MARVELYN S. BROWN

Marvelyn Brown, a 25-year-old native Tennessean, was diagnosed with HIV at age 19. Since then she has moved both live and television audiences around the United States with her compelling personal story. Brown has spoken at over 50 colleges and universities nationwide and currently has an HIV-focused blog on poz.com and a lifestyle blog on staying-alive.org. She is currently the CEO and an Independent HIV Consultant for, Marvelous Connections. Her humanitarian work earned her a 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding National Public Service Announcement. Brown’s autobiography, The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive, was published by Amistad/HarperCollins in 2008.

Brown took part in MTV’s 48 Fest at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto where she directed and produced a short film about HIV, called “Different Strokes.” In 2005 she spoke on the White House lawn at the Student AIDS March and in the summer of 2006 for the Washington Mystics, Youth AIDS Day, both in Washington, D.C. She sat down with the writers, producers, and directors of Viacom, FOX, CBS, and the Caribbean Broadcast to discuss fun and innovative ways of integrating HIV awareness and sex education into the media.

The BET and the Rap-It-Up campaign named her one of the 25 Heroes in the Fight, by speaking out about her experience and showing her face as a young woman living positively with HIV. In addition to these accomplishments, the National Association of People With AIDS presented Marvelyn with the Tarsha Durhant Positive Youth Leadership Award and just recently she received the Courage Under Fire Award from Choice USA, and was featured in the ambitious woman section of savvymiss.com.

Brown has had extensive radio and television experience – some highlights include The Oprah Winfrey Show discussing HIV/AIDS in America and the rising infection rate among women, CNN Documentary Black In America hosted by Soledad O'Brien and the rising infection rate among women, America’s Next Top Model, MTV, BET, The CBS Early Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, The Michael Baisedn Show, and The Tyra Banks Show. In addition, she has been featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and Report, Fortune 500, Ebony, Black Beat, Essence, and she appeared on the covers of A&U, POZ and the AVE.

She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.