Carla Martinez is a 48 year old woman who has been living with HIV since 2017.

She is a strong supporter of the U=U campaign and believes that there cannot be enough conversation and education around it. She is a trained facilitator for the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program and has taken several courses including the Positive Self-Management Program and the Positive Leadership Development Institute I and II. She has attended various workshops such as the Northern Strategy Workshop, Central Opening Doors and a few with the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario, HIV Endgame and numerous forums both online and in person. She attended the Positive Women’s Network conference in Myrtle Beach in 2018 which she found very empowering.

She is currently a self-employed bookkeeper in Orillia, Ontario. Being self-employed allows her the flexibility to do be able to attend all these various HIV educational events and to travel.  She offers a free income tax clinic at the Gilbert Centre for Social and Support Service as her way of giving back to her AIDS Service Organization.

“After my diagnosis, I decided that I would be open about my status and start doing my part to stop HIV stigma.”