Thats how uneducated I was.
Hernando Umana had been seeing tremendous personal and professional success since he was a child.
Despite this, Umanas world was rocked when he was diagnosed with HIV.
The only time sex was mentioned was with abstinence.
At first, Umana believed that his diagnosis was essentially a death sentence a prominent misconception of HIV.
I was terrified, he shares.
I thought no one would ever love me.
All I had to do was take a pill at night and never have to worry about infecting someone?
I thought, why dont people know about this?
Ive decided to do the complete opposite of how I was raised and talk about sex, he explained.
Talk about being Poz.
Its been one of the greatest journeys of my life.
My way of changing the narrative is by simply showing up and speaking my truth.
I meet people at where theyre at, Umana says of his work.
I love to share info with others.
You cant be mad at someone for not knowing.
Give them a second, educate them…
I want to show what someone living with HIV looks like.
A healthy, happy, successful human.
As for his advice to younger people, Umana believes in authenticity.
You dont have to have a go at be anyone else but yourself.
And once you could celebrate yourself others will come flocking towards you.
Today Umana is looking forward to his new company, CBD Dog Health.
Getting to see dogs who couldnt walk start to run a few days later makes me so unbelievably happy.
