Meet Miss USA: Army Captain DeShauna Barber

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Army Reserve Family Programs conducted a one-on-one interview April 10, 2017, with Miss USA title holder, Capt. DeShauna Barber. In this Q and A session, Barber shares her thoughts on how a strong family dynamic plays a key role in the Army Reserve’s mission readiness. She also offers insight on the day to day challenges of balancing her military and civilian career with her role as Miss USA. The Columbus, Ga., native joined the United States Army Reserve at age 17. Barber attended Virginia State University and graduated with a degree in Business Management and Commissioned as a Quartermaster Officer in 2011. She later attended University of Maryland where she earned a master’s degree in Management Information Systems. On June 5, 2016, Barber was crowned Miss USA 2016 by outgoing titleholder Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma. She represented the USA at Miss Universe 2016, where she placed among the top 9 finalists. [caption id="attachment_11297" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Photo by Valerie Resciniti[/caption] Barber is the first Miss USA to be actively serving her country in the United States Army Reserves. She is currently serving as an Army Reserves Logistics Commander for the 988th Quartermaster Detachment Unit in Fort Meade, Md., and also works as an Information Technology Analyst for the United States Department of Commerce. You have accomplished so much at just 27 years of age. What goals are you still working toward? The goal I am working toward is becoming a successful motivational speaker. That’s at the forefront of my mind in terms of goals. Up until this stage in my life, I didn’t even know. Once I finished my Master’s degree and won Miss USA, I’m thinking, “Wow, what else is there to do?” Because winning a pageant was at the top of my bucket list. Balance must be really hard between your Army career, civilian career, and serving as Miss USA. How did you balance those three areas of your life? The way I found balance is to write everything down. Any event that I had coming up, the time had to be blocked out. I’m able to plan out day-by-day, hour-by-hour, when I’m going to go to sleep, and when I’m going to prepare my next speech. I look over my schedule for the next day to ensure I understand how to deal with a very, very long and strenuous schedule. My planner helps me keep things balanced. Some people have a way of planning things in their mind, they know how to handle their day-to-day activities based on what’s plugged in their brains. I’m the total opposite. I literally have to see it and have it placed in front of me to say, “Okay, this is what I’m doing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; this is what I’m doing from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.” so on and so forth. I even set aside time periods to watch a movie. It may seem a little too straining, but due to my incredibly busy schedule, time management is imperative. [caption id="attachment_11298" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Photo by Valerie Resciniti[/caption] Does your Army career, civilian career and your status as Miss USA ever conflict with one another? There’s always a conflict. There are a lot of organizations or people pulling me in every direction, so I really do have to prioritize what I’m doing from each day. I leave it up to my manager to prioritize based on what the organization is most focused on, or what they are interested in being a part of. They do a good job of saying, “DeShauna, what do you want?” Obviously, everything I try to do is veteran focused. I try to make anything with military organizations a priority, although that doesn’t always work out in my favor. I try to prioritize any community service event before the glitz and the glamour of the Miss USA title. I believe it’s so much more than a sash and a crown. It’s an opportunity to make an impact. I try to make anything that is impactful a priority over everything else. In what ways has the Army Reserve been influential to you in your current endeavors? With the Army Reserve you’re having to learn to balance. Before I won Miss USA, I worked at the Department of Commerce, while serving as a commander for my unit. After winning the Miss USA pageant, I still understood how to balance being Miss USA and still being able to get in my car and drive to my unit, do my drill time and do my annual training. The Army Reserve taught me how to balance , plan, multi-task, and prioritize. Not to mention, being in the Army can be somewhat intimidating depending on who is in the room with you. With that said, getting on camera and being on television didn’t feel that intimidating. It was scary, but I think I’ve been in scarier situations The Army Reserve family is more than the traditional husband, wife and kids. Why do you feel it would be important to highlight a family dynamic that supports soldiers in the manner you have been supported? I think a soldier’s happiness is based on what he or she is dealing with at their unit and also what they are dealing with at home. A very, very important part of a soldier’s life is their family dynamic. I think what made me and my family happy, although both of my parents were active duty Army, was having a family dynamic in which everyone was happy and involved. To have the family involved with what’s going on in the soldier’s unit, such as family days and other family focused activities, gets the families involved with what the Soldiers have to deal with on a day to day. It also helps builds relationships with other families that have to deal with the same exact thing. It contributes to the happiness of the soldier, the happiness of the family and helps them stick together and rely on one another. [caption id="attachment_11299" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Photo by Valerie Resciniti[/caption] Both of your parents were service members, did you always know you wanted to follow in their footsteps or is that something you decided later into adulthood? I planned on going to school and joining the Army afterwards, but that changed when my father and I walked into my university. I signed up for an ROTC scholarship on the spot. My plan was always to join, but I