Freraire is one of those people who dismantles provincial stereotypes and simply makes Des Moines a more interesting place in which to live.
Three things to know about Freraire:
1. He’s a competitive bodybuilder. Freraire has competed in bodybuilding competitions across the country. When he spoke with dsm, he was training in preparation for a spring competition in New York. He had just cut 2,000 calories a day from his diet, with the goal of dropping from 205 to 170 pounds and from 15 percent to 3 percent body fat. He views bodybuilding as an artistic process, he says, adding that it’s also “a sport that’s based solely on what you put into it.”
2. He has a mantra tattooed on his arm. The tattoo serves “as a calming influence,” says Freraire, who, although not a Buddhist, describes himself as spiritual. “The mantra is always there where I can always see it,” he says. “It’s a way to stay focused and regroup.” Tattoos of zodiac signs—he’s a Leo—and planetary glyphs also adorn his arms.
3. He’s a peripatetic hair stylist and makeup artist. Freraire loves to combine travel with work, a passion that has landed him gigs throughout the country as a stylist for independent filmmakers, bands and national news crews, such as CNN. He’s also often a guest artist at industry trade shows.
When Freraire is in Des Moines, he works out of a first-floor studio in his Sherman Hill home, a Victorian house once owned by the Tone family of spice fame. He lives on the second and third floors with his two dogs—Synder, a 150-pound Great Dane, and Beatrix, a 19-pound Jack Russell terrier.
“I like the concept of a boutique studio,” says the Brooklyn, N.Y., native, whose mother and grandmother also were stylists. “I can’t be behind the chair every day doing cookie-cutter work. This space lends itself to being more creative.”
