Grissel Granados is a young woman living with perinatally-acquired HIV. She was born in Mexico
City in 1986 and immigrated to Los Angeles, CA at the age of five after her father’s AIDS-related death. She has been sharing her story since she was 12 years old and in doing so has strived to create spaces for women, LGBTQ communities, and other HIV positive individuals to live and love freely.

Grissel received a Masters in Social Work from the University of Southern California. She is currently a Program Manager at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where she oversees HIV prevention programs for youth and young adults living with HIV. She is involved in community activism at the local, national, and international level. She serves on the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV, is an active member of Positive Women’s Network-USA, and is part of J+LAC, an international network of Latin American youth and young adults living with HIV. She served on the Presidential Advisory Counsel on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) from 2015-2017, and in 2017 gained international attention as one of six members of PACHA who resigned in protest of Donald Trump’s presidency.

As a young adult working in the HIV field, Grissel noticed a lack of awareness about those who were born with HIV in the 80s and 90s as children. This film is her way of connecting with other young people who acquired HIV perinatally by hearing their stories, and sharing them with others.

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John Thompson is an artist, activist, and social worker who has worked in HIV prevention and care for the last ten years in Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Mid-Michigan area. Through integrating arts and media into liberatory social work practice, he utilizes storytelling as a way to promote healing from interpersonal and community trauma. He firmly believes in using art as a vehicle for social change.

John received his BA from Columbia College Chicago and received his MSW from the University of Southern California. He currently lives in Lansing, Michigan with his husband and dogs.