I Design Gets Vocal on Community Mash-Up Videos

December 1 marks the 26th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and I Design commemorates it with their new HIV educational campaign, the first-ever mash-up video and poem created by the HIV community, for the HIV community. I Design spokespeople "Project Runway's" Mondo Guerra, music industry insider and HIV advocate Maria Davis and renowned HIV activist and photographer Duane Cramer encouraged Community participants to "get vocal" about how their treatment plan works for them by adding their voice to the mash-up video and Community poem.

"The I Design campaign has allowed people the chance to participate in the HIV conversation in one capacity or another," said Guerra. "The activities that culminated in the poem and video for World AIDS Day, as well as others over the years, have driven actual conversation about HIV, but have also allowed others to join in a 'conversation' through artistic self-expression."

Guerra said it's important to understand that it takes a lot of courage to be able to talk about living with HIV/AIDS. He hoped that the project would help to promote that discussion, because to him, the fight lies within the conversation.

"I think that there's no wrong way that you can express yourself using your own words, when it comes to the discussion of HIV/AIDS, as long as you stay true and honest, and allow yourself to be vulnerable, which is basically my story," he said. "Great conversations -- whether verbal, visual or musical -- lie within truth."

Davis said that it was important to keep HIV in the headlines and on people's minds, because there is not as much urgency around HIV as there used to be, but people are still getting infected, including women.

"African-American women are disproportionately impacted by HIV, and that's why I joined the I Design campaign -- to lend my voice to women living with HIV," she said.

Davis works in the music industry and at her monthly music showcases, she helps unsigned artists share their voice in front of an audience. It was no surprise then that she really enjoyed the HIV Community events earlier this year, where they invited people to vocalize the I Design verse in their own unique way on camera.

Encouraged by Davis's music background, the HIV community became one voice in a mash-up video titled "My Voice" where people recited verses, in their own unique way, to form one piece representing the HIV community.

"The verse in the video is called, 'My Voice' and I think it's important to continue to empower people living with HIV to use their voices to speak up, because the stigma is still there. And we can help lessen that by getting vocal and advocating for ourselves -- especially in conversations with our healthcare team," said Davis.

In addition, the Community poem was developed by asking people living with HIV to fill in the blanks of a poem with words to explain how their HIV diagnosis makes them feel. The most commonly used words were tallied to develop the final poem. Words like inspire, optimism and future were a few of the most used words.

"The I Design campaign has become such an important part of my life, that I have used the stories that I've heard from people affected by HIV across the country to empower me to continue to grow, and be a visible HIV advocate, as well as a role model for youth. When I was growing up, I didn't have any role models with HIV, or even any to talk to about the importance of being responsible -- being responsible and having love for one's self," said Guerra.