Little Local Conversations

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 the shop's journey from being opened by her Italian immigrant parents, the many trends over the years from BMX to e-bikes, the work put in t...

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 economic development in the city of Watertown at the moment. Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the epis...

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 during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. We also get some insights into the city process with the new...

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 all around New England), the process of building a 30 minute weekly news show, how WCA-TV is now focusing on becoming part of the community rather tha...

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 Network here in Watertown. In this conversation, we talk about their likes and dislikes about Watertown as a whole and their high school experience, their a...

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 studying cell communication (basically our skin cells are like toddlers), what it's like working in the life science sector in Watertown, how he got invo...

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 character of Arsenal Yards, how he views building a dynamic mixed-use community, how he helped lead an initiative to divert 100% of the property's waste...

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 Cable Access. We discussed what's happened at some recent city meetings and some upcoming city initiatives for Watertown. Links to things mentioned in...

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 challenges of working with people on the other side of the world), we scratch the surface of the innovative natural methods of art creation in traditional Ind...

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 and art as business lives.  Come join us at the next Creative Chats on Friday, February 28th at the Mosesian Center for the Arts with guest Jamie Kallestad!...

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 unique news stories from the late 1800s, some behind the scenes on how the library processes materials and thinks about larger values such as access to inf...

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 protecting "boothies" to a career defining moment that instilled in him that policing is much more than just catching criminals, his rise through the...

Boston Gold Kings Game Movie Night Monday with the Chinese American Association of Watertown Check out other news and events sources in the city: Watertown News Watertown Cable Access Nicole Gardner's Newsletter Public Arts and Culture Bulletin Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.  Sign up for th...

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 exploring, a recent history of human rights organizing in Watertown, and the Unity Breakfast coming up on MLK Jr Day. Learn more about the Unity Bre...

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 this week! (Friday, January 17th, 830am-10am) Too many links to fit in streaming description! See the page for the episode on the website for the full list of links mentioned in the episode. Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconve...

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 making pretty pictures with calcium), she explains what plasmids, CRISPR, and viral vectors are and why they're important for scientific research, Add...

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: Gore Place Puppet Show Mosesian Center for the Arts Winter Classes Mosesian Center for the Arts Summer Programs River of Light Lantern Parade Resolutions Bingo: Website | Instagram | Facebook One Book, On...

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, the experience of coming to a game, and more. Find out more about the Gold Kings (and find their schedule): Instagram Facebook Support the show Head o...

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 d...

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...

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 t...

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-mo...

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...

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....

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...