Visual Eyes

S2E05 - Breaking HIV Stigma: Empowering Change and Awareness with Natalie Tyler of the World AIDS Museum

• Visuals by Momo • Season 2 • Episode 5

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Imagine living with a condition that has been shrouded in stigma for decades. In this episode, Chris Baker sits down with Natalie Tyler from the World AIDS Museum to break down barriers and share her journey in the nonprofit world, focusing on her role in dismantling the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. Natalie shares her invaluable insights into how the understanding of HIV has evolved and emphasizes the critical importance of knowing one's status. We discuss the upcoming Florida AIDS Walk on March 15, 2025, a significant event aimed at amplifying education and cultural programs through essential funding.

The power of collaboration stands front and center as we explore "Headshots 4 a Cause," a project designed to support nonprofits through the art of photography. By channeling proceeds toward organizations like the World AIDS Museum, this initiative shows how creative efforts can lead to meaningful change. Natalie and Chris highlight the "Colors of HIV" exhibit, which showcases the epidemic's diverse impact. Personal stories, including Chris's sister’s inspiring journey of living with HIV for 35 years, underscore resilience and the transformative power of education and awareness.

Natalie passionately calls for action, encouraging listeners to contribute to the cause through donations or participation in events like the Florida AIDS Walk. Her vision is one of continuous advocacy and leaving a legacy that inspires future generations. Located at ArtServe, the museum offers a rich tapestry of exhibits detailing the history and impact of HIV/AIDS, inviting visitors to engage and learn. Together, through storytelling and collaboration, we can foster a more informed and compassionate world. Join us and be part of this transformative journey.

Natalie Tyler
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-tyler-mpa-143985b1/
World AIDS Museum
https://worldaidsmuseum.org/


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Special Thanks to Stacy Daugherty for the beautiful wall artwork in the background. Socials: @artographybystacy

Chris Baker:

Welcome to Visual Eyes, the podcast where collaboration fuels change. I'm your host, Chris Baker, and each week, we'll explore incredible connections between nonprofits, businesses and the community. This is a space where we highlight inspiring partnerships, uncover strategies for creating meaningful impact and share stories that show how working together can make all the difference. Whether you're a nonprofit leader, a business owner or someone just passionate about building connections, this podcast is for you. Welcome to Visual Eyes. Today we have Natalie Tyler I didn't say this right, Natalie Tyler and she works at the World's AIDS Museum, Natalie.

Natalie Tyler:

Yes, welcome to the show, thank you. Thank you, I'm glad to be here.

Chris Baker:

I'm so grateful that you're here as well. Could you share with us and everybody that's out here a little bit about your journey and what inspired you to become a part of WAM, World's AIDS Museum?

Natalie Tyler:

Well, my journey working with nonprofit organizations began over 30 years ago. Originally, I'm from New Jersey, came to Florida 10 years ago and working in nonprofits. You know they are all about the nonprofits to help social change individuals that are struggling for social needs and to improve the quality of life and advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. So when I saw this opportunity at the World AIDS Museum, which is WHAM, I'm like okay, this is personal to me. You know, at this point in my career I really am very conscientious of where I want to go and what I want to do when it comes to my career and working with the population, hiv aid clients and also educating them. That's important to me because, you know, the mission of the World AIDS Museum is to promote dialogue that eliminates the HIV aid stigma through education, cultural programming and dialogue that is going to promote these things as well.

Chris Baker:

I think that's extremely valuable and important because right now there's still that stigma in the community. You know HIV is a bad thing, right, but it's not what it used to be Not at all, not at all.

Natalie Tyler:

And when you, you know in the museum it's beautiful because you know chronologically we set up exactly what the chronological aspects of HIV, where it began. You know what's going on today, the medication that's taking place, so it's not like it was back when it hit the scenes in the early 80s. You know the late 70s, so it's different now. But still I don't think it gets as much notoriety as it should Because some people still don't think oh, HIV, it's no longer here, you know, because it's not spoken about a lot, but it's still strong and it's still going on. And, most importantly, people need to know their status. I don't care if you're male, female, heterosexual, homosexual. Know your status Because you know I have friends who are females, that are straight but have HIV.

Chris Baker:

It's not just a LGBTQ+.

Natalie Tyler:

No, it's not at all.

Chris Baker:

It's not in that culture, it's everywhere. It's global, like there's so many populations all over the world.

