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 Breakfast on January 20th
Learn more about World in Watertown

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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, Addgene's unique position as a nonprofit that supports scientists around the world (111 countries!) and lowers barriers to scientific resources, then we finish with Addgene's role in the community and Alyssa's involvement with CoLAB and mentoring students at the Watertown High School.

Learn more about Addgene
Learn more about CoLAB

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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, One Watertown
Craft Supply Swap
Creative Chats!

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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 on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on.

Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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 people, housing in Watertown, being part of a group that started the community fridge, and more.

If you or someone you know needs help, reach out at 617-744-9585 or online.

Let me know you're coming to the very first (and free) Creative Chats event! January 17th, 830-10am at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. 

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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 Watertown accounting for 1/3 of all tree canopy in Watertown (2/3 of all public space), and more!

Find out more about Mount Auburn at: www.mountauburn.org

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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 councilor and the issues affecting the present and future of Watertown.

Learn more about Nicole at: www.nicoleforwatertown.com

Sign up for her email newsletter to stay up-to-date on council updates and information on other Watertown happenings.

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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: www.campolongocookiecompany.com

I have a new website! I'll be using it to showcase all the episodes, future podcast spinoffs (stay tuned!), and in-person events I'm starting up. (Also I just think it looks nice!)
www.littlelocalconversations.com

See all the info about the first Creative Chats! event on January 17th!

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.

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's a truly incredible 50 year old cultural collection that is unique not only in the region, but the country and world.

Find out more about Arto and Project Save at projectsave.org and come join their 50th anniversary celebration!

Find Arto the musician at artovaun.com.

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 the Little Local Conversations email newsletter

Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversations

Thank you podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial! Listen to some Watertown Trivia on the podcast with Arsenal Financial's Doug Orifice.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Thanks to podcast promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition and Watertown News.