Dr. Cedric Pulliam is the Senior Human Rights and Key Populations Advisor at PEPAR (U.S. Department of State) fostering partnerships and working with civil society organizations, and engaging work within the PEPFAR HBCU Global Health Consortium and enhancing the continued key populations and LGBTI programming throughout PEPFAR.  In the DMV community, he serves as a HIV Outreach and Prevention Volunteer at the Gay Men’s Health Collaborative (GMHC). For Virginia advocacy, Cedric co-founded the Ending the Criminalization of HIV and Over-incarceration in Virginia Coalition (ECHO VA Coalition). He previously served on the Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS and during his tenure he created and implemented the first Regional HIV/AIDS Policy and Planning Summit, which will return in November 2019.  Cedric supports organizations like Safe Space NOVA, Gay Professional Men of Color (GPMC), and the Brotherhood in Advocacy Leadership Development Retreat (BALR). Cedric launched his trauma curriculum and training entitled ‘Shifting Your Shade’ in February 2019 to empower community to heal, grow, and thrive by affirming and treating others positively. He recently completed his doctoral studies in Health and Medical Psychology with a focus on Psychosocial and Sexual Effects of Young Men who have Sex with Men of Color who take PrEP and nPEP ages 16-24 at Northcentral University. He earned master’s degrees from Central European University and Georgetown University and bachelor’s degree from Elon University.  He serves as the Board Chairmen of SisterLove, Inc, International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa International Steering Committee, and the Center for International Peace and Reconciliation.

 TORI COOPER

 TORI COOPER

 Tori Cooper has been an HIV health educator at Positive Impact Health Centers in Duluth for the past year and half. Her work is dedicated to helping others learn about HIV and AIDS, navigate their risk of becoming HIV-positive, and connecting HIV-positive people with the resources they need. Positive Impact, with offices in Midtown and Duluth, provides free HIV testing and counseling.

NEENA SMITH

NEENA SMITH

​NAKIA SHAW, PH. D 

NAKIA SHAW, PH. D 

Angela Harrington Rice is a visionary and master communicator who is the Founder and Spiritual Leader of One Love Spiritual Center, an inclusive spiritual community that meets in public spaces and is dedicated to breaking down religious boundaries by teaching the gifts and power of love.

Angela received her ministerial training from the Barbara King School of Ministry.  She is currently a student preparing for the Master of Divinity Degree at the Interdenominational Theological Center.

For over 30 years, Angela Harrington Rice was familiar to many television viewers as the host of A Woman’s Place, an award-winning television that she created, produced and hosted for 26 years.  It was Atlanta’s longest-running television series for women. Dr. Dorothy Height, Marianne Williamson, Susan Taylor, bell hooks and Iyanla Vanzant and many other national and local thought leaders were among the many guests she interviewed.  

As a documentarian, Angela profiled leading spiritual leaders in metro Atlanta and was presented an Emmy Award for the documentary, World Pilgrims: A Sacred Journey to Turkey, a documentary that features a pilgrimage of Jews, Christians and Muslims to Turkey to learn more about each other and their faith traditions.

She is a recipient of the Silver Circle Award, an award reserved for an elite group of professionals recognized by the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences for those who have made significant contributions to television for 25 years or more.  

Angela’s ministries also include Widow Wings, a support organization for widows; the Women’s Spiritual Network, a social media ministry and she recently published Resurrecting the Lives of Liberated Women, a book the celebrates women who lived life on their own terms. Through all of her endeavors her primary mission is to aid people in their personal growth and transformation through media, public speaking, workshops, life coaching, and of course preaching and teaching about the power of love. 

ANGELA HARRINGTON RICE

ANGELA HARRINGTON RICE

SHANNON TILLETT 

SHANNON TILLETT 

Shannon’s journey in the human services field began as a Certified Nurses Aid when she worked her way through college. Graduating and working as a MICA Counselor (Mentally Ill Chemically Addicted).  Shannon believes personal life events involving family members likely are what lead her to the field of HIV, Early Intervention Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health. It has never been a challenge to learn to meet people where they are in the area of counseling and motivational interviewing. Shannon is a Coordinator HIV Early Intervention Specialist and Internationally/Nationally/State Certified Addictions Counselor.