Natalie Tyler:

All over the world.

Chris Baker:

That are affected by it and one of the things that we have a lot more resources here and we have a lot more medications here than some other places.

Natalie Tyler:

Right, and there's other populations that are not able to get the education and get the medication that they need.

Chris Baker:

Right.

Natalie Tyler:

You know, and that's you know, that causes a problem for people who really need their meds. Because there are, you know, you, they have a whole lot of vast medications right now. You know, they have Cavanuva, which is the one-time shop. They have PrEP, which prevents you before you know, a preventive medication. But the stigma is still out there and I think people need to really become educated on HIV.

Natalie Tyler:

Right, you know and, like I said, step one is know your status. Okay, become educated on it and, like I said, the World AIDS Museum. We want to eliminate that negative stigma that is attached with HIV and AIDS through education, cultural programming, dialogue, so that we can be able to sit around the table and speak on this.

Chris Baker:

Talking about some of those programs, can you dive a little bit more into what those are Like? When you talk about the education, what type of education are you able to do right now? Do you have any upcoming events, anything happening in the future?

Natalie Tyler:

well, right now, in the future, which is pretty um exciting is that you know the world aids museum is. You know we have been selected again for the last decade as a beneficiary for the florida aids wall oh awesome with the um ahf, which is the AIDS Health Foundation.

Chris Baker:

All right.

Natalie Tyler:

Okay, so you know, and that is going to take place on March 15th 2025. Okay, and there are 15 other beneficiaries along with ourselves, so that's 16 organizations that are going to benefit from this walk as we raise funds.

Chris Baker:

Wow, that's amazing.

Natalie Tyler:

And all those funds are going to be matched by AHF and those funds are going to, yes, dollar for dollar. So if you have someone who's going to get $50, that 50 is going to turn into 100.

Chris Baker:

Well, that's fantastic.

Natalie Tyler:

So I mean in order and for that, the funds that are coming through the door for the world AIDS Museum is going to continue to help us increase our programs, increase our awareness, increase the education portion of it. You know we want to also continue the programs that we already have existing right now and increase the exhibits that are going on.

Chris Baker:

That's okay, that's fantastic. One other thing that we actually have going on collaboration is our headshots for a cause.

Natalie Tyler:

Correct yes, and I'm excited by that.

Chris Baker:

Yeah. So let me just explain a little bit more about Headshots for a Cause If the audience doesn't know. So at the end of 2024, we tried a pilot program to see how it would go, and so we started to give the net proceeds of the headshots to a nonprofit organization. What happened is it actually started to grow a little bit more and we're loving the trajectory. So now here in 2025, we are selecting three nonprofits every quarter.

Natalie Tyler:

We're one of them and one of the nonprofits is Wham World. Day Museum.

Chris Baker:

And so when they go on to headshotsforacausecom, they actually can choose which nonprofit of the three that are selected that their proceeds can go, or they can divvy it up between all three of them.

Natalie Tyler:

That's where they would love to do it, to do the timing is perfect because it's the beginning of the new year, people are looking for the new career moves and, like I said, we can promote this with the other 15 beneficiary organizations to say, hey, do you know someone in your organization or know someone who needs a headshot? Well, here we got headshot for a cause you know and and and. It's perfect timing, like I said, for the first quarter of the year, because these funds are going to go towards the goal that we have for the Florida AIDS Walk.

Chris Baker:

That's fantastic. That actually makes me even happier that we're able to work together because the money is going to actually benefit right at the right time and be doubled. And doubled, that's even better.

Natalie Tyler:

And double yes and double, so that we can double the programming and double the efforts that we are making to make sure that we're educating, providing artistic expression, bringing cultural programming to the community to let them know that, hey, HIV is here and it is not a death sentence. But we still need to educate our community. And we need to educate our black community, because right now our black community in Broward County has the largest HIV statistics across this whole state of Florida. So Broward County and Miami-Dade are leading.

Chris Baker:

So that brings us to colors of HIV. Yes, can you speak a little bit about that now?

Natalie Tyler:

colors of HIV. Yes, can you speak a little bit about that now, which is probably my favorite exhibit Colors of HIV. Because there is really no color. It's black, it's white, it's Hispanic, it is poor. You know it's on the top of the financial spectrum, you know it's your neighbor, it's your coworker, you know it's your family.

