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What’s up?!  I’m Veronica Webb. You might know me as a Supermodel or as a TV personality. That’s been my job for over two decades. My most important work is being a mother to my two young daughters, protecting my health, strengthening my body in tandem with my spirit along with being of service to my community. I’ve been involved in the fight against AIDS since 1989 as a board member of Lifebeat.org.

At the moment I landed in New York City as scholarship student at Parson’s School of Design, two tremendous phenomenon exploded simultaneously permanently reshaping our culture: Hip-Hop and the AIDS crisis.

I came from the east side of Detroit into the vibrant world of graffiti art, break dancing, boom boxes and swinging dukey chains, high art and seventh avenue couture. I found a room to rent while I studied in Adam Horowitz’s from the Beastie Boys mom’s house. Adam was still in high school and the Beastie’s ferried equipment to their gigs on bikes tricked out with monkey handlebars.  I went to every rap concert I could squeeze my way into, Grand Master Flash and Bamabatta at a club called the World where the crowd danced so hard the floor shook like 10.2 earthquake was going down.  I saw Run DMC more times than I can count, Eric B and Ra, LL and KRS at the “Stop the Violence” concert which was also one of h first Hip-Hop summits and kept loving and living hip-hop more and more each day – and still do now.

School soon gave way to a modeling career and my agent Bethann Hardison introduced me to Russell Simmons and Andre Harrell, who have become over the last twenty years both best friends and brothers to me. That same year, Bethann booked me with the very brilliant designer,  Willie Smith.  Willie was a revelation. He was forward thinking in both fashion and business, as well as a bonafide design star. I loved working with Willie, his clothes were cool, his heart was warm and open, his spirit was totally on fire. He was also the first person I knew who died of AIDS.  Willie had booked me for a few days to shoot his Fall 1987 Willie Wear Collection. We were in great spirits all week. Despite the fact Willie had what seemed to be a cough and a mild cold, we passed the days being kooky and creative trying to make some fashion magic happen. On Thursday we decided to take Friday off so Willie could rest. On Monday, I got the news that this young healthy vibrant man had died. I heard the word AIDS and felt it’s ruthless hand for the first time in my life.  I lost many more colleagues in the fashion industry to the brutal disease more times than my heart can bear. HIV/AIDS spread through the black and Latino community unchecked and frankly is still on the rise at the same rate today as it was before safe sex campaigns and the introduction of AZT.  I felt compelled to use my every available resource to help fight the epidemic.

I joined the board of LifeBeat.org, after seeing a benefit concert that Salt and Pepper threw down in Manhattan in 1988.  I recruited my friend Andre Harrell, founder of Uptown records when Eazy E from the Compton California rap group NWA died of AIDS related complications. In the summer of 1990 Andre and I organized the Hip-Hop community and put on a concert at Madison Square Garden called “Urban Aid”. That same year I testified in front of Congress on the need for HIV/AIDS education in the school system. Our goal then was and remains the same; to educated people on how to take care of their health by getting tested, asking questions of their partners, and practicing safe sex. AIDS may easily be the largest crisis facing those of African descent on this