did join a lot earlier than planned. I considered serving to be somewhat of a family tradition because my sister and brother both serve. All of us decided to dedicate our lives and do what we can to serve our country, Army only obviously, but I definitely knew it was something I was going to do. Probably one of the best decisions that I’ve made in my life. Have you considered focusing on a family of your own in the future? I don’t think I have a choice. I plan on adding a family and having them learn how to be in a family structure with someone that is serving in the Armed Forces. I definitely plan to have a family who are just as involved in the military as I believe any military family should be. Having learned to balance my current endeavors is definitely preparation for the responsibility of having a family. What influence/impact has family had on your career as a Soldier? What influence/impact has family had on your career as Miss USA? I think it’s easier to support a soldier as a family member if you’ve been a soldier before. When I first joined, my dad and my mom did a really good job at helping me understand the military dynamic and how to understand the organization as a whole. Especially my sister and my brother. Everyone is enlisted but me and they never let me forget it. I’m the only officer. They are able to give the enlisted perspective. There were times that I would call my sister, who was an E-5 two years ago, and say, “Hey, I’m dealing with an issue with a soldier. How do I handle it? What do they mean by this?” My sister had been in a lot longer than I have and she was able to give me the perspective of a previously enlisted soldier. There is no way to explain how awesome of a support system my siblings have been. They are wonderful! Mostly because they can relate to what I’m dealing with. I’ve been competing in pageants for the six to seven years. Much of my family have been supportive, except for my dad; he has never been a pageant guy. There was a reason I was able to go back every year, in spite of losing the year before, it was my family that pushed me to go back and compete again. My dad will come to the pageants, but if I don’t win, he’s waiting for the judges outside. I’m saying, “You got to relax dad! You got to chill out! Not everybody wins.” Yeah, my dad is a different type of guy. The rest of my family, they’ve all been very supportive. They have really pushed me. What would you tell to any young adult or service member that has been told they "can't"? If anyone is telling you that you can’t, that’s a huge problem. Don’t surround yourself around people like that. The first steps to achieving a goal is believing that you can actually achieve it. I think that’s why it took me to win a pageant. I never pictured myself being Miss USA or Miss Universe. I never pictured it in my mind. The moment that I actually believed I could do it, was the moment I became successful. When it comes to young adults, its more than just saying, “I want to be a lawyer.” Do you really see yourself as a lawyer? There is a difference between saying something and believing it . You can believe anything, but you have to be able to convince yourself that it can happen. Once that happens, you’re able to mentally produce the steps to make that happen. What's the best piece of professional advice you could give to Army Reservists as a soldier and a leader? The best advice I can give is to decide what you want to do and make it happen. Don’t procrastinate. As soon as I graduated with my undergraduate degree, I took a year and a half off and then I jumped right into my graduate degree. I didn’t wait on anything. Suppose there is a job you want at an agency. What are you waiting on? What do you need to do to make it happen? I would say, the quickest way to fail is to procrastinate. Say what you’re going to do and do it. Do not wait, do not hesitate; just jump in, full body. There is always going to be people surrounding you that are very, very determined to achieve whatever goals that they’ve set for themselves, and they’ll end up passing you real quick because you’re procrastinating. You may think, “I’ll do this tomorrow” or “I’ll do this next week. I can stay at this job for another year and then I’ll go to that job the next year.” Why even wait? If that’s what you want, then make it happen! What do you think of when you hear Family Readiness + Soldier Readiness = Mission Readiness? It really takes a village . I think that for the Army to run, for soldiers to be able to deploy, for soldiers to be able to train, they need a support system. Sometimes a soldier’s family, children, and spouses are their support system. Do you have a support system in which you can call and say, “Hey, can you take care of my child? I have a two week training event.” or “Hey, I left my ruck sack at home. Can you bring it here?” or “The mothers are organizing a big sale for unit day.” I’m really just saying it takes more than the soldier to make the soldier successful. It takes the family and the entire organization as a whole to ensure that personnel are able to be productive. It’s so much more than just having the unit support, but also having a family the support system for the Soldier to lean on. There are a lot of things that I’ve had to do for my siblings or that my siblings had to do for me, especially when my sister and brother were both deployed. We needed to take care of this or take care of that. How do we handle the lease on your apartment or take care of your car. Whatever the case may be, it takes more than just an individual, it takes a village for the military to run. For more information about Army Reserve Family Programs, visit our website at www.arfp.org , or contact Fort Family at 1-844-ONE-FAMY or your command’s Family Programs Director or Coordinator. We Inspire and Empower. Anytime. Anywhere. 24x7x365. The Army Reserve Family Programs mission/intent is to increase awareness of services provided to Army Reserve Soldiers and their families, Command teams and civilians throughout the geographically dispersed Army Reserve community. We also seek to enhance support of Army Reserve missions, soldiers and families. [maxbutton id="13"] Connect with us on Facebook!

Meet Miss USA: Army Captain DeShauna Barber

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