Milani Varela is an Afro-Latinx, gender nonconforming, drag performer and activist, and the lead navigator for Essential Support Services at Comprensión y Apoyo a Latinos en Oposición al Retrovirus (CALOR), an affillate of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Named one of the “POZ 100” in POZ magazine, she has worked in HIV prevention since 2008. Her work includes biomedical HIV prevention, and she has presented at the U.S. Conference on AIDS on how to disseminate information on PrEP, PEP, HIV vaccines, and rectal microbicides in the Hispanic/Latino community. As a former Miss Latina Continental Plus, Milani has been able to use beauty pageants as a platform to expand her work in HIV prevention. She has won many pageants, trophies at balls, and received many awards from community leaders and organizations, but her biggest reward is being able to continue to do the work for her community.