 That was relatively slim, just average. Right? Yeah, it wasn't skinny or overweight. You wake up and go, I made sure to be positive. I think I'll be a bodybuilder. That's exactly what happened. No way. We head for the sky. It's all right. I've been waiting for that. Hey, guys. Right after Rossi here, I know you haven't seen me for a while, and there are several reasons for that. And I'll get to it in a video coming soon. But for now, I wanted to talk about a interview that I had done actually a year ago at the United States Conference on HIV AIDS. That was dookie sign. Growning. OK. Hey, guys. Right after Rossi here, I apologize. You haven't seen me recently, and there are multiple reasons for that, which I will get to in a video coming soon. But for now, I wanted to talk about an interview that I did last year at the United States Conference on HIV AIDS. And this was an interview I did with a fellow named Mark S. King, an upstanding, excellent, amazing guy. He is someone who has been a long-term survivor of HIV. And he actually reached out to me when it was slated that I would be going as a social media fellow to this conference. He reached out to me ahead of time, welcomed me, asked me if there were any questions that I had or any concerns, and kind of walked me through what I could expect. And then when I got there, he greeted me and invited me and really made me feel at home at the conference. We managed to slip away for 20, 30 minutes, fill in a quick little interview in the hotel gym. And yeah, we've been friends ever since. And he's a really great guy. He's super knowledgeable. He likes to joke that his antibodies have been around for longer than most of us who have been diagnosed with HIV have been alive. I would say that I've been alive for about the same length of time that his HIV antibodies have been around. So, but nevertheless, he's been a long-term survivor and there isn't enough visibility for long-term survivors of HIV. And so it's really important that we open that dialogue and create more visibility for the older generation. And it's not just all about the 20-somethings or the 30-somethings living with HIV. So anyway, here's the interview we did. I'll post it now, watch it, and I'll see you right after. Hi, it's Mark. I'm still at USCA and I'm here with Rafe Derrazi, who is one of our social media fellows at USCA. I really wanted to meet you and he's been so accommodating. You know, I noticed that a lot of you liked my gym selfie that I did a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you saw it. No, I didn't see it. It got a lot of likes. Oh, wow. But it took me 20 minutes to fight the right angle. You notice I don't dare do what he's doing, which is go shirtless. But that's because you did when I asked you. That's true. Thank you so much. Now, you are an advocate. You're living with HIV. And you're a bodybuilder, I see. Natural. Natural, meaning what? Meaning no performance enhancing drugs. Really, good for you. So did you, is this something that's happened since you tested positive? Like, did you wake up and go, I'm HIV positive? I think I'll be a bodybuilder. That's exactly what happened. No way, really? Before my diagnosis, I never considered it. I didn't even know how to bench, squat, or deadlift. So I learned everything since my diagnosis. This is all sense, your diagnosis. It was really like a motivation to reclaim my body and my health. That's amazing. How long have you been living with HIV? Did you say? As far as I know, because I was diagnosed seven years ago. Okay. So this has been a seven year project? Yeah, I'd say like five. What kind of shape were you in before, before when you were diagnosed? I mean, I was relatively slim, just average. Right? Yeah, I was skinny or overweight. And have you reached your goal? No. No, no. There's always a little more. I think that's a running joke in the bodybuilding world. It's like you're never where you want to be. Right. I'm never as big as my problem. Are you competing? Yeah, I'm gonna be competing October 12th. Where? In Venice Beach, Muscle Beach. Oh my God, okay, that's serious business. I've been to Venice Beach. Had you ever worked out out on the beach? No. You know, like the big boys, you know? What do you think you're doing? Really? Yeah, I can see how you do, so we just need to intimidate it. Those are huge. So what is, I keep trying to find myself standing in a position that'll show my arm. Okay. You know, while I'm talking to you, maybe I'll do this. You stop it. This is about me competing with you. So what are you, what's your message? What's your message to other people with HIV? I mean, obviously this is Instagram ready, but other than that, other than just the cosmetic, what is it you want to tell people? It applies to be able with HIV and people living with any kind of manageable chronic condition is that we don't have to be a victim to our diagnosis. We can reclaim our body and live healthy, happy, full lives, regardless. That's great, and so have you ever been to USDA before? I haven't, this is my first time, it's my first conference I've ever been to. Isn't this great? It's amazing. They're going to be so happy when I post this. The USDA people who've been seeing him wandering through the halls, but with too many clothes on, I'm objectifying to you, and I apologize. You're okay with that? There's a time and place for it, and this is it. That's right, this is it, because we're in a gym. This is totally legit. Totally legit. I've, you know, all my thoughts have run out of my head. Any final thoughts that you want to share about being here at the conference or on? It's just been incredibly overwhelming and then the exposure that I'm getting to so many different ways of thinking and so many people, and then everything I'm learning, and then just being around so much energy that's all working towards a positive good of progressing what we're doing with HIV. It's just absolutely incredible. Well, I just want to say, as somebody who has HIV and two bodies over the new, I really appreciate seeing someone who is younger taking the rights and coming out and fighting HIV stigma. And we all do it in our own way. This is a fairly effective way. Yeah, and I think just being, just showing your life and just for me, it's just about being authentic, being transparent and open about my life is enough for a lot of people to say, oh, this guy can live a regular, happy, healthy life. Like that's so inspiring. I can't, I can't too. Yeah. Thank you so much, Rafe. I really appreciate it. Come here. Come here. Thank you. Thanks, everybody. Bye. Hi, everybody in Rafe Land. Thanks for lending us your Instagram guy and for all the stigma that he's fighting. I really appreciate it. This guy's pretty awesome too. All right guys, I hope you enjoyed the interview. The second reason why I wanted to talk about this is because Mark is turning 60 years old this year. And so in honor of that, he's doing a special birthday celebration. It's his 60th birthday. Congrats, my friend, long-term survivor HIV. It's possible. It's more than possible. It's totally, totally doable, okay? So for his 60th birthday bash, he is putting on basically a show. It's open to the public. It's an hour long. It's a celebration of long-term survivors of HIV. And it's also a benefit for the reunion project, which is a national network of HIV AIDS long-term survivors. So for his birthday, in honor of himself being a long-term survivor and of other long-term survivors, he is fundraising money. And we're asking people to, it's a suggested donation of $25 to benefit this organization. And I'll be posting about it more. You'll see it on Instagram for the most part, Twitter. And then I'll probably do another video here to encourage that as well. Guys, thank you for watching. Please check out Mark online at marksking.com where you can find his blog. Also on Twitter at myfabdisease and on Instagram at mark.s.king. Like this video if you liked it. Subscribe if you haven't already and I will see you all soon. Cheers.