Her duties include coordinating services that include: confidential FREE rapid HIV/HCV testing, pre/post counseling, referral, and linkage to medical care for those confirmed positive (newly diagnosed or self-identified HIV+ and HCV+). Provide HIV, HCV, STD Educational Groups and Risk Reduction Counseling within the agency and community in efforts to improve care, and reduce disparities in health outcomes. Develop outreach activities that are designed in response to the unique needs of the community which have included Free HIV/Hep C testing and educating at health fairs, on college campuses, in churches and other community gathering places. She also provides drug and alcohol abuse assessments for court appointed cases and walk-ins. 

LERISSA SMITH 

 As an African-American woman with an explicit personal and professional commitment to improving the lives of persons impacted by HIV/AIDS—particularly women of color— Lerissa is driven to contribute to SisterLove’s rich culture of women centered trail blazing! She’s spent the bulk of her professional career engaged in a variety of HIV/AIDS centered work. Most recently, she sat on a National Planning Body of the conference titled “A Paradigm Shift: The Impact of HIV/AIDS on African American Women and Families. This conference targeted the community, stakeholders, policy makers, and researchers and highlighted the urgent need to focus on persistent health disparities and HIV's impact on African-American women with a sub-focus on inadequate funding levels and insufficient dedicated resources for combating this phenomenon at the national, state and local levels. She has served as the HIV Planning Body Coordinator for the State of Georgia where she was responsible for the operations of a 53-person, federally mandated, advisory group composed of various HIV prevention stakeholders. Through this multifaceted experience, she gained an understanding of how social, economic, and political barriers and facilitators’ impact managed care systems and health policy as it relates to HIV prevention, treatment, and care. Prior to moving to GA, she served as the Lead Project Coordinator and Analyst for the University of Maryland’s Medical School where Lerissa was responsible for data evaluation and management of a federally funded, 6-year NIH HIV/AIDS study while concurrently writing up the results of a previously conducted 5-year HIV/AIDS study.

LERISSA SMITH 

TIMOTHY WEBB

TIMOTHY WEBB

BRANDI WILLAMS

Brandi Williams is a Public Health Professional with a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Ms. Williams has wealth of HIV and Infectious Disease Testing experience at the local, state, and corporate level. During her tenure with the Florida Department of Health, Ms. Williams co-founded Sistas Organizing to Survive (SOS). SOS was a grassroots mobilization initiative created to encourage black women to take control of their sexual health by pledging to educate themselves, get tested and educate others about HIV/AIDS. As a result of this initiative, over 100,000 black women were tested for HIV, leading to a 20% increase in testing. This was the largest HIV testing initiative in Florida history. Most recently, Ms. Williams has served as the Prevention Science Program Manager for the Emory Center for AIDS Research and was the HIV Prevention Program Manager for the Georgia Department of Public Health.  She currently serves as a Governmental Sales Account Manager and she currently works as the Public Health Team Lead with OraSure Technologies, Inc. 

IFFAT “ATTIAH” MUHAMMAD WALKER

IFFAT WALKER

Iffat studied at DeVry University (Decatur, GA) where she received her undergraduate degree, Bachelor of Science in Technical Management specializing in accounting. She then went on to study at Keller Graduate School of Management (Decatur, GA) where she received a Master of Accounting & Financial Management degree and is continuing to further her education studying to receive her MBA with a specialization in Public Administration also from Keller Graduate School of Management (Alpharetta, GA). Iffat is currently a CPA Candidate and holds many professional certifications. Iffat is a graduate of the DeKalb Neighborhood Leadership Class of 2006, Leadership Rockdale class of 2011, the 2006 Recipient of the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Hero of Open Government Award, DeVry University’s Wall of Fame (2009), 1999 DeKalb Private Industry Council’s Special Achievement Award, a member of the Newton Rockdale National Council of Negro Women, Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), Who’s Who in Black Atlanta award recipient
(2016), an advisory board Member for Georgia Piedmont Technical Institute, an Executive Board Member for Sister Love, Inc, GPTI Accounting Club Advisor and Chair for the Rockdale County Board of Adjustments. Throughout her years of hands-on professional experience, Iffat has gained a diverse background of direct experience in corporate, nonprofit, education, government and the political arena sectors.