10 Black HIV/AIDS Advocates Who Are Making a Difference

"I thought I was going to die," Michelle recalls. "Life would be over." Instead, "I was able to empower myself. Getting tested saved my life."

And empowering others as a means to save and better their lives is exactly what she's been doing. Over the past few years, Michelle has been a fearless HIV/AIDS advocate, especially in her home state of Texas, where black women bear the brunt of this epidemic. In addition to her work for the Afiya Center for HIV Prevention and Sexual Reproductive Justice in Dallas, she also serves as co-chair for Campaign to End AIDS Texas, and travels across the country talking about her own personal experiences as a sexual abuse survivor and how that abuse impacted her own self-worth, putting her further at risk for HIV.