So New England with Ian Brownhill

A cooler backpack, a New England winter, and a lot of rejection—that’s how Todd Simon started selling his own beer. The Hero95 founder and former Boston Beer Company brand strategist joins Ian Brownhill to talk about building a light beer brand, winning space in local stores, and why a good product still needs a story people remember. Todd shares the thinking behind Hero95’s 95-calorie lager, its...

He drove a U-Haul 32 hours from Alabama to Rhode Island expecting cold, rude, unwelcoming people. Four years later he's one of New England's most-followed creators — and he says everything he'd been told about us was a lie. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Brad Porch, better known as Honestly Brad. Brad opens up about the 2017 collapse that led him north, getting sober, and rebuildi...

She never went to design school. Eight years later, her work has been on Tom Brady's family, Nikki Glaser's tour, and the shelves at Fenway and TD Garden. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Melissa Stern — the designer behind Mel the Clothing, the rhinestone-covered Boston sports line you've probably seen all over your feed. Mel shares how a rhinestone champagne bottle jacket accident...

Failed out of seventh grade. A career-ending crash on duty. And now his face is on billboards across the entire state of Rhode Island. This week on the Business Spotlight, Ian and RJ sit down with Rob Levine — the heavy hitter himself. Rob shares the full story: getting kicked out of school and the teacher who changed his life, joining a rescue squad at 16, seven years as a cop in Central Falls, t...

Nick Waller and Nick Schorsch open up the Audrain Automobile Museum's doors for a conversation about car culture, the 1912 electric car that beat Tesla to the punch by a century, and the accessibility-first philosophy behind Motor Week (October 1-4). Plus: hot takes on modern car safety, a Tesla Plaid owner who's ready to sell his own car, and the industry secret about fake exhaust sounds....

A career-ending injury. A chiropractic myth he's tired of hearing. A $1,500 leap of faith. Together, two Rhode Island business owners built something neither could have built alone. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Michael Georges, owner of Stryve Chiropractic, and Dave Boardman, owner of Thryve Performance Lab — a true one-stop shop for physical health under one roof in Cranston, Rhode Island....

He left New England for a career in LA — and somehow never really left at all. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with comedian Jay Larson, the Stoneham, Massachusetts native who's built a stand-up career on the West Coast while staying unmistakably New England at heart. Jay talks about growing up, going to college in New Hampshire, taking the leap to pursue comedy full-time, and why he thinks New Eng...

A Boston chef just declared Massachusetts a "roast beef state." He's not wrong. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Chris Coombs, the award-winning chef and restaurateur behind some of Boston's best-known restaurants. Chris opens up about growing up in Peabody, working his way up through brutal early kitchen jobs, and building a career on food that's taken him from Boston to New York and back. The...

His daughter was born premature and spent weeks in the NICU. The pile of laundry that built up at home turned into a business that now handles 50,000 pickups a month across 35 states. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with John, founder of HappyNest — the wash-and-fold laundry service that started with a single laundromat in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. John shares how the business began completely...

She just did something no guest has ever done on this show: ranked Connecticut number one. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Kathleen, the creator behind Connecticut Bucket List — a full-time content creator with over 250,000 followers dedicated to proving Connecticut doesn't deserve its reputation. Kathleen shares how a post-graduation "bucket list" in her Notes app turned into a...

A severe, one-in-a-million immune deficiency. A bone marrow transplant. Four months living in a hospital room. And out of all of it, a thriving Rhode Island soap and skincare business. This week on the Business Spotlight, Ian and RJ sit down with Jeanette Mollis, owner of Herbs and Mylk in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Jeanette shares the full story of her son Mikey's SCID diagnosis, the search f...

He's a die-hard Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins fan — and somehow, a New York Giants fan. Yeah, we didn't see it coming either. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Beef Eats First, the Vermont-born, Boston-based food creator who's built a following showing off the North End's best sandwiches (and calling out the ones that don't deserve the hype). Beef breaks down how a mislabeled sandwich shop accide...

He's a full-time civics teacher, a dad of four, and one of New England's most-followed dad-humor creators — and he's been going viral since the Vine days. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Tony Serafini, aka Bottle Rocket, the Leominster, Massachusetts teacher who's built over 100,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram. Tony shares how it started with a silly stop-motion Lego vide...

