TALKING ABOUT THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

Miss Kings County 2011 Teams with Let’s Talk About Sex Director for
Screening and Panel Discussion

 

The Miss Brooklyn Scholarship Organization (www.missbrooklyn.org) announced today that Carmen Mendoza, Miss Kings County 2011, will be hosting a pre-screening of James Houston’s groundbreaking documentary “Let’s Talk About Sex,” which premieres on TLC April 9th.

“I’m honored to host a screening of James Houston’s documentary ‘Let’s Talk
About Sex’,” says Miss Kings County. “Its work like this that gets
progressive dialog started with the hopes of providing a proper sex
education for our youth.” 

Let’s Talk About Sex (www.letstalkaboutsexthefilm.com) explores American
attitudes towards adolescent sexuality and how those views impact today’s
teens. Directed by James Houston, the documentary focuses on the
contradictory and often confusing ways society handles the topic of sex with
American youth using revealing interviews, statistics and more to paint a
picture of the difficulties teens face today navigating a highly sexualized
culture.

In line with her platform of “De-stigmatizing Getting Tested,” Mendoza has
teamed with Houston to host this screening event with hopes of getting
people to dispel the social taboo of talking about safe sex and continue to
fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

“This film was created to be used as an educational tool by individuals and
organizations alike to spark a much needed conversation around this issue,”
says director, James Houston. “The support of the larger community and
individuals like Carmen is what is needed to ensure this important film is
seen by as many people as possible.”

Let’s Talk About Sex screening will take place on April 5th at Center Stage New York (located at 48 West 21st Street in Manhatttan) beginning at 7pm and will be followed by a panel discussion about topics discussed in the film. For more information about the documentary or to attend the event, visit
www.MissKingsCounty2011.blogspot.com.

LIVING IN THE AGE OF HIV/AIDS: The Black Girl Project Hosts Workshop & Round Table Event To Bring Awareness and Prevent the Spread of AIDS/HIV Among Young Women Of Color

Aiesha Turman, the Brooklyn-based educator, activist and founder of the non-profit organization, the Black Girl Project
(www.blackgirlproject.org), announced today that she will host a one day workshop entitled “Prevent…Not Manage: Women of Color on AIDS/HIV,” geared toward educating young women of color about AIDS/HIV and preventing the spread of what has now become an epidemic hitting the community.  The event will take place on Sunday, December 12th at Center Stage New York (located at 48
West 21st Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan).

“Women of color are under siege within their own communities and society at-large,” says Turman. “With no comprehensive sex education in many cities, such as New York, and with the high visibility of advertisements for antiretroviral drugs, it is time for direct action targeted toward those most affected by the disease.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 64 percent of the women who contract HIV/AIDS are African American.  This startling fact is the force behind for The Black Girl Project’s continued campaign that began with last year’s Internet-based PSA, ”Prevent, Don’t Manage HIV/AIDS,” which will also be screened at the event.  Geared specifically to the largest segment of the
population affected by HIV/AIDS, the two hour event has drawn notable panelists including Bianca Laureano, a noted sex educator, sexual health advocate and representative of Love Heals. Delivering the keynote address for the workshop is Carmen Mendoza, Miss Kings County 2011, whose platform focuses on de-stigmatizing getting tested and teaching other methods in the
preventing the spread of AIDS/HIV.

All proceeds from the event benefit Love Heals and The Black Girl Project After School Initiative.

For more information about this event or for tickets, visit:
http://theblackgirlproject.ticketleap.com/prevent-dont-manage-women-of-color-on-hivaids/

For Press inquiries, email nyprdiva@gmail.com.

PROTECTION IS THE NEW BLACK

 

Eco-Social Conscious Fashion Brand To Host Eye-Opening Discussion on Relationships and Their Impact on the Spread of HIV in Communities of Color

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 17, 2010 – Verneda White, Founder and Creative Director of Human Intonation (www.humanintonation.com), the premium , unisex apparel brand dedicated to raising awareness and funding for social and human rights issues, announced today that the brand will host its first coed HIV forum to address how the dynamics of today’s male-female relationships are impacting the HIV epidemic among women of color. The event, entitled“Protection is the NEW Black: Sex, Love + Lies in the Age of HIV,” coinciding with World AIDS Day, will take place on Thursday, December 2^nd at the Dwyer Cultural Center in New York City.

“With this forum, I want to breakdown the idea people often carry that HIV/AIDS is someone else’s problem and it will never happen to me,” said White.  “My goal is to have at least one person come out of the forum firmly decided that having unprotected sex is something he or she is no longer willing to do. It is a powerful thing when a person (particularly women) feels empowered to reach that point. There was a time when I was willing to have unprotected sex, putting myself at risk even after my cousin died of AIDS at the age of 22, and now I am no longer willing to do so.”

Human Intonation has been waging a campaign to raise awareness and funding for HIV/AIDS prevention through the brand’s on-going series of “Women 2 Women HIV Roundtable Discussions” where women from all walks of life and organizational leaders were challenged to ask themselves the hard questions like “Why are we [women] having unprotected sex?” and to discuss real life experiences, life lessons, and “ah ha” moments that help to make tangible the idea of empowering women to insist on using protection each and everytime in the fight against the  disease plaguing minority communities. Protection Is The New Black is the first time that Human Intonation will bring in a coed audience.

White, along with national and local partners including the African American Coalition Against AIDS (AACAA), the New York City Department of Health,Lifebeat, Xi Magazine, NAACP, Naked with Socks On, Vera Moore Cosmetics, and One Condoms, have gathered a diverse group of guests and co-moderators to lead the breakout discussion.  The panelists for this event include:

• Dr. Monica Sweeny, Assistant Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene,    Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control
• Professor David Hughes, President, Global World Solutions, Inc. (GWS)
• Hydeia Broadbent, International HIV/AIDS activist and motivational speaker
• Chris Kazi Rolle, Founder of Together Apart, Conversations About Dating, Sex and Relationships
• Slim Jackson, Author of Three Ways to Take it and Single Black Male

Suggested donations from Protection Is the NEW Black will benefit Human Intonation’s non-profit partner, Advocates For Youth (www.advocatesforyouth.org), in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In addition to the panel discussion, Human Intonation will also host a brief fashion presentation showcasing its latest collection as well as hosting a screening of the short film “Close Call” written by Okema T. Moore and Universal for Laam King Entertainment. A wine reception follows the panel discussion.

For more information about the event and Human Intonation’s Women 2 Women series, contact Verneda Adele White at info@humanintonation.com or 917.379.7917.

ABOUT HUMAN INTONATION

Inspired by Verneda White’s personal family experience during Hurricane Katrina and the loss of her very close cousin James Wesley White, Jr. to AIDS, HUMAN INTONATION^TM is the NEW premium, unisex apparel brand dedicated to raising social awareness while giving 20% of the proceeds from each sale to growing non-profits addressing three of today’s pertinent social & human rights issues. Our original tees, tanks, and dresses support youth & minority HIV/AIDS prevention, volunteer efforts in rebuilding the Gulf Coast, education for children in Darfur, and most recently the citizens of Haiti. Our brand donates to three non-profit partners including Advocates for Youth, Hands On New Orleans, and the Darfur Peace & Development Org respectively. The power in Human Intonation is that we are able to use fashion as a platform for inspiring people to start the conversation about these issues in a way that can change perceptions, change choices, change lives.

For more information, visit www.humanintonation.com.