Hi all!! My name is Marie. I'm 49 years old and I was recently diagnosed with HIV... I look forward to supporting women everywhere!

Well, I made it to USCHA in Washington DC... I love coming to these conferences because they are so personally beneficial for me as an advocate.

When I look back over my life, it has been filled with many roadblocks, bad choices, deaths, and adversities--yet, somehow, someway, I have always found the strength to carry on.

I didn't come into that hospital wrapped in faith. I came in wrapped in symptoms, pain, and a history that made even the bravest nurses tune me out.

A sister girl is just tryna survive these +/- 100 years that I got and praying for Jesus to come back like they said, cus these people really down here wilding.

I would go to my clinic hiding my face and the day before visiting the clinic I didn't sleep. I kept on thinking how will I do tomorrow?? Who will I meet there?

It was Friday, May 2, 1986, and the day started out like any other day, but it wasn't. Today would change our lives forever.

This is not just a story about illness— it's about intuition. The terrifying silence of being dismissed. And the sacred roar of deciding to save yourself.

I advocate for cure research with an open mind and open heart... Personally, I am free from the burden of needing a cure. It's a "nice-to-have", not a "need-to-have".

HIV cure work is something that is beginning to fascinate me. Having the opportunity to be in spaces where this is the topic of discussion, I have learned so much about the virus.