Branding expert Juan Beras’ battle against mental illness has not been easy. Yet despite his bout with depression, the highly successful entrepreneur found a way to overcome. Today, Beras is on a mission to show that those suffering depression can still become successful and make an impact in the world.
Beras has been in constant struggle with mental illness. He was clinically diagnosed to have Bipolar Depression and Schizophrenia. But the creative shares how his love for the craft of graphic and web design helped him get through the rough times. His love for design became an outlet and became a source of inspiration and hope. Juan started his career in branding and design by creating MySpace templates. After 16 years in the industry, that path brought about the establishment of powerhouse branding and design agency, The BR Lab.
Beras admits that the journey of conquering depression was often daunting, but that his mindset helped him overcome in the end. The first step for the marketing mogul was acknowledging his mental illness and realizing it’s okay to have it. It was that revelation that led to seeking treatment and therapy from professionals and starting his process of healing and recovery, which he shares is a process he is still going through until this day. Yet, even with the presence of his prevalent mental issues, he chooses to channel his uniqueness into his work and uses it to build one of today’s most sought after branding companies.
Over the years, Beras has served clients like Egypt Sherrod of HGTV, Porsha Williams from BRAVO TV’s “Housewives of Atlanta,” and celebrity hairstylist Tokyo Stylez who has done work with Kylie Jenner, Cardi B, and Beyonce. Beras has also recently delved into motion graphics animation and video production work. He provided creative direction for content creators FastFWD’s latest dance concept video, “Ice Cream,” where he transformed Skype sessions into an appealing music video with an array of motion graphics and animation. This shows only that the creative has not seen the end of his capabilities yet.
Today, Beras stands tall above the trials of mental health and is motivated to help others who are debilitated by it. He is now a steady advocate for mental health awareness. His intent is to raise awareness and end the stigma put upon depression, especially among Latin, Brown and Black American communities.
His message is loud and clear: It’s okay to be someone with a mental illness and you can still reach for your dreams and succeed despite it all. For Beras, many of his “crazy thoughts” actually became blessings as he invested it back into his work to turn up as unmatched creativity.
Another cause that is close to the Latin-American creative consultant’s heart is addressing racial discrimination in the country. Headlines were made recently over the cruel murder of George Floyd, a victim of police brutality and racial profiling.
Given that Beras’ clientele is 80% African-American entrepreneurs and personalities, he feels compelled to be a champion for the Black community in America. Hence, The BR Lab has recently penned an agreement with Run Your State NYC to launch a campaign that will bring millennials who are tired of the violence “from protests to the polls.”
Juan Beras himself will be taking charge in ideating strategies and campaigns that will help educate the voting youth to make informed decisions when they head over to polls come this November 3, 2020, when elections happen in the United States.
To follow Juan’s journey and advocacies, head over to The BR Lab’s website. You can also visit Run Your State’s website and FastFWD’s website to see more of Beras’ work.
