A Nation will be healed. Every despair will be vanquished. When your willpower rises, every obstacle will vanish. As a resilient survivor—who has become a Nonprofit Owner, Movement Starter, Recovery Coach, Peer Supporter, Harm Reduction Navigator, HIV Advocate, and Public Educator—Sequan Kolibas holds the power to transform every moment into hope and change the reality for the better.
Today, the Founder and Executive Director of Hope on T.T.a.P.P., her transition from living in silence to becoming a vocal advocate, is empowering a new generation of social leaders. Behind Sequan’s transformative leadership lies an enthralling journey of grit, resolve, confidence, resilience, positive attitude, patience and perseverance.
A Past that Ignited Her Leadership Spirit
It began twelve years ago. Sequan was given an HIV+ diagnosis in 2013 and lived through years of self-stigmatizing thoughts and shame. She also endured discrimination from medical providers once they learned of her history of injection drug use. “I had heard horrible stories from others in my community about their negative experiences with providers while trying to seek out medical attention. These interactions had left them feeling helpless and devalued. Some of them eventually passed away because of their untreated conditions,” expresses Sequan.
It infuriated her that these people—compassionate, intelligent, and carrying stories that could move mountains—were being silenced. While others received dignity, respect, and care, they met with judgment and neglect. Their struggles were dismissed, their voices unheard, and if help came at all, it arrived stripped of empathy and equality.
Becoming a Voice of the Voiceless
When Sequan started to recover, it became her mission to be the voice of her community, to be the voice that would be listened to and the voice that would not leave until it was heard! In her words, she upsets the current medical landscape by challenging providers to see every person who walks through their doors as an equal and deserving human being.
She reminded them of the oath they took when becoming a healthcare professional; the oath to help people who were sick, regardless of their personal biases, and to treat them without judgment. So, she decided to start a nonprofit that specializes in stigma-free healthcare for HIV and hepatitis C-positive individuals. T.T.a.P.P. stands for Testing, Treatment and Peer-led Prevention. “It’s life-changing when you can have a relationship with your healthcare provider, in which you feel safe enough to tell them the truth about what you have been doing and the choices you have been making.”
Being able to be open and candid about your sexual health without being looked down upon or questioned leads to conversations about prevention options and harm reduction. The majority of people, when they think of ‘harm reduction,’ they think of ‘syringe exchange.’ But anything that keeps you safe is harm reduction, such as wearing a seatbelt while in a vehicle, wearing a helmet when riding a bike, wearing a condom during sex, and taking a pill every day, like PrEP, to lower the chances of contracting HIV.
Breaking the Cycle: How She Is Redefining Care and Community with HoT
As the power behind Hope on T.T.a.P.P. (HoT), Sequan shoulders more than just administrative responsibilities—she is the soul of the mission. What began as a deeply personal fight against stigma and neglect has now evolved into a life-affirming movement spreading across nine counties with a powerful, mobile, judgment-free healthcare model.
From managing partnerships with medical clinics to ensuring providers are upholding the values of empathy and respect, Sequan’s role is hands-on and heart-first. “We’re the only mobile rapid point-of-care provider for HIV and hepatitis C in the entire state,” she says with pride. Despite limited resources, she and her sole team member—both women with lived experience—keep the gears turning. They carefully vet clinic collaborations to maintain integrity in service and maximize impact. “We don’t overextend. Every decision we make is with our community’s safety and dignity in mind.”
But Sequan’s mission isn’t just about offering services—it’s about shifting culture.
Within the communities they serve, HoT isn’t just a medical service; it’s a safe space. The secret to building that safety? Raw honesty and radical relatability. Sequan and her team live the stories they advocate for. They’ve walked the same roads—through addiction, through incarceration, through dehumanizing healthcare systems—and emerged with a fire to create better paths for others.
“Our strength is in our scars,” Sequan often says. “Because we’ve been there, our clients don’t have to explain the shame—we just get it.”
To break the cycle of stigma, HoT leads with conversation. They talk openly about drug use, sexual health, HIV, and hepatitis C—not in hushed tones, but boldly, publicly, and without fear. They humanize these issues, stripping away the shame and replacing it with dignity. That’s how Sequan believes the fear of testing, the fear of diagnosis, the fear of being seen—all start to unravel.
And when someone takes the brave step to walk into a provider’s office, they’re not alone. Sequan or her coworker will be right beside them—like training wheels on a bike—making sure the ride starts with confidence and ends with empowerment. “Eventually, they ride solo,” she says, “because we’ve shown them how to advocate for their health and worth.”
That’s the real heart of Hope on T.T.a.P.P.: not just surviving, not just accessing care, but owning your voice in a world that too often silences people like Sequan.
