Out of the Box - BrAIDS for AIDS

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Happy Canada Day to our Shades audience!

Today we are featuring a blog by Stachen Frederick, the founder of BrAIDS for AIDS, a foundation which focuses on Innovation in HIV and AIDS awareness.  Please read and support both Stachen and her organization as well as Shades of Influence by sharing via your own social media channels.  Thank You!

 “If you want to make it in the health sector and I know you are moving to Toronto and I know people there, you will learn how to be quiet.” These were the words that were uttered to me by my manager when I was living in Ottawa. I was standing up for myself and others to ensure that the voices of our community were being heard when it came to how programs on HIV/AIDS were being run in the African, Caribbean and Black communities. I knew then and there that the concept of BrAIDS for AIDS that was created 2 months before this conversation, was bigger than me and it would be a vehicle for others to have a voice. This year marks 10 years that I have been running this organization.

It has not been easy to run an organization that is addressing an issue that is not buzzworthy. There is still so much stigma and discrimination that is attached to HIV/AIDS. But what I love the most about our organization is that we bring people together who would not typically attend an HIV/AIDS event just like that. We attract people through beauty by braiding hair and then we engage in conversations that affect people at risk and sometimes the conversation can be around female empowerment, employment, relationships, poverty, violence against women, drugs etc and how these things impact HIV/AIDS. Currently we run programs in prisons, schools, hair salons and any place that we can engage conversation using hair as the tool for engagement.

In March of this year, I was recognized by L’Oreal Paris Canada as one of the top 10 Women of Worth in Canada for my work with BrAIDS for AIDS and I was awarded $10,000. I think back to the day when I sat in the office looking at my boss and holding back the tears until I left her office. Her threat was just one issue but the framing of her words was also problematic. “If you want to make it” – I never started this work to "make it". I started this work because I was made for it. I often wondered what would have been my path if I had let her defeat my spirit. I always tell people to follow your heart and your passion.

I invite you readers to our annual event called a BrAIDathon and Beauty Show on July 28, 2018 from 10 am to 8 pm as we celebrate 10 years of BrAIDS for AIDS. The BrAIDathon is an event where people get hair done by hair dressers. Proceeds of the event go to supporting the BrAIDS for AIDS Foundation and its programs across the GTA, including our program with young men in the prison system and our program focusing on combating violence against women and helping young women internationally.

You can find information about the event at www.braidsforaids.com/news or check us out on social media @braidsforaids

Also you can always feel free to connect with us to find other ways of getting involved.

I look forward to connecting with more and more people.

Stachen Frederick