ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT what matters
Rap-It-Up! W
AIDS ACTIVIST DENISE STOKES TURNS ADVERSITY INTO OPPORTUNITY By Joyce E. Davis
hen the BET Rap-It-Up HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign launched in 1998, Denise Stokes thought it would be
Denise Stokes
similar to one of the many forums she’d been part of for a decade as an AIDS survivor and activist. “Then the concept unfolded. BET was tak- ing hot R&B artists, rappers and gospel sing- ers and getting them to draw the attention of young people,” says Stokes. “And they were partnering these celebrities with people like me, and doctors, health professionals who work with people who are HIV positive, the health department, and local AIDS and street agencies. I realized this was the magic mix that I had been advocating for, for years.” Stokes was in from the moment she
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received an offer to be the lead spokesper- son for BET’s longest running social-impact campaign. She was a perfect fi t for the initia- tive for numerous reasons.
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Having been infected with HIV when she was raped at age 16, Stokes’s life spiraled into homeless, emotional, physi- cal and substance abuse, as well as poor decisions about sex. Through her horrific ordeal, she always knew she had a reason to continue living, which led her to a career of activism. Stokes has shared her story and expertise everywhere — from sessions with high school students and NFL rookie symposiums to the More- house School of Medicine and as one of the youngest members of President Clinton’s HIV/AIDS Advisory Council.
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“I often do not have the name recogni- tition to raise the same level of awareness
as people like Joe Clair, Jessica Reedy, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys or Mo’Nique,” said Stokes, author of her autobiography, From the Crack House to the White House: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities. “It’s a blessing that they lend their time to Rap-It-Up to show that they care about HIV and AIDS.” Stokes attributes the longevity of
Rap-It-Up partly to the pervasiveness of HIV and AIDS, citing that more than 50 million people have died of AIDS and that every nine and a half minutes someone is infected with HIV/AIDS, which has no cure but is 100- percent preventable. This is the message that Stokes has
been hammering home for 25 years. Her mission has always been to encourage those who have been infected and to pro- vide tools to keep others from contracting the debilitating illness. “During one Rap-It-Up forum, a young
student stood up in front of her entire school and acknowledged that her mother was living with HIV,” says Stokes. “She said she was encouraged by my story and the Rap-It-Up message and you could just feel the sincerity in her heart and the relief to just say it. The students embraced her with so much love and understanding, and we, the panel mem- bers, sat there in tears, so happy for her.” Stokes points to these experiences as
evidence of the power of the Emmy Award- winning Rap-It-Up campaign. “It is such a misnomer that people don’t want to talk about AIDS,” she says. “They want answers. They want to express their challenges, frus- trations and fears. BET Rap-It-Up continues to provide that very important forum.”
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