Star Spotlight
Gloria Nekesa: Creating Hope, Building Opportunity
The Ugandan youth advocate is drawing on her experience of living with HIV to help young people find their voices and young women build practical skills.
Nekesa Gloria Clara · Mbale Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS (MNYPA)
Born Into Challenges. Becoming a Voice for Change.
Meet Gloria Clara Nekesa, a young Ugandan woman turning personal challenges into a mission to empower the next generation.
Some people discover their purpose through opportunity. Others find it through challenges they never chose.
For Gloria, growing up in Uganda while living with HIV brought difficulties no child should have to face. Her earliest memories include abandonment, limited access to basic necessities, and uncertainty about her future.
But Gloria's story is not defined by what she lacked. It is about what she chose to build.
Today, she is a youth advocate, community leader, and co-founder of the Mbale Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS (MNYPA). She is also an emerging social entrepreneur, helping young women develop practical skills and economic independence.
As a child, Gloria dreamed of becoming a nurse. Life led her in another direction, but her desire to care for others stayed with her.
We invited Gloria to share her journey, the challenges that shaped her, and her dream of a future where every young person has the opportunity to thrive.
The Conversation
- GoBreezy:Gloria, let's start with your childhood. What experiences shaped the woman you are today?
Gloria:I was born and grew up living with HIV. My childhood was not easy.
My father abandoned me, and I grew up without the parental support, education, healthcare, basic needs, and love that every child deserves.
There were moments when life felt so difficult that I wondered whether I would make it in life.
But through it all, I believe God never left me. I am deeply grateful for my mother, relatives, and friends who stood with me, supported me, and helped me keep going.
Growing up, Gloria dreamed of becoming a nurse.
I wanted to care for people. Although I did not achieve that dream in the way I imagined, I later realized that the heart behind it never disappeared.
Today, I use my voice and experience to advocate for health, dignity, rights, and opportunities for young people.
In a different way, I am still caring for people.
- GoBreezy:How did your personal experiences inspire you to become an advocate and community leader?
My own experiences shaped my passion for advocacy and helped me grow into the leader I am today.
In 2017, together with colleagues, we founded the Mbale Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS (MNYPA).
We wanted to create a space where young people living with HIV could share experiences, support one another, access information and services, build confidence, and have their voices heard.
Over the years, MNYPA has grown into a platform where young people can participate, lead, advocate for their rights, and contribute to decisions affecting their lives.
For Gloria, leadership is not measured by titles.
Leadership is about using your experiences, your voice, and your opportunities to create space for others. I want to inspire the younger generation to believe in themselves, speak up, develop their potential, and understand that their circumstances do not have to define their future.
- GoBreezy:You've dedicated so much of your life to improving young people's health and wellbeing. What made you realize that economic empowerment was equally important?
Through my advocacy work, I came to understand that health cannot be separated from economic realities.
As I work with young people, especially adolescent girls and young women, I see how poverty and limited economic opportunities affect their choices, confidence, health, and future.
That understanding prompted a question that would shape Gloria's next chapter:
What if we do more than tell young women to protect their health? What if we also help them build their economic independence?
It was the beginning of her social enterprise.
- GoBreezy:Tell us about your social enterprise. How are you helping young women create opportunities for themselves?
I started a small social enterprise where I train young women in practical skills such as making liquid soap and hair shampoo.
Alongside these skills, I encourage confidence, entrepreneurship, and financial independence.
We also create products and explore creative ways of reusing materials that might otherwise become waste.
For me, this is not simply about making products. It is about helping a young woman discover that she can create something with her own hands, earn from her skills, and begin building a future for herself.
Gloria hopes every young woman she works with leaves believing one simple thing:
I can do something for myself.
- GoBreezy:If you had the resources and support to make your biggest vision a reality, what would you create?
My bigger dream is to grow this initiative into a Youth Livelihood and Empowerment Hub.
A space where young people can learn practical skills, share experiences, access mentorship, discover opportunities, connect to markets, and build sustainable livelihoods.
I want this space to be inclusive of young people living with HIV, young people with disabilities, and others who face barriers to opportunities.
Her vision is ambitious and deeply human.
I dream of creating a place where someone can arrive with very little but leave with a skill, an idea, a connection, and renewed hope.
Gloria knows that bringing this vision to life will take collaboration.
I cannot build this vision alone.
I would love to work with partners, funders, mentors, businesses, and other people who believe that investing in young people, especially young women, is an investment in stronger families and communities.
That support could take many forms: mentorship, training materials, equipment, technical expertise, funding, or connections to markets where young people can turn their skills into sustainable income.
- GoBreezy:What does women's empowerment mean to you personally?
For me, women's empowerment means helping a girl believe that her voice matters.
It means giving her opportunities to learn, build skills, earn an income, make informed decisions, speak up, lead, and participate in shaping the solutions that affect her life.
For Gloria, real empowerment goes beyond inviting women to participate.
Young women should not only be invited into conversations after decisions have been made. They should be part of creating the solutions from the beginning.
- GoBreezy:You've spent so much time advocating for others. What dreams do you have for yourself?
Beyond my advocacy and community work, I dream of continuing to grow, learn, travel, experience different cultures, and expand the work I am doing with young people.
Personally, I dream of having a happy family, a peaceful and loving home built on friendship, respect, faith, understanding, and genuine love.
Her definition of success reaches beyond professional achievements.
For me, success is not only about achievements. It is also about peace, joy, meaningful relationships, and knowing that my life has made a difference.
- GoBreezy:Finally, Gloria, what would you say to a young girl who feels her circumstances are limiting her future?
Your circumstances are part of your story, but they do not have to be the end of your story.
I know what it feels like to have dreams while facing limitations. I know what it means to wonder whether life will ever look different.
But please do not give up on yourself.
Learn. Build your skills. Ask for help. Find people who believe in you. Protect your dreams. And when you fall, give yourself permission to rise again.
I am still becoming the woman I want to be. But when I look back, I can see how far God has brought me.
The little girl who once dreamed of becoming a nurse did not become a nurse, but she became a woman using her voice, lived experience, skills, and story to create hope and opportunities for others.
My story is not only about what I went through. It is about what I chose to become despite it.
A Star Who Is Helping Others Shine
Gloria's story reminds us that our beginnings do not have to determine our destinations.
The young girl who once wondered whether she would make it in life is now creating opportunities for others to believe in their own futures.
Through MNYPA, her advocacy, and her growing social enterprise, Gloria is working toward a world where young people are not defined by their circumstances, health status, or economic limitations.
Her vision also reflects something at the heart of GoBreezy: everyone deserves the opportunity to be seen, develop their talents, and create a future they believe in.
Sometimes, the most powerful way to change someone's life is to help them discover what they can create for themselves.
Help Gloria's Vision Grow
Gloria is looking to connect with people and organizations who believe in empowering young women through education, mentorship, practical skills, and economic opportunity.
Whether you are an entrepreneur, mentor, nonprofit leader, potential partner, or simply someone moved by her story, your encouragement and connections can make a difference.
Support Gloria's Star Spotlight, share her story, and help more people discover her work.
Learn more about the Mbale Network of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS
https://www.mnypa.org/
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Published by GoBreezy Spotlight