OUR STORY
We are Vanessa & Sylvestre, the proud owners of Beraka Juice!
Birthing Beraka is a combination of our personal faith in Jesus, the burden to live a healthier lifestyle, the consciousness of the things we feed into our bodies, and a desire to serve our community organic healthy options.
HOW DID YOU START BERAKA?
It’s a long story - grab some juice !
2016
Our story began in 2016, when, through various sermons, Vanessa became more and more aware of every human being created to fulfill a calling or a purpose.
February 2017
As Vanessa was getting ready to order juice during her birthday brunch, she sensed God telling her not to order juice. She carried that as a lifestyle instruction and stopped drinking store-bought juices.
June 2017
Vanessa finally left her well-paid engineering job, as God had been pressing it on her heart, not knowing what the next step in her life would be. #faith
December 2017
She woke up with the worst juice craving that just did not make sense as she had gone months without drinking store-bought juices.
She remembers opening her fridge that morning and there were 4 red apples (must have been between Fuji or Red Delicious apples). She owned a home juicer that she had not used in more than 3 years and decided to make her own juice. The fresh taste of that homemade apple juice made her wonder what store-bought juices are actually made of because the homemade apple juice’s taste was matchless. From then on, she started making her own juices.
February 2018
As Vanessa was catching up with one of her close friends, her newly found juice life subject came up. She shared with her friend her frustration about not having juice bars in her community and that she had to make my own (PS: juicing is a LOT of work and Vanessa wished she could just get up and buy a freshly pressed juice).
Her friend’s response is one that Vanessa will never forget “why don’t you become the one to provide it to your community”? It’s at that moment that it all clicked! The whole purpose behind no longer drinking store-bought juices, leaving her job, and making her own juice was not for herself but to serve her community healthy options.
March 2018
Recipe development officially began while gaining knowledge on how to start a business through workshops, seminars, etc. It's then that the name "Beraka" ('ber-aw-kaw') was selected for the business. Beraka is the Hebrew word used in the bible when God blessed Abraham: "...I will bless you and make your name great; you shall be a source of blessing, Bĕrakah.” [Genesis 12:2, NKJV]
April 2018
Sylvestre & Vanessa started their love journey
June 2018
We birthed our delicious spiritchild on Sunday, 17 June 2018 by introducing it to our church family.
June 2020
We opened our very first Beraka Juice shop in Winthrop, MA
June 2023
We announced opening a second location in Cambridge, MA
A FEW FUN FACTS ABOUT US
We are lovers & followers of Jesus Christ.
We are both originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, though we met in Boston
Vanessa's favorite products at Beraka Juice are the peace juice, the power smoothie & royalty acai bowl.
Sylvestre’s: the joy juice, the glory smoothie & the royalty acai bowl! Anything mango!
The Mitto Mango toast is named after me :)
