Regan Hoffman ’89

Degree: B.A. in English and creative writing
Job title: Editor in Chief of POZ magazine, Editor in Chief of POZ.com, Editorial Director of Smart + Strong, author of I Have Something to Tell You (Simon and Schuster, 2009)
Favorite Trinity Memory: I really enjoyed getting out in the community. I was a TriDelt, and we did a lot of after-school tutoring of kids in Hartford. I think it was the first time I realized how privileged I was and how much of an impact we could make and how much of an impact education made on kids.

Reporter: How long have you been involved in AIDS and HIV activism?

Hoffman: I’ve been living with HIV since 1996, and I wrote anonymously for the magazine I work for now for about five years while I was editor in chief elsewhere. I came to POZ in 2006, so really I started my activism career in 2006. I came forward on the cover of the first issue that I produced while I was there.

Reporter: What is the most challenging aspect of your work?

Hoffman: Knowing that I’m trying to figure out a solution to something that has evaded some of the bravest, smartest, and most determined people in the world. We’ve been fighting AIDS for 30 years, and its one of science’s most complicated viruses. It’s one of society’s deepest problems because it links everything together: poverty, racism, homophobia, and all of the societal ills that contribute to HIV are the reasons that we can’t stop it. What’s difficult is knowing that and still getting up every day and trying. It’s difficult to not lose your vision, despite the fact that it can be incredibly hard and disappointing along the way.

Reporter: What is the most rewarding aspect of your career?

Hoffman: Knowing that I made an individual’s life better. The stigma around HIV is incredibly debilitating, and people live in isolation and fear. It’s rewarding when I get an e-mail from someone who either connected to our Web site or magazine or read my book or did something where they felt better about themselves and had hope. Prisoners with HIV write to us every day. People around the world in nations where they have no access to care write to us. Giving them that hope is something that makes everything better.

Reporter: What advice would you give a current Trinity student or alumni who is interested in activism?

Hoffman: It’s pretty simple: don’t look for a movement, start one. We need new blood and fresh approaches. Know that an individual and one good idea can make an enormous difference. There’s this idea that you have to start a multi-national nonprofit to really have an impact, but that’s not necessarily true. If you have a good idea, if you have a skill set, if you have determination, you can either do it yourself or join other people who are doing it. I think it was Gandhi who said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I encourage people to get tested for HIV. It’s the simplest thing you can do. Nobody thinks they’re at risk and doctors don’t think you’re at risk. For getting involved in activism, it’s a great first step.

Reporter: Of all of your accomplishments, what are you most proud of?

Hoffman: I think having the courage to talk about the fact that I have HIV. It was so scary, but I saw that people were getting sick and dying from a disease that’s 100 percent preventable and we have treatment, so people don’t have to die. So as fearful as I was about what would happen to me and my family, it was more important to me to try to stop what was happening, even if it made my life harder.