Founders Story

Today we are joined by Joe Astrella and Vinny Astrella founders of Rocco's Doughnut Company. The Astrella family has always been involved with doughnuts in one way or another, whether it was with Joe's father, Rocco, being an original Dunkin franchise owner, or other family members owning doughnut shops throughout Massachusetts. Since the beginning, Joe has involved his children, Vinny, Dominic, and Kerri and now they are...

Today we are joined by Todd Snopkowski Co-Founder and CEO of SNAPchef. SNAPchef is New England’s premier on-demand hospitality training and staffing solution, connecting job seekers to job opportunities. Founded by chef Todd Snopkowski and his wife Daniela. The idea for SNAPchef is a culmination of years of experience and recognizing the gap in the availability of qualified, supplementary staff. It is because of their passion to fi...

Today we are joined by Michael Jones, CEO and Luke Magnan, COO from Combined Ratio Solutions. They specialize in insurance technology software that allows insurance companies to better leverage their relationships with agents to increase profitability. They meet during a business trip, started a company, and had venture capital funding pulled out from under them right before they were expecting to launch; but then went on to build ...

Today we are joined by David O'Donnell, Chairman and Founder of The Patriot Financial Group. David was in the financial business for 20 years before he had the vision of what The Patriot Financial Group would become. Over the past 18 years, David has grown Patriot Financial Group to 89 representatives across 9 states and is one of the largest financial groups in the area. His vision of building teams of different expertise and...

 Drink Well, Do Good!

Today we are joined by Troy Milliken, one of the founders of Seven Saws Brewing Company. The idea for starting the brewery happened when the founders of Seven Saws Brewing Company were talking around a fire pit about how their community needed a place to hang out. A place where people would actively engage with one another all while drinking a refreshing locally brewed beer. That is when Troy Millike...

Today we are joined by Tory Gisleson, Owner of True North Personal Training. They are formerly known as True North Performance Training. Tory started his career as an infantry Marine, after he finished his service in the Marines he worked security. While working in security he got his personal trainer certificate and started working with Mike Covino. This is what leads Mike and Tory to partner together to open True North Performanc...

Today we are joined by Casey Cormier, President of Angel-GUARD Products and US Tool and Fastener. Casey talks about growing up with Angel-GUARD and doing a little bit of everything within the company. He discusses why they originally started working with the Center of Hope as a way to give back to the community and trying to figure out ways to keep their workers employed year-round. Casey also shares how they went through the purch...

Today we are joined by Karim El-Gamal and Michael Kasseris founders of  The Rail Trail Flatbread Co.,  New City Microcreamery, and  Less Than Greater Than all of which are located in downtown Hudson, MA. Karim and Michael have always been in and around the restaurant business growing up, and when they met at Babson College getting their MBA's they hit it off. They were bouncing around different ideas before finally landing on ...

Have you ever been put in a situation where you had to change all of your life's goals in an instant? Greta found herself in such a situation near the end of high school when she became pregnant, though this isn't where Greta's story ends. She hustled and worked hard to get her college degree and reimagined a new dream that would work with her new situation in life. She battled against the adversity of not only being...

Paul Wengender got into the brewery business a little bit differently than the average brewer, but when you listen to him describe his founder's story his journey begins to make a lot of sense. From starting a Bio-Tech company to starting a brewery with a great culture, Paul has the experience and an accompanying story for almost everything.
 
Did you know that their beer Pulp Daddy, Pulp is actually an acronym? Tell ...

After being trained in fine dining and working in the industry, Brian Treitman decided that he wanted to start a side hustle selling BBQ at the Brimfield Antique Show out of a handbuilt trailer, with no experience cooking brisket. Brian now has three locations for you to enjoy B.T.'s Smokehouse, from Sturbridge to Polar Park in Worcester. Please join us as Brian walks us through his founder's story and the struggles he&ap...

We talk to Bob Davis from The Davis Companies here in Marlborough, MA about how he founded his company, from leaving high school in the 10th grade to pursue a logistics career and getting into employment services early on when he saw an opportunity at a young age. Bob even shares a couple of his thoughts on Mickey Mouse. One thing you need to know about The Davis Companies is the excellent company culture they have, listen to find ...

Julia Becker Collins is our guest this week and she brings ALL of her high energy to the interview. Julia shares her history in school and her career path. If you find yourself struggling with school, you don't like school, or you're in a position where you haven't found your career yet, this episode is for you! Also, Julia recommends that you watch the movie "Office Space" before starting your own business...

Join us as David tells the wild founding story of Wormtown Brewery when it was just Ben Roesch and Tom Oliveri and their humble beginnings at Peppercorns to one of the top Breweries in New England.

Connect with David Fields and Wormtown Brewery:
http://wormtownbrewery.com/
https://wormtownbrewery.myshopify.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wormtownbrewery/
https://www.instagram.com/wormtownbrewery/

Su...

Lysa Miller is the founder of Ladybugz Interactive Agency, located in Southboro, MA. She started doing web design the traditional way by working for a company and soon started to moonlight on the side, all while being a young mom of four kids. Lysa has had to evolve her business many times over the years and has had to build up resilience along the way. Join us as we listen to Lysa's founder's story. Her future is so brig...

Troy Siebels has been the president and CEO of The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts for over 17 years! He was tasked with raising money to renovate the theatre to bring it back to its former glory. Troy originally started to raise money based on what the arts do for the community. He soon found out that the local community didn't care about that as much as they cared about increasing the value in downto...

Victor DeOliveira is the founder of Discover Marble and Granite in Millbury, Massachusetts. He started out with a passion for flying and became a commercial pilot but after the events of 9/11, he lost his job, but rather than sitting idly by waiting for something he created his own fortune and founded his company. Victor saw an opportunity in the market to be a B2B wholesaler for granite and focused on that market exclusively. Vict...

AiVi Nguyen is an incredibly inspirational woman and has accomplished a lot in her life by being herself and standing out from the crowd. AiVi talks about the importance of knowing who you are, knowing what you want to accomplish, and how to merge the two into something that you really enjoy doing to find joy in your life. A piece of advice Aivi had gotten that has always helped her was "Do not join a board unless you plan on ...

In this episode, we talk to David Hagan the Executive Director of Why Me & Sherry's House. David talks about the origins of Why Me and its grassroots efforts to help children and their families to what it is today. Rick also has a surprise announcement at the end in support of Why Me and its mission, so listen to the end and keep an ear open for future details and announcements. 

Why Me is a Worcester Based non-pr...