Natalie Tyler:

I mean for me personally, and you know I'm not sharing anything that my family member wouldn't want to be shared, because my sister has been living with HIV for 35 years. She has a proud story to tell about it, you know, and you know she's 67 right now. So for her, for the, you know, to change her life and to have been living with this when it first came on the scenes up north. And you know, when you first get diagnosed and you know she was then just living in denial but also doing some self-destructive behavior. But then, once you get a grip on it and say, okay, this is not the end of my life, you know, it's just a calm, a punctuating my life to loftier heights, that's what I say. You know it means something to me to work for the World AIDS Museum, because I personally have someone most dear to me that is going through it, you know, but now has changed. Her light is back, she is a witness, she has a testimony.

Natalie Tyler:

So when we talk about the colors of HIV, it doesn't matter what color you are, they're all different colors. You see that our exhibit shows with Magic Johnson when he came on the scene, you know. It shows from Arthur Ashe, okay, when he was diagnosed with HIV through a blood transfusion. It shows Ryan White. The young boy had HIV through also a blood transfusion and couldn't go to school. So there is no color but there's colors. Every color of the rainbow basically affects us with HIV. So that exhibit, when you see people's faces, it could be my face, it could be your face, it could be our neighbor's face, it could be someone at Publix, a supermarket, anywhere we go, you never know what the status of someone is. So those are the colors of HIV. That speaks to me.

Chris Baker:

And the story about your sister specifically. I have to go back to that one.

Natalie Tyler:

You said 35 years, yeah, 35 years.

Chris Baker:

So that's, you know, a testament to the fact that it's not a death sentence.

Natalie Tyler:

No, it's not. And you know she's coming to Florida to be with me during the AIDS walk so she can walk and give her testimony and share her testimony about where she's come from and where she was and where she's at right now, and just to see her. Now. You know her life is different, she's different, and it just it speaks to me. And she you know, my sister, you know her life is different, she's different and, um, it just it speaks to me that she you know my, my sister, you know Juanita is different now and and even though that changed her, it changed her for the better, in reality on.

Chris Baker:

You know there's a lot of stories. I've struggled through different things and I'm I'm no longer really talking to my family. It's for the better.

Natalie Tyler:

Right Like.

Chris Baker:

I am stronger. I am more resilient, I've been able to actually follow my dreams Right. It's not always a case. So in the case of your sister, I'm so happy to hear you know she didn't look at this as an end.

Natalie Tyler:

Right.

Chris Baker:

But now she's looking at it as a whole new beginning.

Natalie Tyler:

And in the beginning, you know, the medical field didn't know what it was. You know they were given cocktails. You had to take this pill with that pill, this pill with that pill, and when you were diagnosed with it, it was as if, okay, that's it. You got about a month to live. People were feeling that they were just desolate. This was it, but it wasn't it. You know was it, but it wasn't it. You know it wasn't it.

Natalie Tyler:

As you, she continued to live her life and continue to change her mentality, which is the most important thing, because you are what you think. I believe that. So once she started to change her mentality and say you know what? This is not a death sentence, let me get on the regiment, let me educate myself as well, as she educated herself on what medications to take, what works for her, what does not work for her. And she also discovered that those who do not have HIV are more of a harm to her than those. If you do not have HIV and if there's a sickness that you have and someone who has HIV because their immune system is down, you are more, you know, at risk. That person is more at harm than the person you know who has HIV. So people with HIV has to be more careful of the people that they're around.

Chris Baker:

Yeah.

Natalie Tyler:

Because their immune systems are down.

Chris Baker:

No, that's true, yeah.

Natalie Tyler:

So she, you know, she's come a long way and I'm proud of her. And she, she's just living her life now, and living a great life now, and she's proud to say, yeah, I'm living with HIV and I'm living with HIV successfully. So those, to me that's the colors of HIV. It doesn't matter who you are. And right now we, even with our older active adults, our senior population, it's about educating because, you know, a lot of older active adult seniors are, you know, having intercourse and they think that, hey, you know, it's not going to affect me. I can't get pregnant, you know, but you can continue. You can attract an STD, yeah, so you know. Also, it's, you know, the World AIDS Museum going out into the community to educate those who are not coming to the museum. So that's a goal that I have like to bring the World AIDS Museum out into the world needs more visibility more visibility.

