00:00Being silent has never saved any of us, and within the past year and a half, I became
00:07single again, and I used to hear my friends speak about PrEP, and they, not only did they
00:17speak about PrEP, but they spoke about HIV too, and how it was necessary for them to
00:23be on PrEP, and I was like, what's PrEP, what's that, and so after they told me that it was
00:30an HIV prevention medicine, I was like, I need to go to the doctor and figure out what's
00:35going on because I'm outside now, and I'm dating, and I want to be able to protect myself
00:43while I'm dating, and so I went to my doctor, and we had a conversation about it, and we
00:49decided that that would be the best route for me, and I've been on it ever since, and
00:55the truth is, I'm proud to speak about it boldly and out loud because I feel like black women
01:03don't speak about HIV.
01:06We automatically feel like we are eliminated from that conversation because of specific
01:12groups, right?
01:13And we feel like that's not about us, and the truth is, as you were saying, overall,
01:1950% of us sisters, I'm talking to my sisters in the audience, 50% of us have been contracted
01:29with HIV.
01:30That is an alarming number to me, and so when I found that out, I just felt it was necessary
01:36to speak about what I knew and how I could help my community.
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