribute of developing social intelligence.
3. Strive to be a better person today than yesterday: The beauty of this one is that by achieving the previous two goals, you have likely accomplished this one already.
In truth, these goals are progressive toward and cohesive with each other. One is likely to learn something new in the process of helping someone else with an issue they may have and, in turn, becoming a better person.
These are also goals that can typically be easily achieved and in a short amount of time, too. So, why stop at only achieving them once per day. I always aimed to accomplish all three of these goals as many times a day as possible.
Keep in mind that these are never my only goals each day, just my three core that never come off of my list.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As I am currently in Florida, I have tons of local things to explore with friends visiting. Rainbow River and the Weeki Wachi River area are GORGEOUS places to sightsee and explore the outdoors. There are tons of natural cold springs in our area. I’m a foodie, so I always enjoy taking people to local Cuban restaurants and cooking for them at home. I enjoy taking friends to concerts, speakeasys and country bars; I love to dance and listen to good music. To relax, we have the Metro Lagoons and quite a few parks; Aquatica, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are some of my favorites I frequent. Grabbing a boat and going out for a fishing trip is always a good time. Come down to Florida and I’ll take you gator and hog hunting!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My wife, Andrea (aka:”Mama”), is not only my life partner, but my guiding star. She has been by my side since age 19. Throughout an extremely active 20+ year Army career, more medical procedures than I care to count, raised 4 amazing young ladies in our daughters, made every house we have lived in a home, and so much more.
She has had a hand in every-bit of success I have reaching in every venture I have taken on. She took it on right along with me, and many times even took the lead. God truly blessed me with her.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbarreiro217?igsh=a3d4bXo3dmFsZDJq

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-barreiro-677a22113?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_mweb&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EVkT4q7ks/

Image Credits
Greg Honda
Mike Parra
Michael Stokes