Briana’s presence at the Artisan Barber Foundation is steady and intentional—never flashy, but always essential. As the nonprofit arm of the Artisan Barber brand, the Foundation creates grooming-based mentorship programs for young men of color in New York City, using haircuts, school activations, and community partnerships as tools for empowerment.
Briana is the architect behind many of those efforts—the one reviewing our impact numbers, leading our school outreach, and shaping the story of who we serve and why it matters. She’s the kind of person who believes every detail—from an Instagram caption to a conversation with a student—has the power to shift someone’s world.
Born in Florida and raised in a Mexican household, Briana first arrived in New York City in 2012 on a full-ride college scholarship. It was a leap that not only expanded her academic and creative horizons, but also planted the seeds for the kind of life she was determined to build—one that blends discipline with art, organizing with heart.
Before joining the Artisan Barber Foundation, Briana cut her teeth in retail, working sales, inventory, and merchandising throughout high school and college. After graduation, she moved into the nonprofit world, quickly rising through the ranks to become a director and program coordinator. Over the next five years, she helped raise six figures through crowdfunding and grant writing—funding programs that directly served New York’s most vulnerable. But even with that success, something wasn’t sitting right.
“I began to see that true sustainability—especially in community work—requires integration with the private sector,” Briana explains. “A local business with real roots can create lasting change in a way that nonprofits alone often can’t.”
That belief is what drew her to Artisan Barber. As our school program coordinator and social media manager, Briana leads with both data and narrative. On any given day, you’ll find her reviewing our impact numbers, managing outreach with schools, and curating content that tells the deeper story of what we do. It’s not just about showing up—it’s about making sure people understand why we’re here and who we’re here for.
But Briana’s work doesn’t stop at the barbershop door. In her time outside the Foundation, she’s an award-winning artist and documentary filmmaker. This year, she was awarded two artist grants to develop film projects rooted in Latin American immigrant experiences. Her work explores the creative resilience of low-income communities, focusing on solutions that fight food insecurity and cultural erasure.
“I’m deeply inspired by my community,” she says. “And I see storytelling as a form of resource redistribution.”
That’s not just theory—Briana helped lay the groundwork for redistributing $1.3 million in free food and clothing to over 100,000 New Yorkers in the last five years. Her leadership in logistics, outreach, and community partnerships made that happen.
Ask her to describe her role at the Foundation, and she doesn’t hesitate: “I’m a cultural worker. At my core, I’m an artist—but with a work ethic strong enough to create big projects.”
She’s not just building programs. She’s building legacy. And Artisan Barber is proud to be part of her journey.
