"Somehow we might have gotten in this mind state that it’s over there [in Africa]. That’s the mistake. AIDS in America, it is right here, right now, and we have to start talking about it."

Grammy winner Alicia Keys—known for her international AIDS advocacy work with the Keep a Child Alive organization—explains why she’s helping launch “Empowered,” a campaign to change the way U.S. women think about HIV (one in four Americans living with the virus are women). Part of the Greater Than AIDS initiative, the multimedia campaign also features five HIV-positive women, including Kym, who declares in the website’s video: “I am not OK with stigma for the next 30 years. I’ve got things to do!” To borrow from Alicia’s recent lyrics: These girls are on fire.