Boston's viral reporter Matt Shearer (WBZ NewsRadio) on going viral, local news, and his emo-punk roots. The two-time Boston Magazine "Best Man on the Street" joins Ian and RJ in studio for one of our funniest episodes yet. Matt traces his path from a skateboarding kid running a high school radio station in Acton to winning a national Edward R. Murrow Award for reinventing local news...

It started with a sick three-month-old and a pot of bone broth — and turned into one of Rhode Island's most beloved local spots. This week on the Business Spotlight, Ian and RJ sit down with Lily, owner of Lily's Soups and Scoops in Cranston, Rhode Island. Lily shares how making bone broth to help her infant son through RSV turned into a company she started in her own kitchen, and how that...

Getting cut from his college basketball team felt like rock bottom — it turned out to be the start of everything. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Darren Battista, the Waltham native and founder of Battista Bootcamp. Darren shares how that one cut pushed him into the gym, how he became a top-five trainer at Equinox, and how he built a nine-person virtual coaching team and a sold-out Boston fitn...

It started with one random request at a dive bar — and turned Brian Daly into New England's beloved "Seger Bar Guy." This week, Ian and RJ sit down with Brian Daly ( @wickedfast ), the Watertown native who went viral asking Boston bars whether they'll throw on a little Bob Seger. Brian shares how his cousin's offhand suggestion accidentally became his whole identity, how to spot a real "Seger bar,...

What happens when a Georgia girl moves to Boston and never looks back? You get Caroline Barry. This week, Ian and RJ sit down with the Make Boston Home creator (nearly 200K followers) for a fresh-eyes take on New England. She ranks all six states, explains why "bless your heart" would start a fight in Boston, reveals how she built her entire real estate business on Instagram, and tells t...

A floor-sweeper made a handshake deal to save a failing dealership, then lied about his age to become the youngest Volkswagen dealer in America. That was 1948 — and his family still runs the business today. This week on the So New England Business Spotlight, Ian Brownhill sits down with Brad Scott, owner of Scott's Volkswagen in East Providence, Rhode Island, for the full 78-year, three-genera...

Boston content creator Marc Lewis doesn't hold back — and this episode proves it. This week on the So New England Podcast, Ian Brownhill and RJ sit down with Marc Lewis, one of New England's most prolific and unfiltered content creators, known for his food reviews, honest takes, and golf course reviews you can actually trust. Marc gets candid about the road that got him here, including the...

What if picking up a stone could connect you to thousands of years of history? That's the idea behind the No Fame Games — and on June 13th, it's coming to New England. This week on the So New England Business Spotlight, Ian Brownhill and RJ sit down with Josh Mackintosh, the private chef and cultural steward behind the first-ever Celtic Strength World Championship in Milford, Massachusetts...

Bob Dylan went electric on this property in 1965. Now it's home to one of only 275 craft "brew-stilleries" in America — and Brendan O'Donnell is the man running it. This week on the So New England Podcast Business Spotlight Series, Ian Brownhill and RJ go on-site at Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co. to sit down with CEO Brendan O'Donnell. Brendan moved to Newport from New Jersey in 2014 a...

"You're not gonna win the race. You've already won. You showed up." Those were the words Sandy Delli Carpini's father said to her at the starting line of her first 5K — and they've shaped everything she's done since. This week on the So New England Podcast Business Spotlight Series, Ian Brownhill sits down with Sandra "Sandy" Delli Carpini, the woman behind...

"It's basically a way to make work suck less." That's how Paul Critchley explains his job at backyard barbecues — and after this episode, you'll understand exactly what he means. This week on the So New England Podcast Business Spotlight Series, Ian Brownhill and RJ sit down with Paul Critchley, owner of New England Lean Consulting — a regional firm helping manufacturers, mac...

"New England is better than Old England" — a British couple just said it on the podcast, and we're never letting them take it back. This week on the So New England Podcast, host Ian Brownhill and co-host RJ welcome Juliette and Ollie — aka The Brits in Boston — for a deep, funny, and surprisingly emotional conversation about what it's like to move from East London to the United States and fall in...