Meet Briana
Briana is a born and raised Harlemite, “I was born in Mount Sinai hospital in ‘95, and I grew up on 111 between Fifth and Lenox. Lived there with my grandma for the first two years. And then me, mommy, and my brother moved uptown to 127th at Saint Nicholas Terrace.” Growing up, she recalls, “127th, we call it Scrilla Hill. So, a lot of fun, a lot of friends, a lot of family.” She was raised by a single mother who taught her to be a hard worker, “Harlem is land of the hustle. So I always say my mom gave me that hustle that I have now because she worked part time at an elementary school. It was called P.S. 36, and she was a school aide. So I remember saying something like, 'Mom, these checks', like, looking back on it… I'm like, ‘How [were] you taking care of us?’ …But she had to put a lot of her pride to the side to take care of me. So there was this store on 126 and St. Nicholas... right near the fish market… it was called Killaman Gyro. And the owner used to let my mom get all of my school lunch and breakfast on credit… And when I say, she had a running tab in this store, but she always pays her debts back… I think that's what kinda just set the foundation for me to know where I needed to work hard at in life.” Motivated by her mother’s strength and sacrifice, Briana was the first in her family to go to college.
Her mother always told her that she would be the only one to work in the house and Briana’s job was to focus on school. And so she did and she excelled doing it. She received her undergraduate degree from SUNY Oswego, her Masters from Hunter College, and is an entrepreneur with two of her own businesses as well. She founded a youth services program, Dream Meets Opportunity mentoring high school freshmen and seniors navigating that state of transition. Briana’s mother inspired her second business, “I went to a baby shower, and I didn't know what to bring a friend, and my mom said, ‘I think you should make her a basket… Back in the days [you’d] go in a flower shop [and] get the little basket with the baby stuff in it.’ …So I tried to make one, it came out fabulous. And my mother said, ‘You should turn this into a business.’” After initial hesitancy, she learned about her creativity and her love for event planning when she worked at Paint and Pour Harlem part time while still working as an educator full time. Ultimately she started Honey Bee Baskets, “It's under my LLC, which is called The Creative Beesness. And we go from gifting to event planning to creative coaching for… any struggling entrepreneurs.”
“I feel like my Harlem is like being outside playing Double Dutch... walking uptown, going to a Tri-state game or going to Milbank for a basketball game, or even Maurice… He has his food truck. He makes the best burgers over here on 118th and Lenox.”
Giving back to Harlem is extremely important to her and her way of doing that is working with the youth. After she graduated college she started out as a college counselor for Harlem Children’s Zone where she is an alum. Then she transitioned to being a Dean at Harlem Village Academies and currently is the program director with the Boys Club of New York. The children she works with also see her in the community and know she is embedded in Harlem, “I just feel like it was always good to me. I just always felt like this is. This is where I'm from… I feel like in order for any child to thrive, they need a supportive community around them.” Looking at her story she wants kids in Harlem to know it is okay to be multifaceted, “I think being able to be versatile with who you are in your community and then pouring back into it, you can show them, like, it's okay to be smart. It's okay to be fly. It's okay to be both. It's okay to be educated. It's okay to… have your degree in hoodology… And I think… specifically for this borough, you have to know how to navigate different spaces because it's changing so much around us… I have to stay invested because I got to teach the next Briana how it's supposed to be. You know, because my kids got to be born here.”
She wants to preserve the community feeling she had growing up. “I feel like my Harlem is like being outside playing Double Dutch. My Harlem is walking uptown, going to a Tri-state game or going to Milbank for a basketball game, or even Maurice… He has his food truck. He makes the best burgers over here on 118th and Lenox. So, that is my Harlem. You know, being able to go to Chill Berry when it was open and get frozen yogurt…” Scrilla Hill, Magic Johnson theater, Central Park, the Apollo, Milbank, Tri-state, Chill Berry, and Tonnie’s Minis are home to some of her core memories. “Scrilla Hill is a big thing because a lot of videos used to get shot on that block… Alicia Keys, 'If I Ain't Got You' video was shot in the building next to mine. And I met Method Man that day… and I got to rap for him because I was a rapper growing up, and I performed at the Apollo when I was little… I won Amateur Night at the Apollo, three times when I was eleven years old.” And of course one of her favorite memories is with her mom, “We used to go to Central Park a lot because my grandmother's from 111th. And one day we went down there and… we had a picnic and… I had my little Barbie laptop and she had her book. She always had her nose in one of them little urban books. And we just sat there and we just kicked it and just had our time. Like, that's really my girl.”
In 2021, her consistency and diligence helped her move to a better apartment in East Harlem through Housing Connect and get her mother into the same building, “Because God is so good, I helped my mom move into my building. So she lives on the ninth floor, and I live on the first floor.” Her mom is the first person she calls in the morning and they continue to spend a lot of time together in each other's apartments. Harlem and her mother have instilled values of loyalty, authenticity, and hardwork. Briana is excited to continue pouring into Harlem and maintaining community by mentoring the youth and building bonds.