A Girl Like Me LIVE
by thewellproject
We are thrilled to launch The Well Project’s new podcast, A Girl Like Me LIVE – featuring audio versions of our new bi-weekly series (starting soon) of the same name, as well as other digital programming we’ve produced including The Well Project’s Leadership Exchange! Subscribe now for updates and access to a rich and growing audio collection of conversations centering the expertise and perspectives of our diverse community of women living with HIV on a variety of topics.
Episodes
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 47: Bone Health, Women, and HIV
Every day, our bodies remove old bone and add new bone in its place. After age 30, more bone is removed than added. As a result, the bones become lighter and weaker, increasing the likelihood of fractures or breaks. It is important that women living with HIV, especially those who have experienced...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 46: Combatting HIV Stigma in Beauty and Wellness Spaces
Beauty and self-care spaces should be sanctuaries, but for many women living with HIV, they can become sites of fear of stigmatization. On Thursday, August 27, 2026, cohosts Ciarra "Ci Ci" Brown and Bridgette Picou discussed the reality of HIV stigma in salons, spas, and beyond. They explored the...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 45: The Importance of Family Health History in Managing Our Own Health
Family health history plays a major role in our own personal health. Understanding our family history can help identify our predispositions to chronic conditions like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. Having this knowledge allows both women living with HIV and their healthcare providers…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 44: Aging Positively: Planning for a Fulfilling Future
On Wednesday, June 17, 2026, we held episode 44 of A Girl Like Me LIVE! This interactive conversation features cohosts and The Well Project staffers Ciarra "Ci Ci" Brown and Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, as they discuss planning for a vibrant and fulfilling future! In this episode, we dive deep…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 43: Finding Reliable Information Online in the Age of Misinformation
The Well Project is committed to supporting agency and health literacy among women living with HIV. An important way we achieve this goal is by developing and providing access to HIV information that is culturally responsive, scientifically accurate, and women-focused. This is not always the case...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 42: Episode 42: Managing and Connecting Around Other Health Conditions: What to Learn from HIV
As women age with HIV or grapple with a new HIV diagnosis at any age, overall health matters. Understanding overall health means identifying conditions that can affect how we feel and take care of ourselves. Things like cardiac health, bone density, kidney disease, and diabetes directly impact…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 41: Exploring Critical Findings from Our Community-Based Survey on Language, Stigma, and Healthcare
In our latest language survey, The Well Project, along with a group of expert advisors, sought to understand the extent to which women and nonbinary adults living with HIV experience stigmatizing language; its impact on the individual; and potential effects on engagement in the healthcare system....
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 40: Mindfulness as a Tool for Women Living with HIV
On Thursday February 26, 2026, we held the 40th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, delving into the transformative practice of mindfulness and its profound impact on women living with and vulnerable to HIV. This episode explored how mindfulness techniques can help women reclaim their power, mitigate...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 39: Societal Expectations of Women Living with HIV
On January 22, 2026, we hosted a transformative episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, hosted by Ciarra "Ci Ci" Brown and community advisory board co-chair Lynette Trawick. In this powerful discussion, we confronted the societal expectation that women must always be the "strong ones," exploring the…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 38: Symptoms and Sisterhood: Navigating Perimenopause/Menopause Together
On December 17, 2025, we held another interactive live episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE. Hosted by Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN, and Dottie Rains-Dowdell, DHSc, the discussion explored the multifaceted journey of perimenopause and menopause for women living with HIV, covering symptom management,...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 37: Proactive Advocacy for Preventative Screenings in Women Living with HIV
In episode 37 of A Girl Like Me LIVE, we emphasize the significance of being proactive in healthcare encounters. Cohosts Ciarra "Ci Ci" Covin, MS, HS – BCP and Bridgette Picou, LVN, ACLPN discuss preventative screenings and the importance of self-advocacy for women living with HIV. The…
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A Girl Like ME LIVE Episode 36: The Power of Language: Amplifying Wellness for Women Living with HIV
The words people use to talk about HIV can affect the way people living with HIV feel about themselves. These words can also have an impact on how others view people living with HIV. In episode 36 of A Girl Like Me LIVE we explore the profound impact that language has on the wellness and overall...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 35: Navigating the Postpartum Period for Parents Living with HIV
Bringing a new baby home can be a beautiful time – and an overwhelming one. The postpartum period often leaves women feeling unsupported and uncared for as they adjust to massive changes in their lives, relationships, and bodies. The "baby blues" and other intense feelings can be particularly...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 34: The Holistic Benefits of Physical Activity
There are many ways in which physical activity can improve your health – it can build and maintain muscle, increase your endurance, and strengthen your heart. For people living with HIV, those benefits may improve overall quality of life. On Thursday, August 28, 2025, we held another enlightening...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 33: The Value of Community and Advocacy When Parenting with HIV
On Thursday July 31, 2025, 12pm ET / 9am PT, The Well Project hosted another powerful episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE as we discussed the importance of community for mothers living with HIV as they advocate for their children - and for themselves. Co-hosted by Ciarra "Ci Ci" Covin, Alyssa…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 32: Prioritizing Self-Care and Self-Love
