We are a storytelling initiative dedicated to amplifying the voices of women whose stories have been inhibited by systemic silence.

This project is dedicated to our dear and deeply missed Rosa, an extraordinary woman who left behind a very special legacy. Rosa was a Black woman living with HIV and a survivor of domestic violence. She had a practice of writing letters to herself. Letters where she reflected on her faith, her body, her loves, her joys, her pain, her spirit, and her future. Letters that she loved to share with other women.

We conducted the first Dear Rosa Interview with a Black woman living with HIV/AIDS and this community—and their wisdom, resilience, spirit, sass, and sisterhood— has carried Rosa’s message, grown our community, and created the movement that Dear Rosa has become.

We seek to be a wrecking ball to systemic silence and create safe spaces where women can reflect on their story and acknowledge all that they are. There is nothing that you have to share during a Dear Rosa Interview, there is nothing you can cannot share.

We have now opened The Dear Rosa Project to any woman who is impacted by HIV (which can mean: knowing someone who is living with HIV/AIDS, being part of a community where HIV is prevalent, and/or being at high risk of HIV).

ANYONE who identifies with the word woman is welcome in our community.