Natalie Tyler:

You know, one of my goals, or one of my dreams, is to have a traveling van where our exhibit is in a van and that we can go out and we can share and be able to share what we've had seen and share. Like it says here, we document, remember and power. So we document the history of HIV and share that with the community and empower people to see hey, I'm empowered to go on with my life and to have an audio so that people can hear the origins of HIV and just to go out into the world to share that with everyone else and to bring awareness, because that's what we're supposed to do. We are supposed to in our mission is to educate artistic expression, which having a van is a nice artistic expression.

Natalie Tyler:

It could be, and cultural programming diverse cultural programming.

Chris Baker:

Yeah. Have you worked with any other nonprofits in the past?

Natalie Tyler:

Yes, we've worked with several nonprofits in the past and we're looking to work with others as well. Ujima is a nonprofit organization that is also a recipient of the AHF, so we've been collaborating with them. We've collaborated with Legacy Builders.

Natalie Tyler:

So we've had different events that are going on there and we also collaborate. For example, I have a softball team, so we collaborate with Wise Cheers, which is one of our sponsors. You know they're sponsoring. You know providing a nice financial support. So we're collaborating with other organizations and we welcome more collaborations. You know provided a nice financial support, so we're collaborating with other organizations and we welcome more collaborations. You know so that we can, because when you collaborate with other organizations, you are able to have a broader reach.

Chris Baker:

You are, and it's not always about the money.

Natalie Tyler:

No, it's not always about the money.

Chris Baker:

Sometimes it's a resource or something else that the other nonprofit or for-profit business even is able to give. Right and I think that's one of the things that we're trying to do with this show is to really make sure that hey, it's not always about you know, donating money is very helpful. It's not the only way you can make things happen. There's a lot of other ways, because even with your.

Natalie Tyler:

You know, in volunteers there are the three T's with volunteers Time, talent or treasure. So either you know, you can give your time, which is very valuable, so if you need a volunteer to you know, do this at one event or something else. Time is very valuable. Your talent you may have a volunteer who is just an expert with media, social media, who's an expert with Excel, whatever it is that their organizational skills. And then their treasure their treasure is their financial participation and it may not be their treasure. They may know someone to say, hey, I know someone who is able to give on a level that I cannot give.

Chris Baker:

It's true. Sometimes we know the people that are looking for a cause Right and we're not the ones that actually have the money in the coffers to pay for it.

Natalie Tyler:

And sometimes people are like oh, I don't have much to give, I can only give $25. But if you give $25, that $25 will be matched from AHF for the Florida AIDS Walk. So people got to understand it's not how much you give's that you give, that's the most important thing. Or walk, that's right and or run, or you can virtually.

Natalie Tyler:

You can virtually walk you can sign up because I have my family that is from new jersey, yeah, so a lot of my family members have signed up to virtually walk, oh and participate. So that you know I want to cross across the whole united states, get people involved, say, hey, there's a Florida AIDS walk that's going on in March here in Florida. I live in Texas, I don't have to walk, but I can virtually walk. You know, here I am, you know, in South Carolina I can virtually walk, so that we are on the map. The World AIDS Museum, that means the wide, whole, wide world.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, it's not just South Florida.

Natalie Tyler:

No, it's not just South Florida. No, it's not just South Florida. That's like saying, oh, hiv and AIDS only exist in South Florida. No, it exists across the whole globe. Right, and that's another you know initiative that we are doing for WAM is get it out across the globe, internationally, you know, have our exhibits shown other places? You know, so that we are more than just here in Broward County.

Chris Baker:

And I think that's extremely important. That is yeah, that is awesome. All right, looking ahead, what are some of the strategic priorities that World AIDS Museum is looking to add to its mission to help eliminate the stigma of HIV and AIDS through its programming?

Natalie Tyler:

Well, we want to increase our diversity and international content with different collections and exhibits and programs, so that we can connect with other museums across the United States, so that we can share our exhibits with them as well, so that we can be able to, you know, reach other people on a more broad spectrum okay, so that's one of the goals as well.

Natalie Tyler:

And then to share our exhibits so that they're they're mobile, so that, for example, if you're walking through a mall and you see different artwork, those that artwork is from different artists and from different exhibits, right so to be able to share that, so that we can be able to broaden that and bring more people into the doors. And also to engage with other cultural partners. So we want to engage with other partners, like we mentioned, so that we can support our mission and support their mission as well.

