In this powerful and moving episode of Love Living Local 315, we sit down with Jennifer Boulanger - author, educator, and longtime community advocate to talk about her memoir A Song for Olaf and the story behind it. Jennifer shares the journey of writing about her brother, Olaf, whose life and death during the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic shaped her understanding of love, grief, advocacy, and service. What begins as a sibling love story quickly opens into a much larger conversation about stigma, resilience, and the importance of remembering moments in history we can’t afford to repeat.

Jennifer takes us behind the scenes of caring for her brother, the fear and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS in the 80s and 90s, and how the COVID pandemic ultimately became the catalyst for finally writing the book. With honesty and grace, she reflects on grief as something that never fully disappears and how purpose, writing, and community service can transform loss into action. This conversation balances heartbreak with hope, reminding us that empathy, early testing, and access to care quite literally save lives.

Beyond the book, we explore Jennifer’s decades of work in education, refugee resettlement, and women’s advocacy, including her involvement with the Center for Refugee Services and the Whitney’s Legacy Foundation. At its core, this episode is about being a good human, showing up for others, telling the hard stories, and choosing compassion even when it’s uncomfortable. 

We Cover:
• The story behind A Song for Olaf and honoring a brother lost to HIV/AIDS
• Life during the early AIDS epidemic and the lasting impact of stigma and fear
• Why grief never really ends—and how purpose helps us carry it
• The importance of early testing, treatment access, and continued advocacy
• Jennifer’s work in education, refugee support, and women’s health initiatives

This episode is brought to you by Vault Capital Partners.
(https://www.instagram.com/vaultcapitalpartners)

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Show Markers:
(0:00) - Welcome & Introduction
(1:00) - Why This Story Had to Be Written
(3:45) - Growing Up with Olaf
(5:15) - Music, Teaching, and Olaf’s Creative Spirit
(7:55) - HIV/AIDS in the 80s & 90s
(9:00) - Diagnosis, Illness, and Caregiving
(9:45) - Writing About Love, Illness, and History
(11:45) - Grief That Never Fully Leaves
(13:50) - What's Next?
(15:15) - Early Testing & Modern Treatments
(16:30) - Advocacy & Education
(19:00) - Impact of Book
(21:00) - Background in Education
(23:00) - You Don't Know the Effect You're Having
(25:20) - The Writing Process
(28:15) - Community Work & The Center
(32:45) - Whitney's Legacy
(36:30) - Rapid Fire Questions


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Jennifer's Links:
Website - https://jenniferboulanger.info
Amazon Book - https://www.amazon.com/Song-Olaf-Sibling-HIV-AIDS-Pandemic-ebook/dp/B0DYR9J2KP
IG - https://www.instagram.com/a.song.for.olaf
FB - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573940342465

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