Gather your girlfriends, your book club, your church group, your sorority sisters and claim the living room for a Girls’ Night In this Sunday for We Are Empowered on VH1!
One of our absolute favorite do-gooders the 14 time Grammy Award-winning artist and HIV advocate, Alicia Keys, is joining with Greater Than AIDS to host a National Watch Party and Twitter Chat about women and HIV/AIDS in America this Sunday, January 19th.
Ms. Keys is urging women and their loved ones to come together on Sunday, January 19th between 8-9 pm ET (5-6 pm PT) and log on to VH1.com to watch “We Are Empowered,” an intimate and inspiring half-hour conversation that she had about friendship, love and strength with five women living with HIV in the U.S. Alicia @aliciakeys will be live tweeting throughout the hour at #WeAreEmpowered.
As a force in the global fight against AIDS, Keys has dedicated her work in philanthropy to help bring awareness to the urgency of HIV/AIDS through her own foundation Keep a Child Alive . The foundation is dedicated to providing life-saving HIV treatment, care, nutritious food, support services and love to children and families affected by HIV in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and India.
Now through Empowered, she is once again highlighting the power of women – as mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, partners and people living with HIV – to change the course of this disease through every day actions.
“I was so moved by the strength, passion and messages of hope of the women of Empowered and I know you will be too. The power is within all of us – whether HIV positive or negative – to make a difference in this fight,” said Alicia Keys.
Of the more than 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States today, one in four is a woman. Women of color have been especially hard hit, accounting for the majority of new infections occurring among women in this country. If current trends continue, it is estimated that one in 32 Black women will contract HIV in her lifetime. I don’t know about you. but I don’t like these odds, it’s high-time for a discussion and we’re ready.
“We Are Empowered” features five HIV positive women from different parts of the country in conversation with Ms. Keys: Cristina, a graduate student from the San Francisco Bay Area who was born with HIV; Eva, a home health care worker living in Atlanta with her family; Kym, a young professional living in Texas who learned she was positive after her new husband became sick and died as a result of HIV; Jen, a wife and mother in Portland (OR) who has being living with HIV for over 20 years; and Stephanie, a recent college graduate from North Carolina who appeared in an MTV special on youth and HIV. They share their stories in the hopes of reaching other women and showing how, whether positive or negative, we are all empowered in this fight.
We Are EMPOWERED:
• EMPOWERED to know the facts about HIV/AIDS, including the impact of HIV on women
• EMPOWERED to speak openly about HIV/AIDS with family, friends and others in our lives
• EMPOWERED to protect ourselves and our loved ones
• EMPOWERED to ask to be tested and to know doing so is an act of pride, not shame
• EMPOWERED to live full and healthy lives and help prevent spread of disease if positive by staying on treatment
We’ll be live tweeting this Sunday Night during the presentation, join us the hashtag is #WeAreEmpowered! For more information about Greater Than AIDS and the Empowered campaign, visit: www.greaterthan.org/empowered.
