Advocacy and activism are roles Lamman Rucker doesn’t have to audition for because they’re a part of him. Born to inform and inspire, the Philadelphia-native says he realized at an early age the difference he could make in the lives of others as he watched loved ones die from a disease that continues to affect African Americans more than any other community. As he witnessed the devastating effects of AIDS in the black community, Lamman worked with his peers to fuse his passion for the arts and love for people to evoke awareness when they established W.A.I.T.T. (Washington Area Improvisational Teen Theatre). The company promoted abstinence and educated youth about safe sex, teen pregnancy and STDs, including HIV/AIDS and through the organization, Lamman became a certified peer sex counselor.

In this day and age with explicit music and the “reality-TV takeover” with shows like MTV’s “Teen Mom” and “Jersey Shore” exuding sex, more than ever teenagers are becoming more sexually active and are now starting a new “baby-boom” generation.

Hydeia Broadbent gives the word ‘normal’ a new meaning in Webster’s dictionary. As a part of the first generation of children with AIDS, she vowed to make it her mission to spread awareness about the disease. At the age of six, the activist started to speak out about it nationally, only a few years after her adoptive parents were told by doctors she was HIV positive-advanced with AIDS. In 1987, Hydeia’s birth mother gave birth to another child, at which time both were tested for a virus few medical experts and people knew about, except they thought the disease was only prevalent among homosexual males and drug abusers.