College chums Jason Panda, Esq., Ashanti Johnson and Elkhair Balla have a message to get out to the African American community, and it’s not a typical one that you’d expect to hear from an attorney, pharmaceutical and medical device salesman and an investment banker, respectively.
These brothers are professionals who are socially conscious and encouraging safe sex and condom use. Maybe you’ve followed their “Twittersations” that features a panel of experts — three ministers (a male, a female and a homosexual) who discuss topics ranging from “HIV/AIDS, condom use and the black church” and porn actors (a male, a female and a bisexual) who discuss “condom use and HIV/AIDS in the adult film industry.”
If you haven’t seen it, it’s time you should. While African Americans only make up 14 percent of the U.S. population, we make up 50 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases.
To address the impact of sexually transmitted infections on the African American community, the trio launched b condoms on Dec. 1, 2010, World AIDS Day.
“b condoms actually started because I was working as a corporate attorney. I wanted to do something a little more impactful and have an effect on our community, to better it in urban areas across the U.S. My mother ran a detoxification and transitional care facility where individuals were cleaning up their heroine and crack-cocaine addictions and alcoholic use and getting their lives back on track,” Panda explained. “We discussed the impact of HIV and AIDS in minority communities. She mentioned during the discussion that she couldn’t understand why condom companies like Trojan, Durex and Lifestyle weren’t advocating prevention methods in the communities that would be more impactful. I thought, ‘That’s a great idea.’ I approached Ashanti and Elkhair. We have been knowing each other for a long time, and we are all graduates of Morehouse College.”
This idea spawned the creation of the only minority-owned, socially responsible company whose mission is to “change the trajectory of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the most at-risk communities.”
Balla says, “We had the core team to really build on this initiative and execute what has now come to be known as ‘b condoms.’ We have been able to build a brand that is socially aware and impactful, that’s cool and sexy without selling sex. ‘b cool, b safe, b yourself’ is our motto, and our core mission is to work with organizations, both large and small, like Magic Johnson Foundation, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Google and John Hopkins University. We are donating condoms to women’s organizations during the month of August. We aim to change the perspective of women carrying condoms.”
This August, b condoms will be an exhibitor at the 2011 National HIV Prevention Conference, which will be held August 14-17, 2011, in Atlanta at the Hyatt Regency and the Marriott Marquis hotels. This September, they are rolling out the “b healthy tour” at 28 historically black colleges and universities, which will culminate in November.
Be sure to find b condoms on Facebook, named “binvolved,” and follow them on Twitter. The next “Twittersation” topic will be “Safe Sex in the Entertainment Industry.” –yvette caslin
