I am currently working with the Northern Virginia Aids Ministry in Falls Church Va as a Prevention Specialist I am HIV positive since 1999. I am also a participant with the Face to Face program here at NOVAM and I speak to youth in schools and health professionals about life with HIV.
Dr. Selma Massey is the Founding Pastor of WHOSOEVER Ministry which began 1996 as a Christian television show for the LGBT Community in Southeast Michigan. In 2003 Dr. Selma, as she is known, opened the first of two churches in Detroit, Michigan and in an area suburb.
Ed Andrews is a psychotherapist, lecturer, and writer with extensive experience working with the LGBT Community with issues of mental health and addictions, aging and development, illness and loss. He specializes in working with the mental health and recovery issues of gay men across the lifespan usign both CBT and DBT techniques
Elise Roy lost her hearing at the age of 10 and doctors have never been able to explain why. Determined to continue to live the normal life that she had already begun, she refused to lower herself to the new sub-par standards that society began placing on her. Teaching herself using only her textbooks, Elise was accepted to Brown University. While at Brown, she was recognized as one of the nation’s elite athletes. At 24 she became one of just 44 deaf lawyers in the United States. At 25 she became an advocate working at the United Nations, where she helped to author the first international Human Rights treaty of the 21st century. Since then, she has traveled the world working with diverse groups, speaking, motivating, and advocating on their behalf. She has had her personal essays published in Curve magazine, in Eyes of Desire 2: a Deaf GLBT Reader, and has spoken at Pride events.
Gregg Gore (Uncle Gregg) is a 40 year survivor of HIV. His Motto: ” DON’T GET / DON’T GIVE ” !!
Guy-Oreido Weston has worked full-time in HIV/AIDS programs since1986. At present, he is a consultant in private practice that assists community-based organizations with developing and evaluating organizational infrastructure and programs. He is also a writer of essays, op-ed, and short stories about HIV and LGBT issues, whose work appeared the Philadelphia Gay News, Arise Magazine, and the Washington Informer, among others. As a speaker and workshop facilitator, he has presented on a broad array of topics, including, but not limited to various HIV/AIDS issues, cultural competency, HIV and LGBT issues with faith communities, community mobilization, and community planning.
Jackie DeCarlo has lived in the DC area for almost 20 years. Her volunteer activities have revolved around her faith community at the Friends Meeting (Quaker) of Washington and professionally she has been a leader and manager of nonprofit programs focused on economic justice. A frequent public speaker and published author, Jackie is interested in helping build awareness and understanding between faith-based and other groups committed to pursuing American values of freedom, respect for difference, and equality.
Kevin Nunley serves as the Senior Director for Internships and Student Services at The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. He has spent over 15 years in the Higher Education arena working with college students in advising and counseling roles. His areas of emphasis are on GLBT Identity Development, Coming Out Process, Leadership Development, and other topics of Diversity.
A 30-year community, human rights and HIV/AIDS activist/advocate in the metropolitan DC area, certified as an HIV/AIDS Peer Counselor & Educator and HIV Treatment Education Specialist; an award-winning writer and performance artist and a highly sought after lecturer and program facilitator for cultural diversity issues and concerns. Native of
Montrella is on a mission for underrepresented populations to have Prosperity,
Protection, and Peace. She is the CEO of Affinity Health Affairs and CowanLife, a
financial planning and risk advisory company with a special focus on empowering
minority and underrepresented populations with respect to the wealth gap,
including LGBTQ communities and Black communities.
Montrella has been helping the most vulnerable individuals and families for over 18
years as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and now a Licensed
Insurance Agent. Her clients truly appreciate her wisdom-from-experience. Not only
did her HIV-positive mother die in 2018, but, just four months later, she lost her
first-born daughter to Lupus. With her holistic approach, Montrella is committed to
helping you and your family have “Peace of Mind and Peace of Money.” Montrella is
passionate about revealing the secrets of wealth so that her clients can start to
break the chains of generational curses of poverty and start creating family legacies
of wealth and protection. Montrella’s talks include topics on Getting Out of Debt in
9 Years or Less; Financial Planning for People with Chronic Health Conditions; Don’t
Wait to Die: Live with the Benefits of Your Insurance Policy Now; Create Your Own
Family Bank and; How to Have a Tax-Free Retirement as a Member of the LGBTQ
Community.
Montrella has served as a mentor to young adults for more than a decade, helping
them to become effective change agents. She is a Field Instructor for several
universities around the country, including Howard University, Morgan State, VCU,
George Mason University, Western New Mexico University, and others.
Montrella is a USA Today bestselling author and renowned thought leader whose
expertise has been featured in Inspired Living TV, The Washington Post, Essence
Magazine, Radio One, Fox, NPR, NBC, ABC, and dozens of other local, regional, and
national media outlets. As a keynote speaker, Montrella has shared the stage with
some of the greatest motivational speakers of all time to include Les Brown and Dr.
George Fraser.
Montrella earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and social Work
from Catholic University of America and a master’s degree in social work from
Howard University. She also has a Nonprofit Management and Executive
Leadership Certificate from Georgetown University. She is a proud mother and a
member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
If YOU are READY to smash your past and co-create your future, book Montrella as
your next guest speaker by calling 202-421-3617 or emailing [email protected]
Rev. Jason Carson Wilson is an authorized United Church of Christ minister. Wilson serves as Justice & Peace Policy Fellow in United Church of Christ, Justice & Witness Ministries’ D.C. office, where he lobbies for just domestic policies. He also serves as adjunct minister at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C. Wilson is also a member of Dignity Washington. He’s a graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary, where he founded the Bayard Rustin Society. Wilson is a former newspaper reporter.