Growing with the Project: Sadia Haidari
Sadia Haidari, Professional Headshot
Sadia Haidari (they/them), has been a part of PrEP4Teens, the Chicago-based, teen-led social marketing campaign dedicated to spreading sexual health awareness since just about the very beginning. Sadia’s ideas and feedback have supported the project nearly every step of the way. They were selected to participate in a Creative Think Tank over the summers of 2021 and 2022 with several other young people. They collectively developed a 40-page creative brief with guidance on every aspect of a teen-focused social marketing campaign about PrEP - from the messaging, the vibe and the look to the color palette and font styles. Sadia and the other “think thankers” also provided direction on the use of the creative arts to activate the campaign, and the preferred online and “real world” platforms for connecting with Chicago teens. Their input has shaped so much of PrEP4Teens. By their own admission, however, PrEP4Teens isn’t the only one getting shaped by this partnership:
“For me, personally, I think that I've really been able to find this new interest in in health and medicine and health care. That's part of actually why I chose… my minor of sociology, health and medicine. Partly because of this project, I really realized that there's like a there's a huge healthcare gap in the US, and you can really see it in Chicago. So I've gained that like that knowledge of the HIV epidemic and of the like lack of information surrounding PrEP.”
So, what drew them in to begin with? Where do life-changing partnerships spring from? For Sadia, it started at Chicago Desi Youth Rising, an organization that “seeks to empower Chicago youth to combat racial, economic, and social inequity.” While involved, Sadia found space to connect with the South Asian community and learn about the importance of coalition-building. It was here that Sadia, who hadn’t heard about PrEP at the time, saw the posting for the PrEP4Teens think tank.
“I was interested in having a community beyond school and Chicago Desi Youth Rising. The original posting mentioned LGBTQ+ youth, and … that was a part of my identity that I hadn't really connected with in a while… so I decided to apply and I also already knew, as a CPS student, CPS does not have a comprehensive sexual health education program. So if PrEP was something I didn't know about, I felt like this was definitely a project that needed to happen.”
As Sadia continued to work with PrEP4Teens, their knowledge of sexual health and the stigmas surrounding it grew. So did their passion for advocacy work. All of their growth becomes apparent when looking through the campaign—their voice is all over. For example, their perspective on sex positivity and dealing with stigma is a huge part of what this project is based around!
“Because of that kind of stigma in the South Asian community, and also being Muslim, it’s an added layer of… taboo. Being a teen, I think, everyone wants to tell you what to do rather than how to do it, so it's more of a, ‘Well, you shouldn't worry about being on PrEP, because you're not going to be sexually active.’ I think it's really interesting to see PrEP4Teens, which is telling you that you have a choice rather than ‘Oh, you shouldn't be [sexually active], so you shouldn’t need [PrEP].’”
Now, Sadia is about to move into a new stage of their life, and we’ll say goodbye to them as a member of the PrEP4Teens team. But all of the incredible things this campaign has created came, in large part, because of Sadia Haidari and their dedication towards making the world around them a kinder place.
“It's important for teens to be involved in this kind of creation, because teens are who you're talking to. You can't have this very monolithic view of teens. And in order to [avoid] that, you need to have their voices involved.”
Read more incredible stories about our team members on our blog here. And for more info on PrEP basics, be sure to check out our FAQs here. Sadia helped work on them!