Tarique Barrett’s journey to becoming Mr World Jamaica 2024 has been paved by his dual passions: fitness and finance. Born and raised in Mountain View, St Andrew, Barrett said his love for fitness became inextricably linked to his love for his community when said community became his gym. “I’m all about fitness but I don’t use a gym.
I just use my community as a gym, anything that I interact with, I use it as a gym, so if I’m down the road doing something and I can put in a few push-ups, I will do that. When I left high school, that [was] the last time [I] went to a gym. You know coming from an unfortunate background, one where I don’t have the means to afford a gym membership, that really forced me to use anything that I could put my hands on.
” In his early years, Barrett discovered his love for football which he later played at Dunoon Technical High School before transferring to Jamaica College to play on the football team there. If you ask Barrett though, he will tell you his life has been a serendipitous series of events all working in his favour. “It all started from Mountain View Primary and the influence my mom had on me,” he began.
“My mother sells at Mountain View Primary, she is [a] vendor there. Watching her selling at Mountain View Primary actually motivated me to pursue my education in business.” Now Barrett is a student at The University of the West Indies, Mona, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in marketing and accounts.
On the way to realis.