Raniyah Copeland

President and Chief Executive Officer, Black AIDS Institute

Los Angeles

Named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2019, Raniyah Copeland is an opinion leader and seasoned advocate leading the charge to end HIV in Black communities.

She has worked her way up through the ranks at Black AIDS Institute (BAI), serving as the institution’s Training and Capacity Building Coordinator, Manager, and Director of Programs, before taking charge as President and CEO in 2019.

In her previous role as Director of Programs, she was the organization’s chief HIV prevention and treatment expert. In that role, she managed all HIV treatment, prevention, and community mobilization training and engagement programs, including the Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN), the African American HIV University (AAHU), and the Greater Than AIDS campaign.

Before joining BAI in 2008, Copeland worked at Planned Parenthood in Pasadena as a Health Educator, promoting healthy sexual choices and conducting HIV and STI testing and counseling. She also provided comprehensive case management and transitional support to homeless clients while coordinating temporary placements of clients in her role as a Crisis Case Manager. Deeply committed to the Black community, she served as the Executive Director of the Black Recruitment and Retention Center managing the joint effort between students and the University of California, Berkeley to increase and retain Black students in the UC System. Copeland is also the co-founder of the Afrikan Black Coalition, a statewide organization for Black students in California.

Raniyah attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied Public Health and African American Studies. She has also earned a master’s in urban public health from Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. She lives in South LA with her two young children and husband.