Henry Obispo
Henry is the founder and CEO of Born Juice, a cold press sustainable juice bar in the Bronx.
“It’s like second nature, I didn’t think of it as a business at first because something so close to you, sometimes we forget it could be something of use to the world, and also something you can make a living from. I lived in brazil for years and coming back and being so used to things over there, I realized that my hood was really a food desert. It was only after living elsewhere and then returning, that I was hit with that reality. In Brazil, I got so used to having access to natural food that it was like wow. I didn’t realize that I lived in a food desert because I was immersed in it; It was normal. I wanted to do something about that.”
“I’ve had this space here in Mott Haven for 3 & ½ years. That space was sort of like an office that I had used for this non-profit I was running and then with the idea to bring not only a juice bar but a model of wellness and sustainability to this community. The idea was to have a rooftop and to engage the community and teach everyone about sustainability. When I started doing things here nobody wanted to be here. I went in with a vision and little funds and a few years later because of speculation it blew up and really caught me by surprise. I wanted to help people impoverished within the community. Now there’s a major shift where everything is in flux. There are major developments happening in the area; even next to me there are towers going up. It’s become the hottest neighborhood in New York.”
“Speculation has altered the area but it’s also a building boom. I find myself in the middle of that and grappling with that. And having to deal with that.”
“So, I would say Mott Haven, it feels like a community here because the businesses are familiar. Most of them are from the Bronx or have engaged in the Bronx for a long time. So, in that sense, there’s a familiarity. You feel like people are approachable. Doing business in Mott haven in many ways I would say, is interesting tho. Because everything is in flux. Yes, there is familiarity but we don’t know what’s next. Everything is being bought and sold. New businesses opening up. So, in many ways, you’re working with a lot of unknowns here. When it comes to your business and where your business fits into the bigger picture. The best way to survive that and to focus is to have tunnel vision. And especially in a place so focused on change. It’s important to bring your concepts to fruition as you take the surrounding area into account. You don’t necessarily need to focus on the change. Because everything is in flux you might do yourself a disservice. If you stick to your guns you’ll be alright.”
“The thing about change and business and factoring in change is that by default you have to factor in egos. It doesn’t matter what the change looks like. Your business model needs to be flexible, you have to take everything into account and at the same time disregard a lot. It’s like a juggling act; there are many movable parts. You don’t really know what’s going to stick here because nothing is solidified. Stick to what you’re doing but be a bit flexible in the case of what you’re going to offer. Pricing, etc.”
“I’ve been making juices since I was 4 years old. We had a big backyard in DR so we had everything from guava, cherries, passionfruit, I would engage and experiment with everything I found. My mom migrated here when I was 1 ½ and left me behind with my family members. As a result of that my whole family raised me, but they gave me so much freedom that I was allowed to experiment. I wasn’t chastised or told no. I was able to be in nature and climb trees and it’s why I’m so supportive of environmental initiatives. The fact that I was able to experiment in DR allowed me to experiment here; In many different ways. Growing up here was definitely different compared to DR because there was a lot more freedom there. Growing up here in the Bronx I felt the pressure of not being able to express myself. I couldn’t talk about nature in school with my friends because it was considered “too soft”; even though at 12 or 13 I’d dream about being in the Amazon. I had an obsession with fruits and like finding exotic fruits [it] was something I always thought about but I couldn’t really talk about. I didn’t think that anybody in the Bronx would relate because none of my friends talked about it. It was always about survival. Not about being a tree hugger.”
“But it was an idea that never left me because I had the desire from when I was young. The Bronx made me go inward with my desire to create in this space which only made my desire stronger because I couldn’t outwardly express it. So, it became a reality. It was something that needed to come out. Even when I went to school to college, I started taking environmental courses. Later on, the layers that it built in me were very strong because I was able to frame things from a different perspective. All of this became part of my idea. And now it’s this huge idea.”
“One of these ideas was the Bronx salad which was something I started 3 ½ years ago. It was after I became the president of the restaurant cooperative which was the first of its kind [in the Bronx]. I realized because I was already focusing on health that, as a whole, I needed to share that with the greater population. It wasn’t about me, but about everyone and giving everybody a part of that. I started engaging with restaurants and educating them, hired chefs to go to the mom-and-pop restaurants to help them develop healthier options without taking out the cultural values. I came up with a dish that would be emblematic of the whole borough and the Bronx salad was it. We surveyed over 300 people in the Bronx and asked what they’d like to see in a salad. And after testing 12 different iterations, which people voted from, we solidified a dish that tasted like the Bronx. We created a dish salad that tasted like the Bronx by way of the hyperlocal produce; Many of which were locally grown in the south Bronx.”
“Engaging in health is an increasing priority. The reality here is that there’s been so much disinvestment that health has been at the bottom of the list. But there are a lot of people that are engaging in health and wellness. Nowadays, you’ll find pop-up yoga in the projects. And can find many people doing things to push us forward. You can do a communal run and things like that or you can come to one of our popups or to our store once we open. I think that anything that is for the greater good of the planet is good. Our Brand Born, is a place for this; it’s a place where like-minded folks can come together and engage for the community, planet, and humanity. Where we can give more life.”
