Meet D Franquez of The Miami Give Back

The Miami Give Back all started with a hairstylist named Daniella Franquez a young mother of two in Miami,fl who has always loved to do philanthropy work in her community and showing her daughters a different way to view less fortunate by donating her hair cutting services to local events and shelters around Broward and Miami- Dade counties. With a single Instagram post on her work page @beautybydaniella_ “I want to do something for the homeless, who’s in?” set in motion a wave that no one ever imagined would grow into such a beautiful movement. With the help of a few followers “The Miami Give Back” was born. Daniella enlisted the help of friends, strangers, anyone willing to lend a helping hand, and that’s when Rey Zubizarreta @ray_ur_barber, Jean Varela @shinzotheomega and Alex Gonzalez @oso_fresh_cutz stepped up to be the first barbers to hit the streets of Miami with Daniella. Not knowing what to expect, they showed up with two tables, three chairs, a cooler of water, clothes to donate, and a car adapter that ran an extension cord to power the machines to cut hair. It was AMAZING how grateful the homeless was, they must have done at least 50 men and women on the sidewalk under the bridge. When the day was done and they were cleaning up, A homeless man thanked them for the humanity and kindness shown that day and proceeded to ask when they would be returning? Shocked and humbled, the group agreed to dedicate the first Saturday of the upcoming months to come back and service the streets, and The Miami Give Back became a registered non-profit organization and started a mission and a promise to impact the homeless and less fortunate communities by donating haircuts, shaves, clothes, and most importantly someone to talk to and provide hope, possibly motivation to get off the streets. The Miami Give Back has consistently done the monthly events ever since.

When you start a movement without intentions, sometimes it can be a little bit of struggle. One instagram post turned into a wave! Since The Miami Give Back consists of 4 members that are young barbers, stylist, and parents, funding for events can sometimes be a challenge. That being said, so many amazing people and organizations have donated to TMGB such as The God Squad Nation, Lifestyle Miami, Showering Love, and WAHL clipper company. The main struggle TMGB deals with aside from funding is a safe and allowed location to host these events, Unfortunately the homeless community isn’t in a neighborhood or in a building, they live on your local corners or parking lots, so that’s where all the events happen. Usually on the sidewalk, because a permit is required to occupy any local parking lots without fines or law enforcement issues.

The Miami Give Back has essentially become a Free “farmers market” type of atmosphere for the homeless and less fortunate that they can rely on monthly. From the first time they set up the mobile shop on the side walk with a few chairs, table, and power running off their cars, it has transformed to a take over, where licensed hairstylists and locals now can sign up on their website www.themiamigiveback.com to volunteer to cut hair or pass out clothes or food.They love to encourage all ages to come out to particpate, even Daniella’s and Rey’s kids join in! A love interest even sparked between Daniella and Alex thanks to the events taking place. The Miami Give Back has also received funding to bring out a local non profit organization that took an old bus and transformed it into a mobile shower unit allowing the homeless to shower privately for up to 10 minutes, as well as a medical group that comes out to provide health check ups and recommendations for a more healthy living. They even have had a local Miami music artist Don Cuba to come out to an event to put on a mini concert and donate food as well.The Miami Give back has also been able to speak to the local news WSVN7, local radio station Power 96.5 Radio, And the Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava about their efforts. They have inspired many others in the community to get up and out to help out others in need, its truly magic to see the selflessness of others, for just one day we are all equal. The Miami Give Back definitely doesn’t plan on staying quiet here in Miami plans to go national one day and become a foundation to inspire other barbers and stylist to get out into their local communities to help clean up the streets one haircut at at a time, to motivate these individuals towards a better way of life. As well as create a mentor ship program for underprivileged or troubled youth through barbering to keep them off the streets and diving into a promising career and a safer future.

Well, i believe that success can best be defined as persistence, faith, and happiness. I say persistence because you must simply not give up on whatever it is. there is no “trying” in success, only “doing” and you must keep on doing whatever you need to in order to reach what it is you’re trying to achieve. I say faith because without faith there’s no sanity and without sanity how can anyone focus to be successful towards their goals, faith may not produce the success but it sure can help you get to the goal more level headed. And lastly I say happiness because without being happy in your life, or happy with what you’re doing with your life, how can one truly feel and be successful? Happiness is a key to a successful outcome because you will be persistent towards the goal because nothing can stop you, you will remain faithful that the persistence will pay off one day, and you will be happy when you remained all those things and the success is defined for you.