Raising the Volume: A Fierce Fight Against Silence and Stigma
Sequan’s mission with Hope on T.T.a.P.P. is not just to provide care—it’s to dismantle the myths, challenge the narratives, and ignite truth in the face of entrenched ignorance. And in a world where silence still kills, she has no intention of lowering her voice.
Among her toughest challenges is the gaping void of education surrounding HIV and hepatitis C in her home state. Misinformation isn’t just common—it’s the norm. And layered over that is the weight of outdated, stigmatizing laws that criminalize HIV based on fear, not science. These laws punish people, not protect them. They uphold silence instead of encouraging awareness. And they directly counter the life-saving work Sequan fights for every day.
When she takes her mobile clinic into rural communities, she often meets resistance. Townspeople sometimes claim, “We don’t have that kind of problem here.” Sequan knows better. “Not talking about something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” she says. The pushback only sharpens her focus. Her resilience doesn’t just come from surviving her past—it comes from the fire of knowing how much is at stake. “Pushback doesn’t stop me,” she says firmly. “It propels me forward.”
And that forward motion? It’s making waves.
In just a short time, Hope on T.T.a.P.P. has reached a monumental milestone—100 individuals successfully cured of hepatitis C. These are not just numbers. These are people—many of whom were battling addiction, homelessness, and deep despair when Sequan first found them. Through her care, they rediscovered their worth. They reconnected with family. They got clean. They started new chapters. And it all began with one person caring when they couldn’t care for themselves.
“That’s what I’m most proud of,” Sequan reflects. “Not just the cures—but the transformations.”
She’s also proud of the national stage she’s earned as a trainer and educator. From coast to coast, Sequan teaches healthcare providers how to treat people who use drugs with dignity and respect. She teaches them to use person-first language, to adopt person-centered approaches, and to be aware of how even their body posture can send messages of judgment or compassion. The impact is tangible. Providers leave her training forever changed—many realizing, for the first time, how deep their biases run.
“Yes, stigma is alive and well,” Sequan says, “but so is the capacity for change.” And she’ll never shy away from being the one to open that door—even if she has to kick it open herself.
In every county she drives through, in every clinic she partners with, in every patient she stands beside—Sequan is rewriting the script. And she’s not doing it quietly.
The Fire Within: A Relentless Journey of Advocacy and Self-Preservation
For Sequan, Hope on T.T.a.P.P. was never just a job—it was a lifeline. A movement. A revolution forged from her own survival. But in the early days, that revolution consumed everything.
“There was no personal life,” Sequan admits. She poured every ounce of herself into launching the nonprofit, often blurring the line between home and work until there was no line left. Her home was her office. Her phone never stopped ringing. Her boundaries were as nonexistent as the resources she was scraping together to make it all work.
But over time, the cost of such self-sacrifice became too heavy. The same woman who fought to restore health and dignity to her community was neglecting her own.
That’s when Sequan made the boldest move of all: she started saying no.
She relocated, reclaiming her living space as a sanctuary, not a service center. She began scheduling client interactions rather than living at the mercy of incoming calls. And most importantly, she prioritized her mental and physical well-being—because, as she puts it, “How can I advocate for my community to take care of their health if I’m not taking care of my own?”
Vacations. Family dinners. Laughter with friends. These are no longer luxuries for Sequan—they’re lifelines. They allow her to serve her community with energy, clarity, and love.
To those who want to follow in her footsteps, especially in hard, stigmatized spaces, Sequan offers heartfelt advice: “Don’t give up when it gets tough. And it WILL get tough.” Critics will tell you your vision is impossible. Systems will try to shut the door. But Sequan insists: don’t let the world convince you your truth doesn’t matter.
“Use your past to your advantage,” she says. “Lived experience is power.”
And her power is just getting started.
Hope on T.T.a.P.P. recently partnered with the Utah Department of Corrections, targeting one of the most urgent yet overlooked populations: incarcerated individuals. Sequan understands that if we’re serious about ending hepatitis C, we must treat those inside the system, especially as they prepare to re-enter society. Her goal is to provide treatment in the final months of incarceration—a bridge to freedom and healing that could change the course of countless lives.
Beyond that, Sequan continues to educate healthcare professionals across the country, arming them with tools to combat bias and stigma. Her trainings are not just lectures—they’re transformations. Her hope? Every marginalized person walks into a clinic and is met with dignity, compassion, and care. That no one has to choose between telling the truth and being treated like a human being.
“It starts with one act. One provider. One patient. One shift in tone or language,” she says. That ripple? It’s unstoppable.
Because Sequan Kolibas isn’t just changing conversations—she’s changing outcomes.