The journey towards prioritizing self-care and self-love is an important one for all women. As we work together to destigmatize HIV and address health disparities for women living with the virus, a sense of peace with who we are becomes especially important as it can have a vital role in overall...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 31: National HIV Testing Day
Each year, National HIV Testing Day (#NHTD) is observed on June 27 to bring awareness to the importance of getting tested for HIV. The Well Project held a very special episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in commemoration of National HIV Testing Day, which delved into the...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 30: Lifetime Survivors
There are several terms with similar meanings that are used to describe HIV transmission at birth or early in life, and those who acquired HIV this way. Some terms come from the community itself, while others are more clinical – and some may be considered stigmatizing. It may be confusing for…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 29: Women, Sexuality, and HIV
Human sexuality exists on a dazzling spectrum. There are many ways that individuals express, and describe, their romantic, physical, and/or emotional attractions to other people. While everyone is unique in the way they experience (or do not experience) attraction, there are groupings within the...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 28: Women Like Us -Aging Positively Combatting Loneliness and Isolation with HIV Building a Village
Research shows that loneliness is a factor in how well people age. When you add the feelings of stigma and shame that sometimes accompany life with HIV, these feelings can be magnified and may also bring a sense of isolation. Quality of life and the desire to engage in care may be negatively...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 27: HIV, Women, and Sexual Pleasure
On Wednesday, March 29th, 12pm ET The Well Project hosted the 27th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE where Ciarra "Ci Ci" Covin was joined by community advisory board member Kim Canady to discuss the topic of HIV, women, and sexual pleasure. The discussion includes highlights from The Well Project's...
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Updates to the Perinatal HIV Clinical Guidelines!
The fourth session of Leadership Exchange LIVE (BEEEBAH Edition) features Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin (The Well Project) and Lealah Pollock, MD, MS (University of California, San Francisco). Join this powerful discussion as they discuss recent updates to the Perinatal HIV Clinical Guidelines. Updates to...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 26: Advancing Meaningful Inclusion of All Women in HIV Research and Clinical Trials
Historically, women across the gender spectrum have been insufficiently included and involved in HIV research. Such exclusion has resulted in limited knowledge about important aspects of women’s experiences of HIV that would inform their active participation in decision-making about their health...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 25: Coping with Mental Health around the Holidays
While the reasons are unclear, studies have shown that, in the general population, women are two times more likely to experience depression than men. Women living with HIV across the gender spectrum are even more likely than women in the general population to experience mental health challenges....
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 24: Talking to Teens about HIV and HIV Prevention
Talking with adolescents and teens about sex and HIV can be anxiety provoking, but these conversations are so important as we seek to ensure that they are equipped with accurate and up-to-date information about HIV prevention and awareness. It may not be the easiest conversation to have, but…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 23: Honoring National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day #NHAAD
September is recognized as Healthy Aging Month. Join for a special A Girl Like Me LIVE in honor of National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day (#NHAAD). In the US, the first cases of HIV emerged among young men, but today we know that the epidemic affects both women and men of all ages, including...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 22: Improving Patient-Provider Communication
The patient-provider relationship is established when a provider attends to the medical needs of a patient. Depending on a number of factors, this dynamic can have both positive and negative effects on the person receiving care. Strong patient-provider relationships established on trust,...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 21: Health Disparities, Health Inequities, and HIV
Health disparities are differences in health that are linked to unjust social conditions (income inequality, racism, gender bias, and many more). A health disparity can be a higher rate of a disease among certain groups than others – even, in many cases, despite ongoing prevention efforts. HIV is...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 20: Navigating Mental Health Care
Women living with HIV across the gender spectrum are more likely than women in the general population to experience challenges to their mental health. Among many people, accessing mental health care can carry stigma, and can even be discouraged by some family members and friends. Additionally,...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 19: Mothers and Daughters Navigating an HIV Diagnosis
Telling someone you love that you are living with HIV can be really hard. Living with HIV can often impact not just the person who received the diagnosis, but also those around them - including family, friends, and other people they are close with. During the month of May, and beyond, we…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 18: Criminalization and Women Living with HIV
No one should be punished simply because they have a health condition. But in many areas of the world, laws and practices unfairly punish people living with HIV because of their HIV-positive status. In other words, people living with HIV can face criminal charges for engaging in acts that would…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 16: Serodifferent Couples
"Serodifferent relationship" and "mixed-status couple" are terms often used to describe a couple or relationship in which one partner is living with HIV and the other is not. Romantic and intimate relationships can be challenging for anyone, and differing HIV statuses may be part of that. But...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 15: Self-Stigma and Dating
People living with HIV can hold negative beliefs about HIV that cause them to stigmatize themselves (also known as internalized stigma). For many women living with HIV, the negative stories we tell ourselves have more consequences than the stigma we’re subject to from others. Self-stigma can be...
