By Tristan Brown-DeVirgilio
Campus News
Johnny Berry, 23, a Suffolk County Community College alumnus and employee, is and always has been sober. He has used neither drugs nor alcohol, and says he never will.
Johnny is a business owner. His business is a brand called Always Sober.
In Johnny’s words, Always Sober is “a lifestyle clothing brand.” Johnny sells an array of Always Sober merchandise online, including hats, hoodies, and tee shirts. The message behind the brand is for “young kids, older kids, any age, not to fall under peer pressure and to stand [their] ground” against the temptation of alcohol, especially as a gateway to being accepted into social circles. The brand promotes sobriety, but also, more generally, self-improvement. As Johnny says, Always Sober is “the will to be better than yesterday.”
Says Johnny, “I do not judge anyone who does [use alcohol].” He continues, “My goal is to inspire and entertain people of all ages – primarily teenagers who are surrounded by peer pressure.”
Always Sober’s story
When Johnny was in high school, starting around 9th grade, Johnny’s peers began experimenting with alcohol, as seems to often be the case. Johnny decided he didn’t want to drink alcohol, despite what his friends said or did; he believed it was not “the right thing to do.”
By 11th grade, Johnny notes, increasingly more of his peers started drinking. In addition, people began trying to convince him to drink. 
However, Johnny remained unmoved in his decision. He notes, “I made it my motto that, ‘Oh, I’m never drinking.” His resolve was strengthened the more he stayed away from alcohol. It was a similar story in 12th grade, but by this time, his peers stopped trying to convince him to drink.
“I never caved to peer pressure,” Johnny remembers.
Johnny began envisioning the brand around the end of high school when he was 18 years old. In October of 2019, he bought the domain name for his brand’s website (alwayssober.com) for just under $1000, and with only about $200 leftover for himself after the purchase. He launched his website on his 21st birthday, in April of 2020.
Johnny had a few different reasons for creating the brand. Perhaps most importantly, Johnny says that he has an “addictive personality,” and believes that he would become too extreme with alcohol if he tried it the first time. Johnny says that he has this personality type largely if not entirely because he is diagnosed with ADHD and, he suspects, OCD. “A lot of people with my [type of] brain are more likely to get addicted to drugs and alcohol,” Johnny states. He believes that creating, owning, and expanding his brand has strengthened his commitment not to drink or use drugs.
In addition, creating and marketing a business is not something particularly new to Johnny. He recalls that he has “always been a business type of person.” Starting when he was around 14, Johnny innovated several different business ideas; he recalls a time when he would sell tee shirts with “motivational” sayings on them. He would also make positive, inspirational-intentioned videos and post them publicly.
Besides the above-mentioned reasons, Johnny says that he didn’t and doesn’t need alcohol to have fun. “I’m very outgoing, and I’m the life of the party so I don’t need alcohol to make me more outgoing or to enjoy myself… I could already do that without it.” Johnny says that he was so energetic and in the center of attention that “most people thought [he] was the drunk one anyways.”
What is Johnny up to now?
At the time of this writing, Always Sober is “sold out,” and restocking supplies. Johnny is creating new products to market.
In addition, Johnny recently started using Printful, a print-on-demand and product supplies company that will allow Johnny to more immediately and seamlessly produce and sell his merchandise.
“It’s gonna’ be great,” he says.
While his clothing production is on pause, much of Johnny’s time and energy is devoted to his social media accounts, particularly his TikTok account. “Everything’s basically TikTok right now,” he notes. In the next year, Johnny hopes to attract and retain 100,000 followers across his social media accounts (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube). Currently, his TikTok account has just under 15,000 followers, with one of his videos garnering over a million views.
Johnny posts around two videos on social media per day, in addition to some form of online work for his company, which might include editing text on his website, or determining the specifics of his newest products.
Johnny eventually hopes to speak at schools and tell his story. However, he doesn’t feel he is ready to do so yet. “Soon, though,” he adds.
More can be found about Always Sober and Johnny Berry at the brand website, alwayssober.com. Johnny has social media accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, as business or personal accounts. These can be found through the above-mentioned website.
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