Type A Personalities

The Apostle:
Bishop Yvette Flunder, San Francisco, CA
Executive Director, The Ark of Refuge, Inc.


Since 1988, The Ark of Refuge has been on the fore of providing AIDS education and services to the black community of California's Bay area. Executive Director Bishop Yvetter Flunder, a third-generation minister, runs the thriving non-profit, and is also very active in mobilizing the church and clergy around the issue of HIV and AIDS. The Ark runs several living facilities for HIV-positive individuals, including Restoration House, for African-American women in San Francisco, as well as facilities for HIV-positive men and transitional housing for homeless youth in Oakland. The Ark recently opened the Magic Johnson Clinic, an AIDS drug dispensing clinic with primary care and substance abuse counseling services. The Ark also facilitates the Transcending program which provides support, and peer advocacy services for Transgenders of color who are impacted by HIV/AIDS or at risk for HIV infection. Bishop Flunder is the pastor of City of Refuge, a thriving inner-city congregation.

The Administrator:
Carrie Broadus, Los Angeles, CA
Executive Director, Women Alive Coalition


Women Alive originally began in 1991 as a support group for positive women in the mid-city Los Angeles area. The organization is a coalition of, by and for women living with HIV/AIDS, meaning that when a woman tests positive for HIV, she is immediately connected to an HIV-positive woman for support. Carrie Broadus, 57, Executive Director, runs the multi-pronged program, which she deems a "bottoms-up organization" offering bi-lingual programs for local women including: medical updates, treatment advocacy and education, support groups, social events, mental health counseling, health educator trainings, pregnancy information and peer support. Since its inception, Women Alive members and activists have been on the forefront of AIDS policy issues, some of which have included advocating for HIV clinical research specific to women, and fighting to ensure that women have equal access to high quality care and treatment. "What's disappoinitng is the lack of research around women and the lack of clinical trials geared toward women," says Broadus. "Our physiological make-up is different."

The Activist:
Rolake Odetoyinbo, Lagos, Nigeria
Executive Director, Positive Action for Treatment Access (PATA)


After learning that she was HIV-positive in 1998, Rolake Odetoyinbo, 35, felt very isolated. All information available was about preventing HIV, not what to do once it was acquired. Also, because many Nigerians see HIV as a disease of the poor, there was not a lot of emotional support for her, a young, working-class professional living in Lagos. After working for years as a hotline counselor, Odetoyinbo began The Frontiers Project through PATA (Positive Action for Treatment Access) in March 2004. PATA not only acts as a source of support, but also educates the public, fights against the stigma of HIV and AIDS (especially for women) and advocates for affordable medication. Many African cultures have intricate familial support systems, and when AIDS hits a member of the family, there is a domino effect. "We belong to a generation that sustains their aged parents, their own children, spouses and the education of their siblings," says Odetoyinbo. "Most of these people are so important that if AIDS take them out, then the entire family might go back into poverty." In a very Oprah-like vein, Odetoyinbo writes a weekly column about living with HIV in 'The Sunday Punch,' Nigeria's most widely read newspaper. She also hosts a weekly television show with a viewership of over 30 million.