In this issue:
- Meet Our Shero of the Month: Brandi “Bee” Velasquez
- Support for Folks Impacted by Hurricane Ida
- PWN Educates DaBaby
- Webinars You Won’t Want to Miss
- Welcome PWN’s New Staff
- PWN Is Hiring: Communications Director
Meet Our Shero of the Month:
Brandi “Bee” Velasquez
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Our August 2021 Shero of the Month is Brandi “Bee” Velasquez of Portland, Oregon. A PWN policy fellowship graduate and PWN Oregon state lead, Brandi is a superstar HIV advocate who gives a lot of herself to make life better for other women living with HIV.
“Brandi is the definition of a persistent advocate,” said Jennie Smith-Camejo, PWN communications director. “She shows up, she follows through on her commitments and does what she says she’s going to do, and she does it with a smile. She always tries to bring others along with her, like the leader she is. She radiates good energy and positivity, which is really refreshing when you’re dealing with such tough issues.”
Brandi was diagnosed with HIV at just 15 years old. “It was a real challenge–I had just started as a freshman in high school,” she said. For over ten years, she kept her HIV status quiet, as she dropped out of high school, got her GED and entered the Job Corps, got her certified nursing assistant (CNA) license, and went to work in a nursing home.
After joining a support group that helped her find her voice, she branched out. “I realized I could do this, I could be the outreach coordinator, I could bring women in,” she explained. She started her advocacy through peer support in 2007 and just kept going. “I was so embedded in the community in Portland that advocacy for women and children was a priority. It’s a small population, so my goal was to reach as many women as I could while I was working at this nonprofit and integrating myself in advocacy work, becoming a certified peer support specialist.”
Learning about policy changed everything for her. “Attending the PWN Speak Up! Summit in 2016 and then doing the policy fellowship really taught me about and opened my eyes to policy in a way I didn’t know existed or didn’t know I could be part of,” she said. She started focusing more on policy and less on peer support—thinking about how she could help change local, state, and federal policy.
| Read the full story here! |
Support for Folks Impacted by Hurricane Ida
Another hurricane has hit the Gulf Coast region, and we know that a number of members and allies of Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN) are suffering the consequences: lengthy power outages, lost food and medications, property damage, displacement, and more. We are here with you and for you. If you are a PWN member living in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama suffering hurricane-related hardship, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page or here. Please note that funds are limited.
Would you like to help folks in the hard-hit regions? We have also compiled a list of groups offering support and mutual aid to people impacted by Hurricane Ida. Go to the links below to find resources and people on the ground helping. Check out the organizations and mutual aid efforts here to contribute!
| Learn more here |
PWN Educates DaBaby on HIV, Stigma, and Allyship
Black leaders from nine HIV organizations across the U.S., including PWN, held a virtual, private meeting August 25 with artist Jonathan “DaBaby” Kirk to discuss HIV facts and share personal stories of living and thriving with HIV.
The leaders called for a meeting with the artist in an open letter on August 4 to which DaBaby affirmatively responded.
“PWN felt it was important to be a part of this conversation to make sure that we put a face on women living with HIV and to elevate our voices,” said PWN Co-Executive Director Venita Ray. “We reminded Jonathan that the lives of women living with HIV are already difficult because of widespread stigma, and that comments like his makes it harder for us to parent, work, and serve our communities. We want to work with him so that he can use his platform to reduce, rather than perpetuate or exacerbate, stigma.”
“In this era of digital communication, it is imperative that we try to have meaningful dialogue with people who have a large influence over the masses,” added Marnina Miller, a PWN board member who participated in the meeting in her capacity as community outreach coordinator for Southern AIDS Coalition. “Our conversation with DaBaby was an example of this. During our intergenerational chat with the rapper, he stated that he wanted to be a ‘sponge’ and a listening ear. From his responses, we could tell that he was actively engaged and remorseful for his previous disparaging comments about people living with HIV and the LGBTQ+ community. If he holds true to his word, this could be the beginning of a powerful alliance between the hip-hop community and HIV activists.”
The meeting included representatives from Black AIDS Institute, Gilead Sciences COMPASS Initiative Coordinating Centers, GLAAD, National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC), The Normal Anomaly Initiative, Positive Women’s Network-USA, Prevention Access Campaign (U=U), the Southern AIDS Coalition, and Transinclusive Group, as well as a faith and HIV advisor, discussed HIV history and education and the groups’ work in Black, LGBTQ and faith communities.
A joint statement from the organizations can be found here.
| Read this on our website here |
Webinars You Won’t Want to Miss
Cabenuva Considerations
Tuesday, September 28, at 3pm ET
A panel of experts, including PWN Training Director Barb Cardell, will discuss the roll-out of Cabenuva, ViiV’s recently approved long-acting injectable treatment for people living with HIV. The moderated, interactive conversation will focus on early implementation successes and challenges at individual and systemic levels and will feature perspectives and recommendations for improvement from people living with HIV and prescribers. Panelists will also consider lessons learned from Cabenuva in the context of long-acting injectable PrEP, which is likely to be a new item in our prevention toolbox in 2022.
Panelists:
Barb Cardell, Positive Women’s Network
Dr. Jonathan Colasanti, Emory and Grady Health System
Dr. Cathy Creticos, Howard Brown Health
Alex Vance, Cabenuva user/International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
Moderators:
Sean Bland, O’Neill Institute/George Washington University
Jim Pickett, AIDS Foundation Chicago
| Register here! |
Welcome PWN’s New Staff Team Members!
Please join us in extending a very warm welcome to the newest members of PWN’s staff team:
- Crystal Townsend – Organizing Manager
- Deirdre Johnson – Organizing Assistant
- Sophia Kass – Finance & Operations Manager
| Learn more about them here! |
PWN Is Hiring!
Communications Director & Interim Communications Director
The communications director leads the efforts of Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN) to elevate the voices, experiences, and priorities of women and people of trans experience living with HIV online and in the media.
This is accomplished through strategic use of and skillful management of the various online platforms PWN uses to communicate with our members and base—including social media, our WordPress website, our Action Network email list—as well as through proactive media outreach; training and support for member and staff spokespeople; thought leadership within the organization and coalition spaces, especially as pertains to framing, messaging, and communications strategy; and creation of collaterals that educate and mobilize members and base.
The communications director is a senior leadership role in the organization and contributes to organizational strategy as well as supervising communications-related staff and consultants.
| Learn more and apply here! |