Diana Feliz Oliva has worked in the field of social services and public health for over 25 years. Her work began in 1994 with the County of Fresno – Department of Social Services to her position as HIV Community Liaison at Gilead Sciences, Inc. in 2017, making her the first openly Transgender person hired by Gilead. Because of her unique and valuable expertise on Transgender and HIV-related issues, Diana was promoted to Senior Manager in Public Affairs in 2019. In which, she has been developing a national Transgender Community Engagement Strategy, the first-ever to be made by any biopharmaceutical company in history. As of January 2021, she has become the Associate Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement in Public Affairs and will launch the first-ever global Transgender Community Engagement Strategy for Latin American countries.

A graduate of Columbia University with a master’s degree in Social Work in 2005, her particular interest has been advancing the development of public policy that addresses community-level health and social problems. Turning her daunting personal challenges and barriers into the very basis of her activism, Ms. Oliva has become an effective social advocate and role model. Her work is shown giving voice and visibility to not only the HIV+ positive communities, but also to the multiple, overlapping communities her life has touched.

Monique D. Howell was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She has traveled all over the world growing up because her Father was in the military, where she met all walks of life. After graduating from Summerville High School, she too enlisted in the US Army.

Monique now is a veteran, and an Author of her first book entitled “Living inside my skin of Silence,” that was published in 2010. Her personal testimonial details many of the challenges she faced in her life. Monique’s story was well received nationally and opened the door to her career in advocacy.

Monique is currently a motivational speaker and an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness. She has been a guest speaker for several universities, grade schools, churches, and has even testified on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

She also is the Executive producer of “A Silver Lining,” a short film that vignettes her life and her victories while living with HIV. She hopes that her story serves as an inspiration and will encourage many broken people to keep pushing through the midst of their storms.

Monique is a proud mother of 5 children – 3 sons and 2 daughters that she recently adopted. Her favorite saying is “You must first love yourself before you can love anyone else.”

Ken Pinkela is a former career US Army Lieutenant Colonel convicted in June 2012 of an alleged aggravated assault for HIV exposure without any physical or medical evidence and spent 272 days in the military jail at Fort Leavenworth.

In 2015, the primary witness submitted a sworn statement to the Army, recanted his testimony and described an environment of lies and coercion for testimony against Ken.

The Army has continued to ignore this evidence, and all science and medical facts on HIV. A dismissal from service was approved in June 2016 erasing Ken’s nearly 30-year career and stripping his retirement and access to medical benefits for combat injuries and HIV care.
Even before his trial, beginning in July 2006, Ken had been an HIV advocate supporting HIV+ junior enlisted soldiers, sailors and marines at the Infectious Diseases Clinic, National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Since his release from prison in March 2013, Ken has spoken to the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, has done multiple radio shows on Sirius XM Jolt in the Morning, HuffPost Live with Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, “The Stream” on Al Jazeera English television, speaking engagements with the HIV Justice Network and the Beyond Blame Conference in Durban, South Africa, as a part of the 2016 International AIDS Conference. Ken has been featured in the June 2017 edition of Rolling Stone magazine “What’s it like to be HIV+ in the US Military,” as well as the A&U Magazine feature advocate in October 2016.

Ken continues to actively lobby Members of Congress both personally and as a part of the annual AIDS Watch campaign and helped produce and participate at the National HIV is Not a Crime Conferences, continues to write and remain extremely active across social media.

Ken remains hopeful that with the growing support and education on the Criminalization of People Living with HIV, along with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, pending legislation in both the Senate and House of Representatives aimed at Repealing HIV Criminalization and main stream national and international media highlighting the issue, real change and protections can be put in place for people living with HIV.

Ken’s awards include the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal and others. He has served at all echelons of the Army, from an Infantry Platoon Leader with combat tours in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo and Bosnia, including the at Department of the Army in the Pentagon, and on Capital Hill in the U.S. House of Representatives as the US Army’s legislative liaison.

Ken holds a Masters in Business Administration from George Mason University and undergraduate degrees from Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.

Born and raised in New York he now resides back in beautiful Orange County in his hometown of Otisville, New York where he volunteers as President of a local not for profit organization rehabilitating his old elementary school and creating a cultural, artistic, education and recreation community center.