Shane O’Brien chatted with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos about representing Virginia in the 2025 Mister USA competition.
English poet Charles Lamb once said: “My motto is: Contented with little, yet wishing for more.” This quote applies to Shane O’Brien.
Mister USA
Mister USA is an American beauty pageant, which is held annually, and the winner goes on to represent the United States in the Mister Universe competition. It is a celebration of culture, diversity, beauty, intelligence and empowerment. They believe in the power of young leaders to make a difference in the world. It is not solely about outer beauty; it recognizes the inner beauty and intelligence of their contestants.
On being chosen to compete for Mister USA, he remarked, “Oh my Gosh. At first, it was unexpected. I never thought I would be a part of a pageant, but now that it’s here and it’s happening, I’m excited.”
“I want to say that I’m nervous but I’m in a really good place in my life where I take new things that are foreign and out of my comfort zone head on and I just go for it. I am excited to have fun, meet new people and have a great time,” he elaborated.
Representing Virginia
On repping Virginia, he said, “Virginia is fun. While I am not from there personally, I feel honored to show off the state because I want to reinvent myself and my identity.”
“At one point, it was one state but now it is two states: West Virginia and Virginia. It has gone through many changes in its life cycle (as a state), and over time, it had to reinvent itself and what it represents. I think that story of resiliency is something I am really looking forward to representing and I hope to show it off myself,” he explained.
Advocacy for Mister USA
Regarding his advocacy for Mister USA, he said, “I really want to represent and advocate for those that feel tossed aside or feel like an outcast or the weird kids. At one point, I felt like a weird kid and I felt almost worthless and that I couldn’t fit in. Now, being outside of the sphere of the ‘in’ crowd has helped me see that there are so many people like me, and there are others that feel the same way I do. I hope to represent that group of people.”
“Remember that things get better if you can just push through, so I hope to represent that group of people,” he added.
Daily motivations
On his daily motivations, he shared, “I want to be someone who can be almost like Superman. I want to take care of all of those around me. I want to take care of my grandmother, my three-year-old godchild, my mother, my father, and my friends… I want to be a person that they know they can lean on always and be there to help.”
“Before I can do that, I need to help myself and make sure I am okay, healthy, and good too. My motivator every day is to make myself one percent better in order to serve those around me as well. In the end, I really love helping other people, and everything I do is to be my best version of myself, so then, I can help as many people as possible,” he elaborated.
Future plans
On his future plans, he shared, “I am still a little young. I’m 21 years old. I’ve always dreamt of living in a bunch of different places. I would love to live in Miami, and I am working on my dual citizenship for the European Union for Slovenia. I would love to get my European Union passport and live abroad. Also, I would love to travel to Latin America because I’ve worked really hard on building up my Spanish-speaking skills and I hope to work on my Portuguese as well so I can travel all around Latin America.”
“For my own personal goals, I hope to keep getting stronger in the gym and I hope to become trilingual because I am pretty good in Spanish,” he admitted.
Also, he hopes to someday foster children of his own. “That would be wonderful,” he admitted.
“For me, a dream of mine would be hopefully combining my passions of helping others, language learning, meeting other people and somehow find a way to build a business out of it and provide real value to others through business,” he added.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Shane revealed, “It’s a reinvention of becoming more of myself.”
“Recently, I had a hard time dealing with physical injuries with my lower back, and a large part of my identity, is fitness and promoting a healthy lifestyle. When that got taken away, I realized that physical health is not only fun to do or a habit, but it’s a privilege. There are so many people out there that wish to do all those things but physically can’t.”
“For me, I am reinventing my outlook on life, and what it means to be able to do all those things, which include competing for the Mister USA pageant,” he said.
“I am coming into my own, not from a place of fear, but from an excited perspective on life, and know that everything that is presented in front of me is a gift and I really want to take advantage of my abilities and use them, and hopefully do my best,” he added.
Shane on why he should win Mister USA
When asked why he should win Mister USA, he stated, “I want to represent a message of inclusivity. As Mister USA, you are given such a platform to give out a message to people all across the nation, especially to young men these days.”
“For me, I would like to represent what a modern man looks like and what a modern man can be through strength, care, but also through inclusivity, and making people know that they are welcome and that nobody is left out of any conversation.”
Success
On his definition of the word success, Shane said, “Success means never giving up! Thomas Edison once said: ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ For me, success means consciously making a decision every day to not give up, and to just keep going.”
“Also, success means being able to give back to those that have helped me,” he concluded.
To learn more about Shane O’Brien, follow him on Instagram.
