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Little Local Conversations

Discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown, MA. Visit littlelocalconversations.com to see all episodes, upcoming events, and more. Join Matt Hanna as he has conversations with various businesses owners, community leaders, creatives, and other interesting folks in Watertown to learn about what they do and get to know a bit about the people behind the work.Sign up for the email newsletter to know when new episodes are out: https://mailchi.mp/1ffcb9f6801e/newsletter-signup

society & culture

All Episodes

33:20

Episode 37: Sophia Suarez-Friedman (Watertown Social...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/12/27

Meet Sophia Suarez-Friedman! She's a clinical social worker and coordinator of the Watertown Social Services Resource Specialist Program at the Wayside Youth and Family Support Network. We talk about her early experiences with social work in DC and why the field is interesting and important to her, coming to Wayside in Watertown and how she fell in love with the community and its people, we dig into what Wayside does and its history in Watertown, the resources and ways she helps support peopl...

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34:02

Episode 36: Matthew Stephens (Mount Auburn Cemetery)

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/12/20

Meet Matthew Stephens! He's the President and CEO of the Mount Auburn Cemetery here in Watertown (yes, it's mostly in Watertown!). We chat about his background in horticulture including planting 1 million trees in NYC, how Mt Auburn was the first designed public landscape in the country and for many years was the #2 tourist attraction (behind Niagara Falls), why Mt Auburn is a place just as much for the living as the dead, how the country's best mature tree collection serves as the lungs of W...

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45:38

Episode 35: Nicole Gardner (Watertown District A City...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/12/13

Meet Nicole Gardner! She's the City Councilor for District A (East End) here in Watertown. We chat about her years of work in the management consulting world, how shifting into HR opened her eyes to the importance of diversity and inclusion and informed a lifelong human-centered philosophy, her diving into the Watertown community (from helping at the Perkins School for the Blind to starting the Watertown Buy Nothing Facebook group), and we of course dig into what it's like being a city counci...

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41:34

Episode 34: Elan Rohde (Campolongo Cookie Company)

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/12/06

Meet Elan Rohde! She's the owner of Campolongo Cookie Company right here in Watertown. We dig into how she used her anthropology and archaeology background to learn the science of baking and hone her cookie recipe over the years, the importance of knowing her ingredients and making her own vanilla extract and brown sugar, the lessons learned from running a food business without a brick-and-mortar location (and doing it while raising 5 kids!), and more!Find out more about Elan and her cookies:...

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49:58

Episode 33: Arto Vaun (Project Save Photograph...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/11/22

Meet Arto Vaun! He's Executive Director of Project Save Photograph Archive and a musician and poet here in Watertown. We talk about his own journey as a self-described late bloomer in owning his artistic identity to now getting public acclaim for his music, how he came to be interested in joining Project Save and his vision for reimagining it for the future to have a broader scope outside of just the Armenian community, and we dive into the backstory of Project Save and its founder and how it...

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52:14

Episode 32: George Proakis (Watertown City Manager)

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/11/15

Meet George Proakis! He's the city manager for the City of Watertown. There's a lot to talk about in Watertown! We scratch the surface with:His background and early experiences with civil engineering, public administration, and city planning from corn fields to Assembly Row.The unique strengths of Watertown from its strong fiscal foundation to its regionally exceptional wedding venue.The documents and frameworks that influence how he approaches his job as city manager.The process of building ...

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32:59

Episode 31: Ernie Thebado (Watertown Director of...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/11/08

Meet Ernie Thebado! He's the new Director of Recreation for the City of Watertown (though he's no stranger to rec in Watertown!). We chat about the people and moments that shaped him (as a kid and an adult) at Boys and Girls Clubs in Marlborough and Watertown, what he loves about working with kids, how he thinks about the future of recreation, and of course we delve into the programs you can find in Watertown including the typical sports fare, but also robotics, chess, cooking...and more comi...

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34:27

Episode 30: Steve "Nookie" Postal (Revival Cafe +...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/11/01

Meet Nookie Postal! He's a chef and co-owner of the new Revival Cafe and Kitchen here in Watertown. We get into a conversation about his culinary journey:From growing up where a nice night of food was going out to a chain restaurant to studying at the Cambridge School of Culinary ArtsHis early years in the area cutting his teeth at Casablanca, Chez Henri, and IcarusBeing sous chef at Oleana when it first opened and the lessons he learned Playing poker to make his living while in Spain fo...

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35:33

Episode 29: Ruth Rappaport (Musician)

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/10/25

Meet Ruth Rappaport! She's a musician living here in Watertown. Listen to hear about:Being a self-taught guitarist and growing up surrounded by the folk revival and cowboy musicHow running a coffeehouse and working at record labels helped propel her into the string band music scenePlaying in a well-known band in her genre, The Poodles, and how they once had Julia Child kicking up her heels Her personal greatest contribution to Watertown as the driving force behind the reconstruction of N...

