Willa Cochran

Willa is a case manager working with immigrant families affected by HIV. She provides counseling, interpretation, escort and advocacy on behalf of clients to support treatment and maintenance care and ensure the psychosocial well-being of the whole family. She assist clients in obtaining health care and public entitlements and helps them navigate the medical, legal, educational and social systems that surround them. In this role, she also helps to facilitate African Services' weekly support group for immigrant women living with HIV.

Prior to joining African Services, Willa spent three years in Guinea as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English as a foreign language. She also co-directed the Kérouane chapter of APROFIG (L'Association por la Promotion des Filles Guinéennes). In 2006, she founded and directed a national HIV peer education campaign for middle school girls, promoting women's reproductive health and rights in Guinea. Willa studied West African music in Accra, Ghana with the School for International Training and has a BA in music with a concentration in ethnomusicology from Skidmore College. She speaks French and Malinke.