Mario Barros is a Sysco Marketing Associate, coach of two time gold medal National Senior Games women’s basketball team the Maine Quicksilver, competitive ballroom dancer, Bentley’s Saloon bouncer, hot rod enthusiast, and proud father of two daughters, and husband of 30 years.

On Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mario prepared 500 dinners as head chef and board member for Community Harvest in Kennebunk – this is his 20th year as chef. In addition to holiday dinners, Community Harvest provides monthly community meals, scholarships, and assistance for food, fuel, and housing. Mario said they are focused on helping their neighbors in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Arundel get the help they need. Recently they helped a man living in a shelter get a suit and a haircut for a job interview. His fellow board member Jeanne Gomez nominated him for a portrait.

For 15 years, Mario has performed in the Maine Children’s Cancer Program’s  fundraiser – Let’s Dance with the Stars. As a professional ballroom dancer, he works with a local celebrities to choreograph their routine. One year his partner was not able to compete due to health issues so his daughter Lilly saved the day and joined him on the dance floor. She’s the youngest person to compete in the program.

For 10 years, Mario has coached the gold medal winning Maine Quicksilver, an over 50 women’s basketball team which competes biannually in the National Senior Games.

Mario posted this for a recent win:

Congratulations to Maine Quicksilver, the Maine Senior Women’s Basketball team that I am proud to coach. Last week, we went to the National Senior Games in Albuquerque, NM. We came home with the gold medal in the Silver Division of the 60-64 year old group. Our 2nd gold in 3 tries together, by the way! These women are real ballers. Their love and dedication for the game and each other is humbling to see and an absolute joy to coach. I love, respect and admire these women. And I thank them for having me along for another awesome ride.

Talking to Aimsel Ponti of Maine Today, Janay explains, “I wrote ‘Diamonds’ in a dark place that’s all too familiar to artists or anyone with a dream; that moment where despite working the hardest you ever have in your life, you get stuck, all the doors close and the bad outweighs the good. In that darkness, doubt creeps in and you question everything. What am I doing? I’m not good enough, pretty enough, thin enough. I have no money and no team. I’m too old, and all my favorites (indie and mainstream artists) caught their break by now. I felt like it made more sense to stop than to continue pursuing music, but I was determined to push forward. With ‘Diamonds,’ I hope to encourage my listeners to keep going and never give up.”

The pandemic has impacted musicians and musical venues hard. JanaeSound continues to work on songwriting as well as dance and band rehearsal. Their new single “Feared” was released during the pandemic. It’s richly layered and helps us all find a release from the fears that hold us back. “In the track, I have a conversation with my fear. She’s doing the whole ‘let’s panic about a million things that could go wrong’ thing. I really do have that voice, ha-ha! She tries to talk me out of some of my best ideas. If I listened to her, life would be so boring,” said Woodruff, who released the track in June.