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38:01

Episode 28: Erin Rathe (Watertown Senior Planner for...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/10/18

Meet Erin Rathe! She's the Senior Planner for Economic Development for the City of Watertown, a brand new position for the city. We talk about her journey transitioning from pursuing a PhD in English literature to owning a handcrafted gift shop to shifting into the world of economic development. We get into what it is that an economic developer actually does, the importance of storytelling and communication in her role, balancing short term pain with positive long term outcomes, and what the ...

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37:45

Episode 27: Ryan Nicholson (Watertown Fire Chief)

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/10/11

Meet Ryan Nicholson! He's the Fire Chief at the Watertown Fire Department. We chat about his Watertown roots, then his journey from early experiences on ambulances all the way up to fire chief with stops as training officer, fire inspector, deputy chief, and more along the way. Listen to hear about:- What firefighters do when they're not dealing with emergencies- The procedures they follow to deal with 7,500 emergency calls a year- The recent shifts in firefighter culture- Ryan's goals for th...

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35:18

Episode 26: Peter Pyne (Olespaña)

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/10/04

Meet Peter Pyne! He's the executive chef and owner of Olespaña, a Spanish bar and restaurant here in Watertown. We talk about growing up as a farmer in northern Spain (but also studying economics), the cultural differences between the US and Spain and how those play out in the restaurant business, how he's put a lot of thought into the interior design of the place (including Victorian bathtub chandeliers, antique radios, and drink taps installed in pianos), the challenges of managing food wit...

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2:08

A Quick Update From Matt

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/08/30

Hi there! This is just a short message saying that I'll be taking a short break from releasing new episodes, but I'll be back at it in a few weeks. Until then, take care!Support the Show.Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter to know when new episodes are out. Contact me: littlelocalconversations@gmail.comFollow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations This podcast is in partnership with the Watertown Business Coalition, a nonprofit organization focused on connecting local...

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36:52

Episode 25: Sally Young (Artist-Activist / Edible...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/08/23

Meet Sally Young! She's an artist and art activist here in Watertown and the mind behind Edible Watertown, an initiative of the Watertown Public Arts and Culture Committee. She's had a winding journey to get where she is now that includes being in the Peace Corps in Tunisia, doing social work in Philadelphia, and being the program coordinator of the Loeb Fellowship for the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. We start the conversation talking about growing up on a farm where she had ...

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29:53

Episode 24: Joel Giacobozzi (Watertown High School &...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/08/16

Meet Joel Giacobozzi! He's the principal for the Watertown High School and (at least temporarily) for the Middle School as well. He has some surprising stories you might not expect for a principal such as stints living alone in the Yukon and studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Brazil. We talk about those stories as well as his 3-day career in finance, his love of music (he actually minored in classical trumpet in college), his enjoyment of construction and repair work (and how that helps him with...

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37:30

Episode 23: Tyler Cote (Watertown Community...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/08/09

Meet Tyler Cote! He’s the Community Engagement Specialist for Watertown, a new role in the city. We get into a conversation about his days working in a nonprofit teaching kids about online safety and a particular day there that forever changed his view on community engagements, we chat about what a community engagement specialist actually does and how it’s become a much larger role than he originally thought, and we dig a little into his history in bowling (including being part of a 3x state ...

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30:23

Episode 22: Stephanie Venizelos (Watertown Community...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/08/02

Meet Stephanie Venizelos! She’s the Community Wellness Program Manager for the City of Watertown (which includes managing the farmers market!). We chat about her early years teaching health in schools and her transition into broader thinking roles around helping people thrive and do well, what drew her to Watertown and how getting involved in the school community led her on a path to her current role, and we dig into all the things that Live Well Watertown focuses on from food security to men...

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30:25

Episode 21: Christian Dallas (Dallas Insurance Agency...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/07/26

Meet Christian Dallas! He's an insurance agent at Dallas Insurance Agency here in Watertown and is the president-elect of the Watertown Rotary Club. We chat about his experience working his way into the Watertown community and how the kindness of the already established people led him to start wanting to give back even more, what it's like stepping into a longtime family business focused on going the extra mile (literally in some cases), and we get into his Dancing with the Watertown Stars vi...

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31:14

Episode 20: Gideon Schreiber (Watertown Director of...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/07/19

Meet Gideon Schreiber! He's the Director of Planning and Zoning for the City of Watertown. We chat about his early experiences in the wilderness of Northern Idaho and the cold of Fairbanks, Alaska (where he once spent a month with temperatures never being above negative thirty degrees), his interest in the history of Watertown from its industrial roots with the world's fastest car to the invention of the flat-bottomed grocery bag to discovering that there used to be farms in the city not that...

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29:13

Episode 19: Steve Owens (Massachussets State...

Little Local Conversations ·

2024/07/12

Meet Steve Owens! He's the State Representative for the 29th Middlesex District which includes most of Watertown and part of Cambridge. We chat about missing the boat on the Silicon Valley gold rush, his history in freight transportation management, why a former state rep going to the RMV led to his first moment realizing he was making some actual important political decisions, insights from knocking on people's doors, the challenges of getting information to constituents and getting constitu...

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98 results

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