Galveston Native Returns Home to Uplift Community Through Beauty and Healing

Franklin Berry, a native of Galveston Island, possesses many gifts that he has utilized to enhance the beauty of his surroundings, and the catalyst has been his consistent self-improvement. Living in the housing projects, Franklin began to do his mom’s hair on the porch of Cedar Terrace. Though a young virtuoso of cosmetology, there was another issue Franklin fought: his sexuality and people knowing that he was a gay man. Because of the stigma of a small-town male doing hair being queer, after high school he chose to pursue work in the medical industry.

Stumbling into a world of drugs and alcohol, he soon found himself jobless and couchsurfing to stay off the streets. Determined to turn his life around, he relocated to Atlanta for a fresh start. Continuing his desire to support people through his gift of care, in Atlanta he found work in a support facility for those who were living with HIV/AIDS. He worked to empower his charges, encouraging them to feel comfortable in their own skin

“One of the ladies said that I was the only one that could take care of her,” says Franklin, “and I was reminded of my gift of beauty.”

It was just the boost he needed to pursue a career in hairdressing. After obtaining his Master Barbering License and gaining some professional experience, he moved to New York City to further refine his talents.

“I wanted to be a hairdresser, and I wanted to be able to do all textures and types of hair because I didn’t want to limit myself,” he says.

New York was another opportunity to refresh his surroundings, but this time, it was on good terms with himself, with a vision for the future. In New York he worked with popular product companies and began using his gift of beauty to do work with the LGBTQ homeless population, as well as those dealing with substance use and mental illness. This created a full-circle moment that celebrated him embracing his calling in the beauty industry, as well as being able to give back to people he might have encountered on his journey to sobriety.

The last move came on the cusp of his mother’s sickness in 2020 during COVID-19. He had always promised that he would return to help care for her when needed, and after living eight years in the Big Apple, it was time to return home to fulfill that promise.

With all the self-improvement, professional development, and community empowerment  Franklin had received in the decades leading up to and including his years in New York, he was not only ready to provide care for his mother but also to bring his talents and mission to the city where he was born.

In Galveston, he has opened Noché Berry’s Salon, where they give “a relaxing experience while getting the ultimate hair make-over and service guests with all textures of hair and provide a complete beauty makeover.” He has also created several initiatives, including “It Takes A Village,” a back-to-school drive where his salon partners with the Baby Stewart Foundation and NIA Culture Center to provide free haircuts and hairstyles to children, along with school supplies.

One of his proudest achievements is his Soul Food Sessions. These spaces combine food, poetry, and mental-health practitioners in a setting that feels comfortable for people of all types. This is healing not just for the people who enter, but also for Franklin.

“I’ve been pouring hope into some people who don’t have it, so they look at me and think I have it all together, but don’t know what I have been through,” he says, “and don’t know what I’ve had to endure to get to where I am, and it’s taken a lot of work through therapy and the support of others.”

Though his mother passed away last year, Franklin has decided to stay in the Houston-Galveston area to continue her legacy of work in hopes of establishing the Phyllis Ann Foundation in her honor. “I feel like I am ready to take on the world, and I am the best I have ever been, physically or mentally. I’m loving myself right now,” he says.

Galveston Island is better because Franklin has come home to practice all of his gifts.

Follow Franklin on Facebook at hairdrfranklin