By Matthew Wiggins
I’m Matthew Wiggins. I am a senior at Howard university who graduated in May 2024 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Strategic Communications and a minor in community development. In my last semester, I joined a class called CapComm Lab. This class is designed to provide students with firsthand experience in the field of communications through actively working for different clients who need communications-based work. In my case, I was tasked with assisting with the HU Empower Grant, which is a multipronged HIV awareness initiative by Howard University and a premiere national HIV nonprofit, HealthHIV.
By Matthew Wiggins
In clinics and counseling rooms across the United States, a battle is being fought. This is the battle against HIV stigma. For HIV positive Black women, this battle often determines their identities, mental and physical health, confidence, and how society perceives them.
I connected with Dr. Daniels, a psychologist who has dedicated much of her career to working with HIV positive Black women, to share her thoughts and opinions. After being informed of the HU Empower Grant, Dr. Daniels was invited to talk about what makes mental and physical HIV treatment most effective for Black women. These are words of wisdom that Dr. Daniels espoused, in the form of several quotes:
