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.
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Episodes
58 episodes
Watertown Trivia With Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice (Fun & Games Sponsor Episode)
This is the first Fun & Games Sponsor Episode! I sit down with Doug Orifice of Arsenal Financial to test him on what he knows about his Watertown trivia related to baseball, businesses, banjo, and more. Then he talks a bit about...
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16:45
Creative Chats With Guest Jamie Kallestad (Making Art After Parenthood)
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. Listen to learn more and hear the conversation with Jamie Kallestad, singer/songwriter and Communications and Design Specialist for the...
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27:22
Episode 48: Paula Farina (Farina's)
Meet Paula Farina! She's a co-owner (with her two brothers Anthony and Mike shown in the picture) of Farina's, a bicycle and power equipment store here in Watertown. We talk about how the shop is celebrating its 50th anniversary, so we dig into...
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Episode 48
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30:09
City Update With George Proakis (Hosted by the Watertown Business Coalition)
This is a recording of a presentation from Watertown City Manager George Proakis for a City Update event held by the Watertown Business Coalition at the Hampton Inn at Arsenal Yards on March 11th, 2025. Listen to hear George's thoughts on the e...
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44:02
Local Government Update, March 2025: Moments, Success Stories, and Jingles From the Past Month
I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel, the Production, Training, and Equipment Manager at Watertown Cable Access to discuss things that have happened d...
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32:54
Episode 47: Dan Hogan (WCA-TV)
Meet Dan Hogan! He's the Director of News and Studio Operations at WCA-TV here in Watertown. In this conversation we talk about how he first got involved in video and news production (from throwing darts and Starsky and Hutch to covering sports...
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Episode 47
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42:56
Episode 46: Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders (Jenna Houjazy, Vana Stepanian, Priscilla Samakwrong)
Meet Jenna Houjazy, Vana Stepanian, and Priscilla Samakwrong! They are students at Watertown High School and members of the Watertown Youth Coalition Peer Leaders group which is organized by Christina Lupica of Wayside Youth and Family Support ...
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Episode 46
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27:39
Episode 45: Sam Ghilardi (Housing for All Watertown / Sai Life Sciences)
Meet Sam Ghilardi! He's a senior scientist at Sai Life Sciences, a member of the steering committee for Housing for All Watertown, and a board member for CoLAB, all here in Watertown. We chat about his early experiences with science and studyin...
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Episode 45
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40:23
Episode 44: Brandon Feldhouse (Arsenal Yards)
Meet Brandon Feldhouse! He's the General Manager over at Arsenal Yards here in Watertown. For this conversation, we get into his early years in malls (including Copley Place in downtown Boston), how using history and art helped build the charac...
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Episode 44
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28:12
Local Government Update, February 2025
Listen to this local government update podcast where I sit down for a conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel, the Director of Government and Education Media at Watertown...
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38:29
Episode 43: Swati Biswas (Artsy Way of Life)
Meet Swati Biswas! She's a scientist, dancer, and arts advocate here in Watertown. We chat about her origins with the arts, what led her to seek out supporting artists in India while bringing their skills to folks here to learn (and the challen...
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Episode 43
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35:58
Creative Chats With Guest Liz Helfer
This is a recording from a series for the podcast that just started at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. Listen to learn more and hear the conversation with Liz on the topic of where the boundary between art as lifestyle a...
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32:46
Episode 42: Kim Hewitt (Director of the Watertown Free Public Library)
Meet Kim Hewitt! She's the Director of the Watertown Free Public Library. In this conversation we chat about her early experiences with books and libraries, her career journey from leading oral history projects to helping people search for uniq...
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Episode 42
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41:08
Episode 41: Justin Hanrahan (Watertown Police Chief)
Meet Justin Hanrahan! He's the Police Chief here in Watertown. In our conversation we get into his unconventional childhood and how the Watertown community was important in getting him through it, his early experiences in policing from protecti...
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Episode 41
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48:29
Little Local Weekly? A Few Updates and a Message From Matt
Boston Gold Kings GameMovie Night Monday with the Chinese American Association of Watertown...
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4:53
Episode 40: Bevin Croft (Policy Researcher / World in Watertown)
Meet Bevin Croft! She's a policy researcher and board member of World in Watertown. We chat about her early experiences working at group homes for people with mental health disabilities, what policy research is and some new alternatives it's ex...
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Episode 40
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31:43
Little Local Weekly (January 15th - 21st, 2025)
Listen to hear updates from past podcast guests about things going on with them and Watertown this week.My first in-person podcast event Creative Chats is th...
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17:24
Episode 39: Alyssa Cecchetelli (Addgene)
Meet Alyssa Cecchetelli! She's the Associate Director of Plasmid Services at Addgene, a nonprofit life science organization here in Watertown. We chat about her origins in science including spending 6 years studying a transparent worm (and maki...
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Episode 39
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35:36
Little Local Weekly (January 8th-14th, 2025)
Hi there! This is my first attempt at a Little Local Weekly episode where I give headlines, updates, and other insights from previous guests for the week ahead. Let me know what you think!Links:
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15:48
Episode 38: Cameron Labrecque (Boston Gold Kings)
Meet Cameron Labrecque! He's the GM and Director of Hockey Operations for the Boston Gold Kings, a semi-professional hockey team here in Watertown. We talk about his personal hockey journey, the challenges of the semi-professional hockey world,...
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Episode 38
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21:51
Episode 37: Sophia Suarez-Friedman (Watertown Social Services Resource Specialist / Wayside Youth & Family Support Network)
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...
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Episode 37
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33:20
Episode 36: Matthew Stephens (Mount Auburn Cemetery)
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 fir...
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Episode 36
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34:02
Episode 35: Nicole Gardner (Watertown District A City Councilor)
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...
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Episode 35
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45:38
Episode 34: Elan Rohde (Campolongo Cookie Company)
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...
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Episode 34
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41:34
Episode 33: Arto Vaun (Project Save Photograph Archive / Musician/Poet)
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 f...
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Episode 33
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49:58
