As a Broward House care navigator, Derald Robertson sees people living with HIV/AIDS who are often at their most vulnerable stages of life. 

Greeting them from a relatable position is why colleagues attest some will wait hours for his guidance.  

“My secret is just meeting clients where they are with non judgment,” Robertson said. “Having conversations with them and understanding the different things they go through in life tends to bring them to ease and then I share my story and it helps them understand they aren’t fighting this alone and there’s someone who has been somewhat down their road.” 

Diagnosed with HIV at the age of 16 and struggling to take medication, Robertson has turned his life around and now helps others to do the same by distributing toiletries and snack bags to people living on the streets.  

Off duty, Robertson is the President of Onyx’s Deep South chapter. Onyx is a leather fetish organization for people of color and Robertson recently captured the Florida Rubber and International Rubber titles.  

Robertson, 40, is married to Lorenzo Robertson, coordinator of the Ujima Men’s Collective, a network for Black same gender loving men. The couple resides in North Lauderdale. 

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