Growing
up in the small city
of Claymont Delaware, Lolisa Gibson loved to go to church, write poetry, and
spend time with her friends doing normal things that girls did. With two
younger brothers she also took on a little more respondsibilities then most children
her age.
After getting sick and finding out at the age of
seventeen that she was HIV positive, Lolisa embraced this news as she had
embraced so many other things that most people might have seen as unbearable obstacles.
Once she took the lead to fully educate
herself about the virus she previously knew and cared nothing about, Lolisa
aimed to not only educate her family and friends about its importance, she
wanted to educate everyone she laid eyes on.
Once she got to a level of comfort in feeling like she had
done a great deed by helping people in her hometown who were both HIV positive
and negative, Lolisa began to travel not only the country but also the world to
share her story. Now close to a decade after her diagnosis, Lolisa resides in Brooklyn
NY. Lolisa has made many public appearances and has been featured in articles
for magazines such as POZ, POZ Focus, and FADER. She has also spoke on TV shows
such as CBS Early Show and MTV NEWS.
Lolisa is currently engaged with hopes of being married soon.
She and her fiancé love to include their beautiful son in the world of sending
awareness. Together they have took part in National Campaigns such as Greater
Than AIDS and Gilead’s Catalyst Campaign, with hopes of inspiring others to
share awareness as well.
On June 27 2011 Lolisa’s Memoir titled The Way I See It will
be released. Her goal is to inspire people who may be facing any type of trying
times in life and let them know that anything is possible. Her book not only
talks about how she let HIV live with her, it talks about things she has had to
overcome that are way bigger to her then HIV. Lolisa’s story is one of strength
and courage as for a young woman, you would never be able to look past her
smile and tell all of the things she has dealt with.
Though
Lolisa has done more
in her twenty-four years of life then some people twice her age, she has no
plans of stopping. Lolisa feels that education is key in anything and strongly
believes that by helping educate others about the importance of HIV/AIDS that
it will in deed one day come to an end.
