Jorge A. Diaz

My name is Jorge Diaz-from Los Angeles, CA. Over the past 13 years, I have managed to overcome the complex journey of being brown, gay and HIV positive. Becoming HIV + at the age of 21 certainly wasn’t easy but I have come a long way.  I have been working in the field of social work empowering the Latino LGBT community through clinical direct services as a Program Manger and mental health therapist at Bienestar Human Services. I utilize my platform as a writer to address the social and cultural factors that impact the Latino Gay/Bi/MSM narrative through my monthly articles in Adelante magazine. As an adjunct professor at USC I have the amazing opportunity to bring in current social issues to the classroom in order to create dialogue and change among my graduate students. And as a patient ambassador, I am able to travel our beautiful nation empowering other HIV positive individuals by sharing my story of surviving and living with HIV for the past 16 years.

Manuel J. Diaz-Ramirez

Sergio Farfan

I’m a 66 year old “Latino” gay man, born and raised in México City. I came to this country in 1984 as a graduate student at Oklahoma State for an MAS degree {Master of Administrative Studies}, also having a Bachelors and Masters in Architecture from Instituto Politecnico Nacional in México City. I moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1991. In December of 1992 I became ill and was diagnosed with an HIV opportunistic infection and spent almost 6 weeks at the hospital with a 2% survival rate. When I left the hospital I was told that in six months everything would be over. From that time until the summer of 1996 I lived with an average of 2 TC. Then I began taking Protease Inhibitors in 1996, and after 3 months I was undetectable with 700 TC, and have been this way ever since. When I realized that I was not going to die, I decided to start getting involved with the HIV community, and started helping and giving back some of my personal experience and education. I feel honored to be part of NMAC’s CAP.

José Ramon Garcia-Madrid

I was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and immigrated to the U.S. with my family when I was 2 years old. I grew up in Phoenix when Sheriff Joe Arpaio was targeting brown people in Arizona; this experience and its effects on my family and community sits at the center of my commitment to human rights. Since high school I have engaged movements for migrant and LGBTQ justice, and continue to challenge myself to greater action in the service of my family and community. I am a trail-runner and will someday run a 100 mile race somewhere in the world.

Ángel Luis Hernández

Ángel was born in a small rural town in Puerto Rico. Diagnosed with AIDS in 2003, it took him 6 years to “get out of the closet” of HIV. Since 2010, Ángel has been involved as a community representative in various boards and organizations. As an advocate, he believes there is still a need for education around HIV, and still much more work to do to address the social determinants of health of persons living with HIV and AIDS. A key element of Ángel’s advocacy work is to empower and support persons living with HIV and AIDS. As HIV Community Educator, he has received scholarships to attend various national and international conferences, including USCA; POSITIVE LIVING; International Conference on AIDS; CROI. Angel helps members of the general community understand the science of HIV and AIDS to ensure community con­cerns are considered.

Lucas Rojas

Lucas Rojas (he/they) is a Latinx transmasculine identified individual who works at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in the Center for Transyouth Health and Development in Health Services and Behavioral Research, specifically with transgender/non-binary/gender non-conforming YYA as well as in data analysis. They have a background in Mathematics, Statistics, HIV&STI testing and is an advocate in the transgender community, presents workshops, develops protocols, writes grants and works on projects such as TMHealth LA, Angels of Change, FLUX, iTech, etc and has worked on several trans related training videos, panels and trainings for the hospital and outside communities.

Maria Louise Roman

Maria Louise Roman has been a leader in social services for the transgender community in Los Angeles for over 19 years. Maria is a 46 year old Puerto Rican Latina Woman who began her journey to self-discovery at age 19. Many doors would close in her path, but she was driven and determined to succeed. With this decision came empowerment and hardship. She has survived life on the streets and has overcome many of the issues her community continues to fight today. She has become an outspoken voice, an activist and a role model to the Transgender community.

Maria Roman was the first transgender to become Program Manager for Transgeneros Unidas prevention program at Bienestar Human Services, one of the largest HIV prevention programs in the nation with an all transgender staff.

Over the years Maria has been part of and volunteered for endless organizations and groups, including board member of the Liberty Hill Foundation, Los Angeles and West Hollywood Task Force, West Hollywood Transgender Advisory Committee, Los Angeles and West Hollywood Police Department Sensitivity Training Program. Among her many advocacy roles, Maria was a keynote speaker in front of the Los Angeles PPC asking for more funding for transgender specific programming, a presenter at the U.S. Conference on AIDS and a presenter at Creating Change 2015.

Maria has continued to have her feet on the ground, staying humble and not forgetting where she came from, taking any opportunity to influence change with her presence advocating for the women that continue to walk the streets with broken spirits and shattered dreams. She recently served 4 years as a Los Angeles County HIV Commissioner and is a California Certified Addiction specialist and works at APAIT as a Housing Specialist providing critical housing services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Natalie Sanchez, MPH

Natalie is creator/producer/writer of the award-winning 3 season telenovela webseries “Sin Vergüenza” which addresses HIV shame and stigma. She is not only a leader in HIV, with 15years in the HIV field, but has broken into the film industry where she has created a space showcasing Latinos as main characters in their own lives.   Natalie is a member of the statewide California HIV Planning Group. She has a MPH and Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from UCLA.  Natalie is the Administrator of AltaMed’s Specialty Department where she manages a team of 50 employees overseeing medical and prevention services for 1,700 HIV positive clients.’

Alta Med Health Services
Los Angeles, CA

Pedro A. Serrano

Pedro A. Serrano is a public health researcher with Hektoen Institute of Medicine/Cook County Health & Hospital System, with experience directing epidemiological, behavioral and clinical trials, using mHealth strategies, focusing on HIV prevention with gender and sexual diverse adolescent and young adult populations.

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria believes in leadership through service. As a consultant she provides strategy and capacity building to various organizations. She also serves as Queen of The Royal Court and she is President of FLUX, both international networks dedicated to raising the profile of trans and gender non-conforming communities. Queen Victoria Ortega leverages her intersectionality to guide organizations and systems toward transformational change that is both meaningful and effective.

Richard Zaldivar

Richard Zaldivar founded The Wall Las Memorias Project in 1993 and constructed the only publicly funded AIDS Monument in the nation in 2004. The monument is situated in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles and serves as an inspiration and a catalyst for social change. Under his leadership, the organization has developed innovative programs to reach out to Latino and other underserved populations and developed HIV, substance abuse and mental health prevention programs in a holistic and spiritual manner.

A native of Los Angeles, Zaldivar began his career in public service as a field deputy to the legendary Los Angeles City Councilman Art Snyder and later went on to serve the City of Los Angeles for sixteen years. The highlight of his political career was serving on the National Democratic Convention Platform Committee’s Foreign Policy subcommittee. Local, national, and international institutions have recognized his leadership.  He was named one of 100 most influential lesbian or gay persons in 1997 by Out magazine.

He has been highlighted as a National Hero on American Latino Television on ABC Television which can be viewed here, featured on KTLA’s Heroes at Home in April 2011. In 2012 he was presented with the “Spirit Award” from the Latino Caucus of the California State Legislature and in 2013 with the “Pride Award” from the LGBT Caucus of the same legislature making him the only person to receive awards from multiple caucuses from the California State Legislature.