It was Shacazia Brown’s mother who inspired her to start In Memory of Wanda, the AIDS Walk New York team she’s led for almost 30 years. What started with just a handful of siblings and co-workers has grown to one of New York’s largest AIDS Walk teams, propelled by Brown’s vision of bringing joy and healing to other mothers and children affected by HIV and AIDS.
By chance, Brown was on her way to work one day in 1995 when her route was blocked by thousands of people participating in the annual AIDS Walk New York. “It was making me late. I stopped and looked – and I saw all these signs that said, ‘In Memory Of,’” she recalls. “I decided that I had to do this.”
Her mother, Wanda Buggs, had just passed away from AIDS-related complications at age 39, and Brown, then 23, had taken on raising two of her seven younger siblings.
Even then, she did not understand that her mother’s sickness was caused by HIV. “When the doctor said they were going to put her on HIV medications, I still did not know what that meant,” she says. “It was not until I found her medical records after we buried her. She’d whited out the HIV status, as she didn’t want anybody else to know – because of the stigma.”
“I pieced it together afterwards, about her illness and how she died, with the help I received from GMHC,” Brown says.
She started her team the next year with three siblings and two co-workers – all wearing matching white T–shirts that read: In Memory of Wanda. “We didn’t know what we were doing – we just showed up,” she recalls. “I wanted to do something to bring happiness and healing. I didn’t know what, but I knew I had a gift for bringing people together.”
“That’s when history started,” she says. “Doing AIDS Walk was something I needed to keep going – hearing other people’s testimony about their own loved ones, seeing all the posters and T-shirts saying, ‘In Memory Of.’ Our team walks not just in memory of my mother, but for all the mothers, sisters, and brothers.”
“I knew this was my calling. After that first year, I wanted it to be bigger and better. I decided we needed to get more people to join and raise more donations – to walk and support what GMHC does,” Brown says. Since then, the In Memory of Wanda team has grown to well over 200 walkers from Brown’s community in the Bronx and beyond. “Every year, people reach out and say, ‘Hey Shacazia, we walking again?’” she says.
What keeps her motivated is knowing the money her team raises for AIDS Walk New York supports GMHC programs for people living with HIV. “These are programs I wish my mother had,” she says.
SoMWa Foundation
By 2009, Brown wanted to do more. Her success building the In Memory of Wanda team empowered her to start her own nonprofit, the Survivors of Mothers with AIDS Foundation (SoMWA, pronounced “some way”).
Through SoMWA, Brown started collaborating with GMHC on an annual Holiday Toy Drive and other events to bring joy and hope to the agency’s clients who are mothers living with HIV. “I owe a lot to GMHC. They helped me heal through AIDS Walk and then with SoMWA. When I told them what the vision was, they trusted me and provided support and direction,” she says.
“Every event helped me to understand what HIV and AIDS are,” she says. “I learned from mothers with HIV that they can live a long life with proper medication – that life goes on. Growing with GMHC’s clients, seeing their children grow older, and hearing their testimonials and stories has been how I’ve taken my pain and turned it into something positive.”
“It’s something my mother would have wanted,” Brown adds. “Now when I speak with advocates and mothers living with HIV, I am my mother’s voice – the voice of Wanda. I feel that voice – what every mother is feeling who is living with HIV and AIDS, and the grandmothers and aunties taking care of families that have lost a mom. I was that family member.”
With her community’s support, Brown is realizing a long-held dream – building the SoMWA Education Center in Kenya to provide education for pre-K and kindergarten students and after-school programs for older children. “We will be holding our first classes in January 2026,” she says.
AIDS Walk New York on May 18 will mark Brown’s 27th year of leading the In Memory of Wanda team. “I treat every walk like it’s the first time,” she says. “I keep it joyful. Everyone on the team helps me. It’s where I’m able to relax and soak in all that we’ve done.”
“Hopefully, we will live in an era when everyone is cured of HIV,” Brown says. “Until I meet my mother again, we will keep walking and continue that legacy. If we have to keep walking for 50 to 100 years, we will do so.”
To support the In Memory of Wanda team, click here.
Stay in the Know
Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, updates about events, and other helpful information.
