Live! Laugh! Lust! Positively Aging Project Conference

The Positively Aging Project Conference returns on September 19 with a full day dedicated to wellness, connection, and community for people aging with HIV and those who support them. The event begins at 9 am with registration and a complimentary continental breakfast, followed by a robust program from 10 am to 3 pm—including a free lunch for all attendees. Throughout the day, guests can explore community resource tables featuring health care providers, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and support services from across the Coachella Valley.

This year’s theme, Live! Laugh! Lust!, is reflected in three nationally recognized keynote speakers whose personal and professional journeys illuminate the power of joy, authenticity, and resilience. HIV activist and author Mark S. King will speak on thriving beyond diagnosis and embracing the opportunities of aging with HIV. Comedian and storyteller Shann Carr will highlight laughter as a vital source of strength in the LGBTQ+ community while honoring the profound role lesbians played during the AIDS epidemic. And Nina Grace Ruedas, MPH, MS, LMFT, will explore intimacy, relationships, self‑acceptance, and defining connection on one’s own terms—free from stigma or expectation.

A core mission of the Positively Aging Project is demonstrating what becomes possible when health care providers, advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience come together with shared purpose. As HARP co‑executive director Steven Drew Auerbach notes, “Healthy aging isn’t just about adding years to life—it’s about filling those years with purpose, connection, laughter and hope.”

This free community conference invites attendees to learn, engage, and celebrate the many ways joy and wellness shape the aging journey.