Chris Baker:

Awesome. So how can the community and the world hopefully the whole world can help get in contact with you? So you know what is the number to call to help get involved, to donate website, what's the information that you can give to our watchers.

Natalie Tyler:

Well, you can donate by going on wwwworldaidsmuseum here. We have a little information right here, okay, all right, and we're at the wwwworldaidsmuseumorg yesorg. Okay, and you can also go on our website. You can also go to the florida aids walk okay and you will see the recipients there and you will see the world aids museum and you just click and then you can make a donation to Natalie Warrior Walkers that's the name of my team because we are Natalie's Warrior Walkers, because you got to be a warrior in order to fight the fight with HIV and AIDS.

Natalie Tyler:

The fight does not stop. You have to armor up and you have to get out there and you know you can make a donation, you can walk, you can walk virtually. You can say you know what I would like to create?

Chris Baker:

my own team under your team, Natalie, and I'm going to raise X amount of dollars.

Natalie Tyler:

That's the goal. So, and that is the goal, and if you need any further information, you can email me at natalieatworldaidsmuseumorg.

Chris Baker:

Perfect, and also there is a number here as well dot org.

Natalie Tyler:

Perfect, and also there is a number here as well, so 954-930-0550 yes, and please check out our exhibits document.

Chris Baker:

Remember and empower.

Natalie Tyler:

So the actual exhibit here is within art serve correct, we're located right here in the art serve building at at 1350 East Sunrise Boulevard.

Natalie Tyler:

When you come in the beautiful ArtServe building you will see the World AIDS Museum. Follow the arrows and the first exhibit you will see will to the origins of HIV and then you can walk through and see exactly what's happened from the 80s advocacy, what's going on in the 2000s and what's happening now, up to date. So it gives you a lot of valuable information. And the funds we raise we want to raise those funds so we can also have an audio component of the museum. So, because there's so much information, you want to walk and you want to listen and hear exactly what's going on.

Chris Baker:

I love that.

Natalie Tyler:

And you know we're really happy and proud to have the founder, which is Steve Stagone. Ok, so he is the founder of the World AIDS Museum, so you know he is very supportive with the information and all that we have going on here.

Chris Baker:

That's amazing. Alright, so before we wrap up, our show. I have a legacy question that I ask all my guests, so this one's personal to you. So what is the legacy you hope to leave behind through everything that you are doing in life, and how will it help inspire future generations?

Natalie Tyler:

You know my legacy. When it's all said and done and I close my eyes and I take my last breath and people think of me and I want them to think of me and say you know, natalie really is a very positive person. She gives off great energy. I love life, I have a zest for life, and I just want to close my eyes and say God is my job well done. Did I make this world better when I left, which is my goal? Yes, and to make people smile and laugh and just enjoy life, because that's what it's all about. We are all in here together. None of us are coming out alive, so we might as well enjoy each other. And I want people to know and say you know, she's a good heart, she's a good person. I'm glad I, when I meet people, no matter where I meet them, I want them to feel that glow, that energy, that flow that I give. That's going to make you want to wake up and smile again another day.

Chris Baker:

That's beautiful. I love that. I really do so. Natalie, thank you so much for being on Visual Eyes With Us.

Natalie Tyler:

I appreciate it. Thank you, I appreciate you and look everybody out there. Please make sure you check out our website wwwworldaidsmuseumorg. Go on to the Florida AIDS website, look up Natalie's Warrior Walkers. Make a donation and headshot for cause, because we know some people out there. You need a headshot. Get rid of that old headshot that you had 10 years ago and get a new headshot.

Chris Baker:

It's true, it's true, okay.

Natalie Tyler:

And it will benefit you know it'll benefit two other organizations besides the World AIDS Museum, but get a new headshot.

Chris Baker:

Again, thank you so much for being on the show today and we look forward to our future collaboration.

Natalie Tyler:

Oh, definitely. Thank you, Chris.

Chris Baker:

Thank you for joining me on this episode of Visual Eyes. We hope that the inspiration and practical insights can help you foster stronger connections and meaningful change. Don't forget to subscribe, share the episode and leave us a review. To learn more about Visuals by Momo and how we support collaboration and storytelling, visit visualsbymomo. com. A huge thank you to everyone out there listening. Until next time, remember, collaboration fuels change and your connections can inspire the world.