Dominique Grant shares her transformative journey from HIV diagnosis to purpose-driven advocacy, revealing how she transcended stigma to become a catalyst for hope and resilience in her community.
Her Story
About Dominique
Dominique Grant is an HIV advocate and HIV case manager whose work is grounded in lived experience, education, and a deep commitment to advancing sexual health awareness, particularly among women. A Black woman living with HIV, she identifies as both a survivor and thriver, having transformed her personal journey into a platform of resilience, visibility, and purpose-driven advocacy. Through her public voice and community engagement, she challenges stigma and promotes the message that HIV does not define a person’s identity, future, or worth.
Professionally, Dominique is an HIV case manager and advocate dedicated to improving health outcomes through education, prevention, and consistent care engagement. She emphasizes that stigma and lack of accurate information remain major barriers in HIV prevention and treatment, and she works to close those gaps through outreach and client-centered support. Her approach centers on empowerment, helping individuals understand that with proper treatment and care, it is possible to live a long, healthy, and fulfilling life with HIV. She consistently reinforces that HIV has no single “face,” reminding communities that it can affect anyone regardless of background, role, or status.
After years of living in silence following her diagnosis, Dominique made a turning point in 2024 when she chose to break that silence and speak openly about her experience. Since then, she has used her voice to turn pain into purpose, becoming visibly active in advocacy spaces and public education efforts. Her message is rooted in hope and truth: HIV is not a death sentence, and individuals can live “higher in victory” when they embrace care, knowledge, and self-acceptance. Through her work, she continues to inspire others to get tested, seek treatment, and live fully without shame.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Dominique
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being visible with my advocacy and speaking, and turning my pain into purpose. I lived in silence for years, but in 2024, I broke that chain and started advocating and speaking out loud about my diagnosis. My most notable professional achievement has been this visibility - showing up publicly and using my lived experience as a Black woman living with HIV to help others. Everything about my job and my life is in alignment because I'm able to use my personal journey as a survivor and thriver to build an influential platform of resilience and purpose through my transparency. By breaking the silence and being visible, I'm able to show people that HIV doesn't have a face and that you can live a long, healthy life.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I have ever received is that I can live a healthy, long life with an HIV diagnosis and use my experience as a platform to help others, because HIV has no face and can impact anyone. This perspective transformed the way I see both my life and my purpose, encouraging me to step forward as a visible advocate and educator. I chose to turn my lived experience into impact, using my voice to challenge stigma, promote awareness, and support others navigating similar journeys. Through my advocacy work, I have been featured in Pause Magazine and have received multiple awards and recognitions, all of which reinforce my commitment to education, empowerment, and breaking down barriers around HIV awareness and sexual health.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice I would give to young women entering this field is to stay grounded in purpose, lead with empathy, and never underestimate the power of your voice in changing lives. This work is about more than a career it is about helping others become stronger together by building awareness, breaking stigma, and promoting healthy, safe sexual lifestyles. Be willing to educate, listen without judgment, and meet people where they are, because trust is the foundation of meaningful impact. Most importantly, protect your own well-being while you pour into others, and remember that your lived experience, compassion, and commitment to truth can inspire lasting change in the communities you serve.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field right now is the stigma around HIV stigma kills and hurts. What's missing is the education piece. People don't understand that HIV doesn't have a face it could be your pastor, your teacher, your child, your sister. The opportunity I see is in breaking that silence and bringing awareness to all people, especially women, about their sexual health. As someone with lived experience, I'm always looking for opportunities to share my story and help others understand that you can live a long, healthy life with HIV, that it's not a death sentence, and that it doesn't define you.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important values to me are transparency, visibility, and purpose. Everything about my job and my life is in alignment because I'm able to live authentically as a Black woman living with HIV. I value being able to show up and help others through my lived experience. I embrace life every day, knowing that today is an opportunity to get something better or do it right. My purpose is to let people know that you can live higher in victory because of HIV - it doesn't define you. I value breaking the silence and stigma, because stigma kills and hurts. Through my transparency and visibility, I'm able to build a platform of resilience and purpose that helps others understand they can live long, healthy lives.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Dominique
Living Higher in Victory
A Black woman's journey from HIV diagnosis to purpose-driven advocacy and empowerment.
I Live Higher in Victory: How HIV Became Part of My Purpose, Not My Limitation
By Dominique Grant
When I received my HIV diagnosis in 2015, I thought my story had changed forever. What I did not realize at the time was that God was not ending my story; He was preparing me for my purpose.
As a Black woman living in Jackson, Mississippi, I have experienced challenges that many people never see. I am a survivor of emotional, mental, and physical abuse. I have faced stigma, judgment, and moments of uncertainty. Yet through every obstacle, I discovered something powerful: my diagnosis did not define me—my response to it did.
Over the years, I made a decision to stop allowing HIV to be something that happened to me and instead allow it to become something that worked through me. Today, I serve as an HIV case manager, advocate, speaker, and community leader. I have had the opportunity to share my story across platforms, connect with individuals newly diagnosed with HIV, and remind people that a diagnosis is not the end of their dreams.
Too often, society focuses on survival. I want to talk about thriving.
Thriving means showing up even when life is difficult. It means choosing purpose over pain. It means understanding that our greatest wounds can become the very places where we create impact for others.
One of the lessons I have learned is that our stories carry power. Every time we speak honestly about our struggles, we create space for someone else to find hope. Every time we choose courage over silence, we challenge stigma and inspire change.
My personal mantra is simple: “I live HIGHER IN VICTORY because of HIV.”
That statement surprises some people. How can victory and HIV exist in the same sentence? For me, victory is not about the diagnosis itself. Victory is about the strength, faith, resilience, and purpose that emerged because I refused to let my diagnosis have the final word.
Today, I am grateful for every opportunity to advocate, educate, and empower others. I am grateful for every person who trusted me with their story. Most importantly, I am grateful to God for transforming my pain into purpose.
My hope is that people walk away from my story understanding this: your challenges do not disqualify you. They may very well be preparing you for the work you were called to do.
We are stronger than our circumstances. We are more than our struggles. And when we embrace our truth, we create space to live boldly, authentically, and in victory.
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