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Breastfeeding and HIV: Viewpoints from an Adult and Pediatric Provider
The Well Project commemorated World AIDS Day 2021 by launching our new, three-year project, BEEEBAH (Building Equity, Ethics, and Education on Breastfeeding and HIV)! The first session featured Ciarra “Ci Ci” Covin (The Well Project) and Allison Agwu, MD, MPH (Johns Hopkins). Ci Ci relates her...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 14: Why Language Matters
Throughout their lives, women may experience multiple forms of oppression and discrimination based on gender, race, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, or other factors. The oppression and discrimination are often reinforced through language. Adding an HIV diagnosis can magnify this oppression...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 13: Transgender Day of Remembrance
People of trans experience, particularly women and femmes of color, endure targeting for horrendous acts of violence and even murder in racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-Black societies around the world, including the US. This terrible fact gave rise to Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), on...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 12: Disclosure to Non-HIV Providers
There is no one "best" way to tell others (disclose) that you are living with HIV. It may be important to share that information with health providers other than your HIV care provider so that you can get the best possible care. But who do you tell; how do you start that conversation; and what is...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 11: COVID-19 Vaccination, Clinical Trials, and Why They Matter
As we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, staying connected to our community and sharing up-to-date information is key. In the 11th episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci, Community Advisory Board chair Gina Brown, RSW and Oni Blackstock, MD discuss the COVID-19 vaccine, clinical trials…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 9: Let’s Talk about Sex Sexual Health Month
Let’s talk about sex! The ninth episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE is a fun conversation between Kimberly Canady, Aryah Lester, and Olivia G. Ford, as we celebrate Sexual Health Month. Some women may feel that their dating and sexual lives are over once they receive a positive HIV diagnosis and this...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 8: Honoring National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day
National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day is honored on September 18th of each year to bring attention to the many, many people who are living long and fulfilling lives with HIV and to also highlight their distinct needs. The eighth episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE was a dialogue between Ci Ci…
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The Well Project Leadership Exchange: Masonia Traylor and Dázon Dixon Diallo
The ninth in our The Well Project Leadership Exchange series features a conversation between The Well Project Community Advisory Board member Masonia Traylor and SisterLove Founder and President and WRI member Dázon Dixon Diallo. Don't miss this moving conversation about serving Black women…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 7: Parenting and Sharing Your HIV Status with Your Kids
In the seventh episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci Coleman talked with Community Advisory Board Members Ieshia Scott and Destiny Smith about parenting and sharing your HIV status with your kids. Living with HIV has its challenges and so does parenting. This discussion highlights how these…
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The Well Project Leadership Exchange: Porchia Dees and Gina Brown, MD
The eighth in our The Well Project Leadership Exchange series features a conversation between The Well Project Community Advisory Board member, Senior HIV Testing Coordinator at Black AIDS Institute, and HIV advocate/influencer, Porchia Dees and Gilead Science’s Principal Medical Scientist and…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 6: Breastfeeding & HIV
In this episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci talked with Heather Rhea O'Connor of the International Community of Women Living with HIV - North America about Breastfeeding and HIV in honor of National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. As mothers, these two amazing advocates discussed their personal...
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The Well Project Leadership Exchange: Destiny Smith and Gina Brown, RSW
The seventh in our The Well Project Leadership Exchange series features a conversation between The Well Project community advisory board (CAB) member, HIV advocate, blogger, and author Destiny Smith and The Well Project CAB chair and WRI member and Gina Brown, RSW, community engagement manager…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 5: Pregnancy & HIV
In this episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci Coleman talked with Community Advisory Board member Masonia Traylor about pregnancy and HIV. These two powerful advocates dispel the myths and misinformation that continue today despite decades of science and evidence proving that women living with…
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 4: U=U
In this episode of A Girl Like Me LIVE, Ci Ci talks with Community Advisory Board member Katie Willingham about U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable). These amazing leaders talk about what U=U means to them and the impact that learning about it has had on their lives. They also discuss their...
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The Well Project Leadership Exchange: Katie Willingham and Naina Khanna
The sixth in our The Well Project Leadership Exchange series features a conversation between one of The Well Project’s newest community advisory board (CAB) members, Katie Willingham, and WRI member and partner Naina Khanna, co-executive director of Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN-USA).…
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The Well Project Leadership Exchange: Gina Brown, RSW and Chuck Wira, PhD
The fifth in our The Well Project Leadership Exchange series features a conversation between The Well Project community advisory board (CAB) and Women’s Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS (WRI) member Gina Brown, RSW and our WRI member Chuck Wira, PhD. Gina is a community engagement manager at the...
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A Girl Like Me LIVE Episode 3: COVID-19 Vaccination
We are really excited for our next episode, in which Ci Ci will talk with Community Advisory Board Chair Gina Brown, RSW about COVID-19 vaccination. These two inspiring women will talk about Gina’s personal experience with the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as clinical trials and vaccine hesitancy.
About this show
We are thrilled to launch The Well Project’s new podcast, A Girl Like Me LIVE – featuring audio versions of our new bi-weekly series (starting soon) of the same name, as well as other digital programming we’ve produced including The Well Project’s Leadership Exchange! Subscribe now for updates and access to a rich and growing audio collection of conversations centering the expertise and perspectives of our diverse community of women living with HIV on a variety of topics.
Hosted by
thewellproject